Baby Beginnings

Baby Rollins #2 very first picture!
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Our first doctor's appointment was August 27th with Dr. Robert Ryan, Center for Integrative Women's Health at St. Anthony's. He delivered Reid and I had a wonderful experience with him. I was so extremely pleased with Dr. Ryan so I knew I was going to use him as my OB again. I had an ultrasound a week before my appointment because I was a little nervous since I rode the Skycoaster and I wanted to make sure everything was ok with the baby. According to my last period I thought I was around 7 weeks at this point. The ultrasound measured the baby at 5 weeks 6 days, but we did get to see and hear the heartbeat. The heartbeat was only 101 bpm which made me a little nervous since I knew this was low - not the normal 120-160 bpm - so of course I did a little research and discovered that this is nothing to worry about at this early in the pregnancy as the heart first starts beating sometime in the fifth week. I also learned that the heart starts beating at about the same rate as mom's - about 80-85 bpm - and increases by 3 bpm per day until it reaches the normal 120-160 bpm. This made me feel a little better, but of course I was still a little uneasy. With this pregnancy I've been more nervous than I remember being with Reid. I keep reminding myself that this baby is in God's hands and I have been continually praying for Him to watch over and protect this new precious life. The following week at Dr. Ryan's office we did another ultrasound (mainly for my peace of mind) and the baby had grown exactly as it should and the heart rate was 143 bpm. I was so excited! She measured me at 6 weeks 6 days, correlating exactly with the previous ultrasound and we got a due date of April 16, 2010. Dr. Ryan is an M.D. and has a Ph.D. and specializes in VBACs, vaginal births after cesarean. He is one of the few doctors that still offer women the choice of having a VBAC if they are low risk. He discussed at our visit how I was a candidate for a VBAC if this was something I was interested in. I had to have a c-section with Reid because he was breech. My water broke at 36 weeks and I was having hard contractions and had already dilated to almost a 5 before the c-section so I felt like I experienced the best of both worlds. I had a great c-section experience as I was up walking around a few hours afterward, never had to take any pain medication except for ibuprofen, and Dr. Ryan let me go home the following day. This experience plays into my thoughts about having a VBAC and although I am going to consider it, I'm currently leaning towards another scheduled c-section.

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The morning sickness has been constant with this baby. I feel like I've been sick since the moment I found out I was pregnant. One night I was throwing up and Reid came into the bathroom and looked at me with the most puzzled look on his face. I was thinking that he probably thought his mommy was crazy! And although it's pretty awful at times, I'm thankful for the nausea as it is a reassuring sign of a healthy pregnancy.

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Cravings so far: salty dog snow cones, limes with salt, Mexican food, gingerale, chicken &

dumplings, potato soup, Sour Patch Kids, sweet potatoes, black olives