A-OK

Week 15 check-up today and all is well.

We heard the baby's heart rate for the first time today - a fast but steady 140 bpm - and I had a quick moment of "whoooaaaa, what the heck is that doing in there!"

My doctor says that I have a good chance of feeling the baby move in the next few weeks, which I guess is the next major milestone. I keep thinking that the "next major milestone" will make this whole experience seem a bit more real to me but so far it hasn't happened. Didn't happen with the positive test, didn't happen with the sickness, didn't happen with the ultrasound, hasn't happened with the growing girth yet, and now didn't happen with the heartbeat. I guess I'm waiting for that moment when I "feel" pregnant, like a light going on in dark room. But in reality it's probably more like a dimmer switch, getting brighter so slowly you barely notice it.

No ultrasound or pics today. As I'm a "normal 1st pregnancy" with no risks, there's no medical reason to keep peeking into my womb on a month-by-month basis. We were a bit disappointed because we would have liked to have had an updated head-shot but at the same time realize that the doctor is there to ensure the health of the baby not to be our personal photographer. (Damn it!) My next ultrasound is the first "big one" at the hospital lab, at around 20 weeks - so 5-ish weeks from now. Baby will be quite a bit bigger by then, so that will be exciting.

In between now and then we have our genetic screening for possible birth defects and one more doctor's appointment. The appointments are stacking up!

We also talked some more today with the doctor about my low pelvis. If you remember my first post-doctor post, upon examination the doctor informed me that I have a low pelvis which, practically speaking, means that I may have trouble vaginally delivering all but the smallest baby. That's been on my mind since that appointment because my mum had a really tough birth with me and told her only afterward that her pelvis really wasn't large enough for vaginal birth and she probably should have had a C-Section. The path we and the doctor have agreed to follow in our case is to keep a close eye on the baby's size as we go through the pregnancy and if it looks like the baby is going to be large-ish (I'm guessing over 7lbs but she didn't quanify), we'll schedule a c-section. If the baby looks to be small, we'll give the vaginal birth a good ole college try but at the first sign of any difficulty, will pull the plug early. The good news is that she agrees that, knowing this information up-front, we won't put me through a long labor only to have me whipped out at the last moment for the slice.

So, that's all the news for now. Sorry no pics but it's good news that we don't need them for medical reasons, so we're happy.