Week #12 Update

We had our second prenatal appointment this week and it was seriously AWESOME! Since I'm seeing the Nurse Midwives at IMC I'm supposed to see a different one each time we have an appointment. However, the one we were supposed to see this week was busy doing a procedure and so Melissa, the midwife we saw on our first visit, came in to take care of us. It was cool to see her again because she's really nice and patient!

First off, I've got to  mention that I was extremely happy seeing my blood pressure results - 102/60! That's seriously the lowest I've ever seen it for myself and I'm really hoping it stays low throughout the pregnancy.

Melissa had me get up on the table and she brought out the doppler to try and listen for the heartbeat. It took her a good 5 minutes to fish around looking for it. She told us that she could hear it but Ramin and I both couldn't hear it - all we could hear was my heart beat. I looked at her and asked "You sure you heard it?" and she confirmed she did. I think she could sense my apprehension a bit and so she said that she thought the ultrasound room was free and that we could go do a quick ultrasound even though we really weren't supposed to that visit.

The moment she stuck the little device on me we immediately saw the baby! It was incredible how much larger it looked this time compared to 4 weeks ago. The other thing we noticed immediately was the baby jumping and bouncing around all over the place like a little jumping bean! Melissa even said "No wonder we couldn't hear the heart beat very well, this little baby is moving around all over!" It was the funniest thing to me to see how fast it was moving and just to see how big it was! It made me so happy to see how active our little baby is :)

This week I also started capturing my baby bump progress through pictures. Here's the first picture Ramin took of me:

I'll take a picture like this every 4 weeks - and I have stickers for each of the pictures too :)

How far along: 12 weeks, 6 days

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I was up 3lbs at this appointment as compared to my first appointment

Maternity clothes: Nope, but I am starting to NOT button the top button on my jeans.

Major Symptoms: Yesterday was the worst day I had all week. Ramin and I were able to deduce that the thing that's been causing me tummy pain is flax meal. I've always added it to my protein shakes and to yogurt. The horrible day I had last week was the result of the yogurt mixed with flax meal that I had. And yesterday was much of the same. So I'm hoping now that I know that, I'll start feeling much better!
Stretch marks: Nope
Sleep: I was pretty tired this week. Had a few early nights.
Best moment last week: Seeing our little bouncing baby! I'll never forget how excited I was seeing it move around on the screen!!
Movement: I had some sensations yesterday before I ate my protein shake and got sick. But I'm still not sure if it's the baby moving.
Food cravings/aversions: I had Rumbi twice this week. I really wanted their brown rice bowls! I still want to go back and get a salad from there. I just LOVE their tempura shrimp!

Belly button - in or out? In
Labor signs: Not yet
What I miss: I still don't miss anything. Even on my worst day (which I know isn't as bad as it could be), I'm still so thankful and happy to be pregnant!
What I am looking forward to: Wearing my Halloween baby skeleton shirt to work on Halloween.
Milestones: Passing the FIRST TRIMESTER! Next week I'll write about our official baby announcement on Facebook.