Our first doctor's appointment

After weeks and weeks of being pregnant, we had our first doctor's appointment in Los Angeles next to Cedars-Sinai. Alfonso had worked the night before, and was going into work for another night. After four hours of sleep, I woke him up at 12:30, and we left shortly after 1:00 to drive to Cedars.

Besides filling out all the new patient information forms, I had to leave a urine specimen. I will be doing this for every visit. The nurse weighed me (I've gained 8 lbs during my first trimester) and had me undress totally. I was only wearing two paper drapes and it was freezing in the room. We then met our physician who is a female and she was really nice and energetic. She spoke a lot on normal symptoms including weight gain, eating habits, drinking water, and what other physical changes to expect. She did a quick pap smear and then turned off the lights for the ultrasound. She did a vaginal ultrasound which was kind of weird but painless. I quickly forgot the strangeness factor.

For the very first time we saw images of our baby. It was so unbelievable and exciting! We could see the heart beating along with the outline of the body. We could see the arms, legs and feet. No private parts are apparent yet, so we won't find out the sex until later. What was more amazing was all the movement the baby was doing! The baby was kicking his legs and moving his arms. At one point, he had grabbed onto the umbilical cord and was pulling on it. The physician kept commenting on how much movement was taking place. I could only think about what it was going to be like in a couple of months when I am starting to *feel* this movement. We have several ultrasound photos and Alfonso took them to work to show to this coworkers. I have one sitting on my dresser that I keep looking at.

Since the ultrasound, we have just been amazed. Just seeing the baby ( expecially while moving around) was just aweing. I can't believe that my body is supporting this baby's growth. It's such a miracle. During the ultrasound I was laughing and crying and Alfonso was excited too. (Sorry Diego if this is getting too mushy for you :))

Our next appointment is January 10th. I think they are going to do more blood work (they drew for a bunch of tests today) and we can listen to the fetal heart tones with a doppler. I won't have my next ultrasound until February and that is when we find out the sex of the baby.

By the way, the ultrasound measured the baby to be 6.96 centimeters (almost 3 inches) and gave a gestational age of 13 weeks and 1 day.

Love, Becky