Doesn't it look like

(12 weeks)

Kipper's moving?

The baby seemed really active the whole time. At one point he looked like he was punching me! (we're using the universal "he" or Kipper to talk about him so we don't have to say "it" but we're not finding out the gender).

12 weeks--close up

This was the best set of ultrasounds so far. You can see the head pretty clearly on the left and then maybe a hint of the foot on the upper right. The still photos don't do the moving ones justice but they're still cool.

First visit to my ob

The size is the CRL number (2.27 cm) and she gave me a new due date of 8/22.

Graduation from IVF

This is my last ultrasound from my IVF doctor because I was at 8 weeks and we could see and hear the heartbeat even more strongly. See if you notice a difference in the ultrasound picture for the 9 week one. I think the IVF docs get more money for better machines.

Week 8 and growing

Week 7 again, length 7.9 mm

Baby is in between the plus signs.

"It's normal if we don't see a heartbeat yet, oh wait, there it is!"

This was week 7 and it was pretty cool to see the little flicker of a heart and then to hear it.

The best part of IVF

All the ultrasounds right away. And I'm not talking about the ones they do before the transfer. In this one, from week 6, the kidney shaped space is my uterus and the little toothpick might be the yolk sack. Too soon to see much of anything but this is when the doctor told me we were only having one.

The Olive Garden at Times Square

Ok, so here's the story of how I found out about the baby.

After dealing with all the IVF stuff (early morning doctor visits, shots every night, etc), and then finally getting to the end of the two week wait after the embryo transfer, it was finally time for the pregnancy test. It just happened to coincide with the Christmas party for all of us teachers at my school, which was held at the Olive Garden in Times Square on December 17th.

I already kind of thought the test would be negative because I had some of my usual signs of my period (spotting, breaking out, etc), so I was pretty sure I didn't want to hear the news until after the dinner. So, when I got a call from my doctor's office right at 3:15 (about 30 minute before I left for our early dinner), I let it go straight to the message.

But I couldn't really forget about it, as I'm sure you'd understand. I kept looking at my phone throughout the dinner. When it was finally over, I still wasn't sure if I wanted to check the message but I had to go to the bathroom so I decided to check while I was in there. And lo and behold, I was blown away. The nurse said something about how she hated to leave such good news on my answering machine but I didn't care. I think I had to listen to it twice to let it all sink in.

After that, I went to the Toys R Us (it has a huge ferris wheel inside) and bought a baby stuffed animal. I think it's a bear or something but it has those sewn eyes instead of the marbley ones. I didn't even care that I had to wait in line with all the whiny kids anxious about their Christmas presents.

When I got home, I showed Rob the things I had gotten from the Christmas dinner and then gave him the bag with the toy in it last. He dropped it--he was so surprised. He had been preparing himself to be really supportive of my disappointment and so he was not expecting good news!