"Hello, so, what are we doing today?"

The ultrasound tech was pretty happy.  To be honest, I've almost never met an US tech that wasn't a very pleasant and happy person.  Maybe it's a job requirement.

"I'm pregnant!  And we are trying to find out how far along I am."

Of course, the obligatory LMP date questions were asked and I explained how I really had no idea as we weren't exactly trying.  We hooked up the belly US (I was really nervous I'd have to use that vaginal one, so I was happy to start there) and sure enough, there was our little one right there! 

The US tech said "I'd say you are pretty far along right now.  There is your baby's heart beating away."  At the time, I had no idea how wonderful it was to see so much.  I was fully expecting to go in and see a baby there.  It is amazing how wonderfully nieve I was in those days.  The tech told me the baby was measuring at 7.5 weeks at that time.  I counted back that 7.5 weeks and decided she was crazy because not only was I actually having my period at that time, but there was no way we had done any "baby dancing" then.  I asked if she meant I was 7.5 weeks pregnant, or if the BABY was 7.5 weeks in age.  Those extra 2 weeks that the powers that be chalk onto pregnancy for the time between your last period and when you actually ovulate were messing with my head.  She assured me that the baby was 7.5 weeks and thus I was 9.5 weeks pregnant.  I left in a daze, as this made no sense.  Later, in talking with the doctor, we decided that there was just a lot of confusion and I was, indeed, 7.5 weeks along, not 9.5.  This made me feel better, although how I managed to get pregnant was and is still a mystery to me since we were trying to prevent pregnancy.

 

Once we found out how far along I was (and after we got the $200 bill for that US which was the exact time I found out how bad my insurrance was) I was decided that this was going to be that "natural" pregnancy I had always wanted.  I was set to find out all I could about home birth.  My one worry was my weight gain as I had put on a lot of weight with my son.  When I called home midwives to talk about this pregnancy, they were all amazingly wonderful.  I asked about controling weight and preclampsia and they all told me that the key was to avoid processed, sugary foods, and to eat a diet rich in protein.  I also found out that I could avoid having a huge baby (my son was 9.7 pounds) by keeping the simple carbs and sugars out of my diet.  I found a site online listing the "perfect pregnancy" diet and went home that evening to make my first meal with those items.  It was a LOT of food and the one and only time I threw up in that pregnancy was after that meal.  I resolved then to watch the weight gain and to just not eat sugary things.  It worked wonders as the pregnancy was much healthier then my first with very minimal weight gain.

 

Since most midwives didn't see anyone until about 16 or 17 weeks along, I had time to decide.  I wasn't going to push that as I was enjoying self-monitoring my pregnancy.  I knew a lot about pregnancy from my family, and I read up even more on it.  Plus, I had my step-mother, who was a midwife, to call and ask any questions I might have.  I stopped in her office a few times to hear the baby's heart beat and just to talk.  She was so awesome about listening to all my worries and excitements.