Well, our lives are changing!

As most of you know, we're going to be parents!! Well, in February 2010, the baby still has some growing and developing to do.

Apparently, we follow the trend of doing big things at once. We closed on our house and got engaged the same weekend. A year later, Matt competed in Ironman Wisconsin and we got married 3 weeks after that. Now, on Friday, June 12th, we find out we are going to be parents on the morning we are leaving for Ironman Kansas 70.3.

So, at this point I am 14 weeks pregnant. I wouldn't change it for the world, this is by far one of the best adventures. I get weekly updates from 2 different websites that email me what is going on this week with the growth and development of the baby and the size of the baby (comparing it to a fruit), this week, the baby is the size of a lemon, the organs are moving into position in the stomach from the umbilical cord. I have become 'squishy' in the midsection, and have a little bump, which is more noticable after a big meal.

The timing for everything is perfect. I was just over 4 weeks pregnant in Kansas, so the 1st trimester symptoms hadn't kicked in yet. I'll be about 18 weeks pregnant when I'm spectating Ironman Wisconsin (in less then 4 weeks!!!!), and I'll be about 27 weeks (just entering my 3rd trimester) as I'm spectating the Half Ironman Championship in Clearwater, FL and wandering around Sea World.

So far, things have been going great. I had my first pre-natal appointment on July 8th. I had an ultrasound, to confirm the pregnancy and then some time to chat with the doctor. The ultrasound was amazing. So here is this little blob (yes, blob, the head and body was all that you could see - the arms and legs were tiny little nubs, the placenta isn't even there yet), with a heartbeat of 168 bpm. Just amazing, to see the heartbeat flickering away and to then be able to hear it. The doctors part of the visit was quick - he goes over the basics, answers any questions and sends you on your way with a bag of stuff.

I had some morning sickness, but the worst of it was at night, or before I had left for work. I did a lot of sleeping early on, when I was asleep it was a dead to the world sleep. I had some food aversions, which is normal. I went for about a week or two of being hungry but not knowing what I wanted to eat, nothing smelled good or sounded good. But I survived. I lost 3-4 pounds during the first trimester, which is perfectly normal and fine.

On August 7th, I had another ultrasound. At this point I was 12 weeks 2 days and the baby was measuring 12 weeks 5 days. We were able to see the profile & bone structure of the face, right arm, complete with 4 fingers and a thumb, the left arm was at the babies side and the hand was in a fist so we couldn't see the fingers on that hand. The little legs and tiny little feet. The baby was measuring close to 3 inches (about the size of a lime) and had a heart beat of 154. When the ultrasound had first started, the baby was laying face down, curled up sound asleep. I guess that's what happens just after eating lunch. The tech woke up the baby so we would be able to see the details. Matt keeps telling me that we will pay for that one day, I just laugh, but as she was trying to wake the baby up, I kept thinking to myself 'never wake a sleeping baby'. It is amazing to me, how much you can love somebody, when you haven't even seen or met them yet.


Baby Ancona, 12 week ultrasound.

My next appointment is at the beginning of September, at the 16 week point. At that visit, I will get to hear the heartbeat on the doppler - basically a stethoscope, and they'll do more blood work. Blood work has become the story of my life. The next ultrasound is at 20 weeks, the beginning of October. At that visit, we could find out if we're going to have a son or a daugther, but we are waiting until the baby arrivves to find out.