first photos

Apologies for the last two posts being flashbacks, I think we can bring things up to present day now.

I had my first doctor’s appointment yesterday, complete with ultrasound. Dave came with me, although I made him scoot the chair around so that he was up by my head. As it is, he’ll witness my body enduring numerous indignities over the next year; I figured that he really didn’t need to see how the business end of a speculum works. At least not this early in the game.

Although it was sort of strange to have Dave in the room during my physical, I just reminded myself that my cat once witnessed one of my pelvic exams, and then it didn’t seem so weird. That’s actually a true story: it was back when Dave and I were first dating and I was flying out (for work) the next day, so I was bringing Teenie to his house while I went out of town. It was one of those situations where I either had to spend an extra 2 hours in traffic or bring the cat with me to the doctor’s office (on my way to Dave’s). And it was like 90 degrees outside, so I couldn’t leave her in the car. So, Teenie sat in her kitty carrier on the floor of the exam room while I had my physical. Luckily, my doctor thought it was hilarious.

Ok, back to current day. Here’s something I didn’t know: eight-week ultrasounds? That is not the kind that they do on your belly. Oh no, it’s an “internal ultrasound” – aka the DildoCam. I kind of had a suspicion about that, but I really wish someone had warned me. It isn’t exactly the most comfortable way to experience the first glimpse of your unborn child, but hey, whatever.



See how cute it is? I don’t think either Dave or I have ever gotten that excited about a fuzzy gray blob.

(Oh, as for my use of the word DildoCam: hi, Google perverts! This is not the site you’re looking for. Move along.)

I also managed to resist the urge to make a joke about whether or not the internal ultrasound had a “vibrate” switch. I think my doctor probably would’ve laughed, but I knew Dave would be mortified, so I behaved myself. (Instead, I just shared my internal-monologue joke with the Internet. Hooray for my lack of a censor button!)

It was sort of weird that I didn’t get emotional or weepy at all during the ultrasound. It was more like a “whew, alright, everything’s ok” relief sort of feeling, not an “oh my gawd, that’s our BAAAYYYBEEE!!!” thing.



But, getting to see the heartbeat was pretty awesome.

So, it looks like everything is ok so far with the baby. As for me, symptom-wise, the fatigue is the worst. The nausea comes and goes, although I still haven’t thrown up yet (I’ve just had a few moments where I really wished that I could have). Other than that, my skin is breaking out and I keep having crazy hormone-induced technicolor nightmares. Oh, and I feel like I’m starting to show, although I’m pretty sure it’s just bloat. Whee! Pregnancy is super-fun!

Whatever. If this is the worst of it, I can take it. As long as this baby comes out healthy, I can deal with a lot worse than this.

5 thoughts on “first photos

  1. Yay good appointment! What a little cutie. 🙂

    As for the fatigue, my mom swore that elevating her feet, that minty Origins stuff around her pulse points, and decaf iced tea made a difference. Maybe peppermint iced tea to help with the nausea?

  2. I loved hearing the heartbeat. My doctor told me if you hear the heartbeat on the outside at 12 weeks (that’s your next appointment, right?) that you’ve “appeased the pregnancy gods” and that the odds for bad things goes way down. Something to look forward to. 🙂

  3. That’s good to know – we saw the heartbeat yesterday but didn’t hear it.

    My 12-week appointment is on July 31st, and I’m having another ultrasound then. It’s not a “fun” one, it’s the one where they check for Down’s and spina bifida and all that.

    Cara, thanks for the suggestions. Since the nausea hasn’t been too terribly bad, I’ve mostly been sticking to water and crackers. And whining. Lots & lots of whining.

  4. I’m sorry I didn’t warn you about DildoCam! When they did it with me, I thought that it was because that was the only cheap-ass ultrasound machine that they had at this office. My doctor has 2 locations, and the OTHER one has the Ferarri-Porsche 4-D thing, while the one near my house only has DildoCam. I didn’t figure they did that to everyone at the 8-week visit.

    Tony wasn’t with me. If he had been, I’d have been mortified. As it was, I had a team of 2 doctors and 3 assistants speculating at the speculum to get it to take the picture properly. Nightmares.

    Cute little perfect peanut. I wish you no worse than fatigue and mild nausea. But if you get much worse than that, consider it a good omen. If not, also consider it a good omen.

  5. “Speculating at the speculum”… nice. 🙂

    The only reason I wasn’t mortified with Dave in the room is because I had strategically placed him up by my head so he had no view of the “action” going on below.

    Apparently, though, at my doctor’s office, the DildoCam is standard procedure for the 8-week appointment. They’ve told me that I’ll go to the “Ultrasound Room” for my 12-week appointment. A whole room! Full of ultrasounds! The mind boggles!

    I have no idea if they have a 4-D or not, but I’d imagine that they do, since it’s kind of a posh office. All I know is that next time, I get a normal on-top-of-the-belly ultrasound, and that makes me blissfully happy.

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