Today was the big day, the long, long, long, loooooooooong awaited first appointment with the midwife that I really was starting to think would never get here and I haven't been all that patient of a woman over on my end.
But can I start by saying how much I absolutely love my MW? She is so nice, friendly, and really made me feel comfortable with everything. I had an inkling that I would like here when she gave us a quick phone call a few weeks ago after the appointment was scheduled. She had us send over all the medical history and what not and it gave us a chance to "meet" her so to speak before the actual appointment, and she was already aware of our situation, with DH leaving on Monday. She hardly stops smiling, and it's not one of those annoying always-happy person who makes you want to scream at them to shut up about how great everything is every two minutes, but very inviting I guess? I'm bad with my word choices lately. I'm really glad to have her on my side, I guess.
But it meant a lot to me that DH was able to come along, especially when it came time to draw blood. I hate, hate, hate needles and even the though of needles makes me jump out of my skin. I've only ever had my blood drawn once before that I remember a few years ago and having about 5 vials drawn would not be on my list of things that I want to do. So I got to lean on him for that, it wasn't fun. Let's see, in miraculous news I can say that despite my indulgent eating habits of the past few weeks where my diet consists of anything and everything I see, I really only put on 1 pound from what I know of my pre-pregnancy weight. I was sure it was bound to be 5+ or something along those lines. BP is normal and she tried to get the

on a doppler, but warned me it was probably too early to hear. I will admit I was a bit heartbroken when she tried and couldn't find the heartbeat, even with her warning.
It was so much longer of an appointment than I could have asked for. We were there for a full 2 hours which gave us a lot of time address and discuss a lot of the questions that I had from my panic attacks and so much more . It's been a very informative morning for both DH and myself.
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We got an ultrasound too! Which is where the alien comes in. It was the first thing DH uttered when he saw that baby. "HC, babe, we're having an alien. There's a baby, but it looks like an alien!" Thanks Rob, so much, for your input from your position as Captain Obvious!

It was so funny actually, and I was in full blown tears at that point. Tears of joy for finally and actually getting to see the baby when I really didn't think we would, and tears of laughter because of DH's antics. He thought it was the creepiest, but coolest thing ever. And I could tell he wanted to take the US machine apart and put it back together again, like he does with just about anything he can get his hands on. It was so surreal to get to see the baby, jumping around that screen like a little jumping bean, measuring right on track. And we may not have been able to hear the

, but we sure got to see it! 160 BPM.
Today has really been a dream come true, and I can't begin to tell you how thankful I am that we got an ultrasound today. We wanted DH to see the baby before he leaves more than anything! Now I need to remember to take this week's belly shot.