OB Appointment with Ultrasound

Today I headed to the OB doctor for my first appointment with ultrasound. I was so excited to hear the little heartbeat and see just how things were progressing in my tummy. The technician opted to do a vaginal ultrasound due to me only being 8 weeks along and said we would get better pictures. Well, the pictures did turn out well and the heartbeat was nice and strong at 179 beats per minute.

I then saw my new OBGYN, Dr. Stephanie Bruce. She is very nice and probably in her early 40's. She too had children around the same age as myself, so that is a bit comforting. She said the ultrasound pictures looked great and that according to the ultrasound my due date is June 9, 2012. That sounds so far away, but as I recall with Camden, it will be here before we know it. She discussed all the different testing we could do for Down's Syndrome as well as a few other problems, but as I did with Camden, I declined the extra testing. I know we would not do anything different with the pregnancy regardless, and I don't want to stress my whole pregnancy if something came back abnormal. She understood my point of view and said that we would do the next ultrasound at 20 weeks and we would make it an in-depth anatomy ultrasound which sounded good to me. After telling her my history of ocular neuritis with Camden, she agreed that I should go ahead and get established with a neurologist just in case something were to occur with this pregnancy. I did not mind that since it is time for follow up anyway, however I will have to wait until after the birth to do another MRI to compare with my old one and make sure that nothing has progressed by way of multiple sclerosis.

We also discussed weight gain with this pregnancy. She told me she only wanted me to gain 25 pounds since it is harder to lose the weight with the second child - UGH just what I wanted to hear. I preferred the option I had with Camden of gaining between 25 and 30 pounds because at least it was a range and with him I gained 27 pounds. Now, with not working out at all and this being the second pregnancy I am worried I will exceed her 25 pounds. Oh well, something else to keep a good eye on.

As for how I am feeling, the nausea started last week, which pretty much coincides with when I became nauseated with Camden. I am eating almost every 2 hours to help with the nausea. I still have only told family as well as a few close friends. It has been much easier keeping my pregnancy from my co-workers since I have my own office and they can't see me snacking on crackers and pretzels. I have pretty much decided I will wait until I am about 12 weeks along before sharing the news with them.