The most miraculous sound...

I just had to write a quick new post about what happened today. Andy and I still hadn't heard the baby's heartbeat, and deep down, it was really kind of getting to me and creating doubts that were creeping in. I made an extra appointment for today (considering how the last one went) to see if they could find the heartbeat.

I got to the appointment about 3:00 today and I was going to be seeing the nurse practitioner (who we saw at our first appointment). I explained to her that this was an extra appointment because it took them a really long time to pick up the heartbeat two weeks ago - she said our baby was already playing games with the docs! I told her I never heard it at the last one, and when the heartbeat was on the ultrasound screen, the doctor took it off my belly before I could see it.

She looked at me with the most empathetic eyes, like she knew I just needed to hear it. Well, she put the doppler on my stomach and it immediately picked up my heartbeat. She moved it a tad to the right, and sure enough, "boom, boom, boom...." - the most amazing, miraculous sound I've ever heard. The heart rate was 160, loud and strong. The baby moved (although it's still too early to feel) and the sound went away for a second. The nurse practitioner said, "Don't move baby, your mommy needs to hear you just a little more".

She found it real quickly again and held it there for what seemed like a good minute. I closed my eyes, thanked the Lord, and continued listening to the most miraculous sound....and then cried my whole way home. :-)

BABY BAUGHMAN!!

Andy and I are so excited to be expecting a new little addition to our family! I am currently about 14 weeks along, and our baby is due on May 7, 2009. We found out in the beginning of September and had our first appointment on Oct. 1, which was our 3rd anniversary. It was such a surreal moment to see our little tiny baby's heart beating on the screen - what a miracle life is!!

Things have been going great since then. I had a bit of a freak out moment at our second appointment last Wednesday (hormones, right?), when it took them about 10 minutes to find our baby's heartbeat. They couldn't pick it up with the doppler (they said it was still too small), so they went and got the ultrasound machine. After about 5 more minutes of looking (and my blood pressure through the roof), they finally found it! Unfortunately, they took the thing off my belly before I could see it. I caught a glimpse of the little profile, and the baby had its arm wrapped around resting on its belly with its head down - precious baby taking naps already!

Some other interesting news: it's already peeing! I thought that was funny...here is a picture from http://www.babycenter.com/ of approximately what the baby looks like right now:

I'm having a pretty difficult time now, with 5 more weeks of nursing school left (yes, 5!!!) - I'm really looking forward to it being over and being able to consume myself with this pregnancy! :-) Here are some other pictures I thought would be fun to share:

Very first belly picture - 4 weeks

Andy excited at out first appointment.

Me with our first picture of our little bean!

Our baby's first debut! (not the greatest pic...), 9 weeks - it's the little ball in the bottom circle

12 week belly

I'm really looking forward to keeping in touch with all of you through this pregnancy!! I'll hopefully be updating regularly with how the baby's doing, new belly pics, etc. Hope to talk to you all soon!!