A 'little' announcement!

Hello everyone,

Well I think it is time to let you know the rest of the story of what has been going on for us these last few months.

It has to do with exhaustion...
A few extra calories...
A rapidly increasing bra size...
Not being able to eat many of my favorite foods...
And a big Birthday week (or two) at the end of April...

Yes, we're PREGNANT!!!!

Brent and I are over the moon. So for the next 30-odd weeks you will be able to read about this exciting, strange (and likely, at times, scary) journey as I go from Jen-size to whale-size, and Brent and I prepare to make that no-turning-back transition to having a child. (Don't worry, for those of you who are sick of everyone having babies left, right and centre, there will still be interspersed news of the rest of our lives as well)

We decided to let you all know now because we just had our first ultrasound. I had my first prenatal appointment last Friday, and rather than giving us the comforting reassurance we hoped it would, a smaller uterus size, low position, and undetectable heartbeat combined with a slight decrease in my (fortunately) negligible symptoms, to create some suddenly scary looking bogeymen where previously we'd seen pink and blue visions of cherub faces.

While it made for a very anxious weekend, the midwife on call insisted that to ally my worries, we should go in again this week and have an ultrasound rather than waiting the 2.5 weeks until my first one was scheduled. So with much trepidation (and a weekend of feeling like my skin was no longer breaking out, my breasts were shrinking and my food aversions were dissipating), we went to the clinic today and were greeted instead by the most amazing dark, fuzzy, black and white image we have ever laid eyes on.



Our baby was indeed there, looking much larger than I had anticipated, with a fluttering healthy, strong heart. While we watched she (or he) began to move, and even started showing off her (or his) kicking abilities while Brent and I gazed with true parental (dumb-struck) love. The midwife (a wonderful man who has been practicing for 26 years) quickly printed us a clandestine image, then at Brent's request, switched the ultrasound machine for a Doppler, to listen to the baby's heart. After a few minutes of searching, it was found up near my bellybutton, a loud, clear and rapid tum-tum-tum-tum... going at 180 beats a minute (scary to hear what my heart would sound like after an all-out sprint).

Our baby did not feel inclined to lay flat, however, so the midwife was not able to get an image where he could measure the length completely, and therefore let us know the baby's actual gestational age. It seems that the smaller uterus and position may be due to a slightly "younger" baby than we thought - perhaps by up to 5 days. Our original due date was, ironically, April 27! Smack in between Brent's and my Birthdays! So after we have our next ultrasound, we will hopefully be able to have an accurate due date (give or take the standard 2 weeks of when the baby will hopefully decide to make her/his appearance).

Well, there's lots more to say about this crazy process we've embarked on, but we have around 30 more weeks to bore you with all of that, so for now, baby, Brent and I need to have some breakfast and get to work.

Love to you all, and thanks for sharing our news and putting up with our excited parent-to-be ramblings :-)

Jen, Brent and the strawberry (baby websites' current size-metaphor)