An update from the coast

I'm still on vacation, and using a borrowed laptop to type this up. We head home tomorrow, which I'm sad about. It's beautiful here on the coast of South Carolina, and even three days of rain was not enough to ruin my vacation!

We had our 8-week ultrasound yesterday at 3:30 p.m. I hit the beach for a good 3 1/2 hours prior to leaving for the appointment, but that wasn't e nough to keep me entirely distracted. I was a nervous wreck. I now know how to cure pregnancy-induced constipation: worry yourself sick. Now if I could only bottle that and sell it...

We arrive at the doctor's office, and I fill out the necessary paperwork. And then we wait. Everyone else in the waiting room (6 people) gets called back before we do (some of them arrived after us). My stomach was in knots. I was wringing my hands and biting my lip.

Finally, they call me back. I was told to empty my bladder and then head to the ultrasound room. Bottoms off, I hop on the table.

After a few minutes, the doctor comes in. She is incredibly sweet. She asks a couple questions (Last missed period? Why so many early ultrasounds? Have there been any issues thus far?). I tell her about our loss at around this time last pregnancy, and tell her how nervous I am. She wastes no more time on small talk at that point, and in goes the wand (yes, my very first vaginal pregnancy ultrasound!).

Within seconds of putting the wand in, she tells us there is a heartbeat!! Relief poured over me like a waterfall. I let out my first sigh of relief (in total, there must have been about 50). She then focuses in on the baby, and says that baby is growing beautifully!

At my appointment yesterday, I was 8w3d. Baby is measuring 8w5d, with a heart rate of 179 bpm.

How about those stats?? Much better than anything we got last pregnancy, where the heart rate only got up to the 150s.

And for your viewing pleasure, a photo of our little one:

My 9-week ultrasound is this Tuesday. At that point, we hope to be released from the clinical trial in NYC. Here's to hoping...