First doctor appointment

On Thursday, I had my first (eight-week) doctor appointment. I had no idea what to expect.

After signing in, they sent me straight to the bathroom for a urine sample. I then went back to the waiting room to sit with Dave until they called my name. I fidgeted pretty much the whole time.

When they called us back, they took my weight, blood pressure, asked me the first day of my last period (uh, if I kept track of my period, we wouldn't be in this situation), etc. After an exam, they did an ultrasound... and not the pleasant stomach-gel kind. Dave and I craned our heads to see the monitor.

And there it was.

Some oblong potato-looking thing sat right in there, pulsing. Heartbeat, we were told.

The doctor measured the potato, beginning with its head -- "That's its head?" I asked. -- and said I was measuring at 7 weeks, 3 days.

See that circular thing up in the left? I thought that was the head. Nope. Yolk sac. Good thing, too, because it doesn't appear attached to the rest of the body...

After the ultrasound, we went into the doc's office and ran through a bunch of questions. We talked about testing for Downs and decided we wanted to do it. We discussed genetic carrier screening but I remain undecided. We talked about vitamins (the ones I take are fine), exercise (don't overdo it), when to stop traveling (six weeks before the due date) -- oh, and the due date.

Due date: Aug. 22, 2013

Before leaving, I had some blood drawn and we scheduled the next (12-week) appointment, which will include an ultrasound and the Downs test.

It's been a few days since the appointment and things are sinking in. This is real. There was a heartbeat. (Once the docs see a heartbeat, the risk of miscarriage drops to five percent.) We are actually having a baby. A real, potato-y baby.

We're overwhelmed and freaked out and even a tiny bit excited. We'll see how things go over the next several months.