My first OB appointment

I had my first OB appointment this morning!

Kevin and I adore this OB. He is such a caring person and an excellent doctor. We met him on a very panicked day back in March as we sought a second opinion when the RE nurse told me I had an ectopic. That turned out to not be true, but still ended in a devastating loss. He compassionately held our hands as we walked down the horrible path until we knew that a D&C was inevitable. Our relationship with him at that time was only about three weeks long. Because of this, I wondered if he would even remember us at our appointment today.

No question. He did. :)

Kevin and I were both greeted with giant hugs, smiles, and a emphatic "welcome back!" For a doctor who must see hundreds of patients a year, it felt really nice for him to remember not only us, but to also remember what we had been through last time we were there almost a year earlier.

He was so excited to hear about where we were today. And he was even more excited to hear about the unique circumstances! He asked us how we got our embryos, and said that he frequently has patients who went through IVF and don't know what to do with their remaining embryos. I used the opportunity to tell him of the options available in the hopes he might share that information in the future. I got teary-eyed explaining to him what a life-changing (and life-giving) gift this has been for us. Maybe some of his other patients might consider this path because of our story. I sure hope so.

First things first - the much anticipated ultrasound. We were hoping to finally see what looked like a baby shape in there. We were hoping for some stumpy appendages or maybe the shape of a gummy bear. We were so amazed to see that not only did this baby look like an actual baby, but he/she decided to dance around for us! It truly took our breath away. We could have watched baby dance all day! I couldn't believe when the nurse said she had recorded it on DVD for us to take home. I'm excited to be able to share this with you all.  I cropped it down to short 30 second clip so you can see this snowflake baby dancing around in there. Snowflake: Party of one!

Baby measured in at 10w. The doctor decided my due date would be changed from August 6 to officially be August 7. Works for me!

After the ultrasound, we talked about basic pregnancy stuff, medications, but everything he said was beyond reassuring. He said the baby was "super good looking" and appeared very healthy. He said he felt confident that this pregnancy would be filled with joy and happy tears, as opposed to last time we were there.

We scheduled the next appointment for two weeks from today which would be the NT scan and MaterniT21 bloodwork. No matter the outcome, we'd never terminate. EVER. But if something came back positive, we'd just want to know what to expect. And the icing on the cake is that the blood test result will also contain the gender! Kevin and I think it's a girl. But of course we'd be happy with either one. Oh my gosh we are so excited!

I planned the day off of work for some "me" time. So after the appointment, I decided to go to Old Navy to look at maternity clothes. Unfortunately I couldn't find the maternity section in the store so I asked a lady at checkout. She said "We don't have a maternity section, but I have a few internet returns that are maternity if you want to take a look at these." And guess what? They were coincidentally just in my size and majorly discounted! SCORE! I tried them on and ended up getting two adorable shirts and a really cute sleeveless maxi dress. While in the dressing room wearing the dress, I poked my belly out as far as I could get it to go and dreamed about a big baby bump this summer!

When I got to checkout, the same woman asked me how far along I was since obviously I had just asked about maternity clothes. I told her "10 weeks" and she exclaimed "That's so great! Congratulations!"

I quickly debated whether or not to try out my elevator speech on her for the first time. I decided to go for it.

"This baby is a miracle because he or she is actually adopted. We adopted this baby as an embryo!"

There I said it. There was then opening line I had practiced in my head.

She looked amazed and started asking some really great questions. I explained in a nutshell how it worked, how we transferred an embryo from two different donor families and we don't know which one it was. She was fascinated, and then opened up to tell me that she and her husband had just adopted from the Ukraine after battling secondary infertility! I thought it was such a neat conversation to have at the checkout of a clothing store. I left with not only a bag of deeply discounted maternity clothes that were coincidentally just in my size, but with a warmed heart on an already perfect day talking to another adoptive mama.

I know I've said this before but I'll say it again: I am so incredibly grateful for where I am today.