Baby's Heartbeat! Yeah!

Today we had our first "real" doctor's appt. Well, nurse's appt since that is who we saw. Pat and I got there and they took my vitals, I got in my backless/assless robe and we sat for 45 minutes. Then, ta dah, the nurse dropped in. Her name is Julie Rice and she is super nice. I am still obsessed with our other nurse who is on maternity leave and cannot wait for her to get back. She will be back for our next appt where we will have our 20 week untrasound March 6th. She was so wonderful and really supportive last time with everything we went through so I am very excited for her to come back. Anyway, back to the story. I was really hoping that nurse Julie would do an ultrasound since my last nurse did then at every appt, but no such luck! BUT she did offer to try to find the heartbeat. It was 170 - Yeah!!! I say "try" because there is a 50/50 chance that you won't hear it. Not that anything is wrong, but just because your baby is such a peanut, well, a grape actually, that it is really hard to hear it. So we had our fingers crossed :) So she put the jelly on the small black doppler and put it on my belly. First we heard my heatbeat and then ...... the babies! It was so incredible! So loud and strong. I was so happy and feel so blessed to have such a great pregnancy so far. Fingers crossed! But so far this little one is strong, healthy and growing. I feel very strongly that everything is going to be okay and tell myself this everyday. And, man is this little one loved! Pat and I are SO excited to be the best parents we can be and cannot wait to meet our baby.
XOXO

Belly Photos

First Photos of Baby!

6 Week Belly - First photo of belly. For those who say you cannot show at 6 weeks, check this out! Crazy! But loving it!

8 Week Belly - Already wearing maternity pants or very comfy sweats (as evident as the above photos). Little baby is the size of the kidney bean today which is a far cry from last weeks lentil.

Another addition to our family.....

It has been a crazy past couple months. Pat and I have gone through a lot and really have grown stronger together. We have cried, laughed and cried some more. I have leaned on him and he on me. It is a very emotional thing to loose a baby. We will never forget our baby and will always love baby. We visited where our baby was buried at the cemetery and it was a very powerful thing. We will go to visit every February 25th (the due date) and say hello, send some love and have a little chat until we meet again in heaven. We are blessed to have a little angel looking over our family and sending us love from heaven. We love you baby!

And today we are very excited to share that we have another little addition to our family. We are about 7 weeks along and our baby was brought into this world (and my belly) on our anniversary. I think that is amazingly cool.

We had our second ultrasound today and here are the photos of our little one below......baby is about the size of a blueberry so it is just a little peanut. We saw the heartbeat which was amazing and it was beating at 140 BPM which is good. Normal heartbeats range from 120-180 .We had an ultrasound at about 5 weeks where they just saw the gestational sac and yolk which is great news. They wanted to bring us back around 7 weeks to see the heartbeat. Here is the first photo of baby!!!

Mama has been very tired and very nauseous, all of which I love. I love everything that comes with pregnancy and am welcoming it with open arms! Even after I get sick and I just smiling and loving every minute of it. It feels good to feel all that comes with being pregnant and to know that my body is working hard making a comfortable little home for baby and needs all the energy I can give it. I am happy to do it! And the nausea that comes with the hormome surges, bring them on!

Both Pat and I are very excited. But still there is part of us that is still anxious and still have a hard time letting our guard down a little. We are very grateful for every day that we have that our baby is healthy and growing. I have a feeling this little one is healthy, happy and strong and we cannot wait to meet baby July 21st, 2009!

So I wanted to share our good news with all of you and reach out for any prayers and positive thoughts for us and baby that you can send! I am excited to share this journey with you again.
Love you!
BC, PC and baby

Sad days

We lost our baby. I was experiencing some dark spotting which everyone, including the nurse, told me was normal. I just knew that something was wrong, but I kept a positive outlook and pretended everything was okay. When I had bled for the 6th day straight I called the nurse and asked if I could come it. Pat got off work early and met me at the hospital. What was to come was the worst thing I have ever seen. We had an untrasound (very similar to the one we had less than 2 weeks ago) and we saw our baby....just still. Out hearts sank and we just bawled in the office.
It has been a day and it is not getting much easier. We have had an amazing outpour of support and love from our friends and family; for that we are truly blessed and grateful. I am bleeding and have some discomfort in my tummy. I have a pre op appointment tomorrow at 2 PM and have surgery early Friday morning. I am nervous for that but also am anxious to get it over with in a way.
I am so sad, but I know that with all the love and support from my friends, family and especially my amazing husband we will get through this. Everything happens for a reason, but for now I cannot swallow that. I just take every minute at a time and know that there will be a day that I can think of this and not cry. Until then, it helps to think that our baby is in heaven and we will always have a little guardian angel watching over us forever....
All my love,
BC

Here is my 'new' belly - 12 week old Bebe Connell

Check this baby out! Literally! I do have to come clean and let you know that I had a huge dinner and about 8.9 pounds of chocolate covered raisins at my Nana and Dapa's house tonight. However, as I promised, here is a new photo of my HUGE belly. And, yes, I know that when I am 9 months pregnant I will think this is a joke. But until then, I can honestly say that this is the biggest my belly has been since I was abroad in Europe.
I also realized after the photo was taken that it would have been much better if I was indeed barefoot.

12 weeks - How your baby's growing:

The most dramatic development this week: Reflexes. Your baby's fingers will soon begin to open and close, his toes will curl, his eye muscles will clench, and his mouth will make sucking movements. In fact, if you prod your abdomen, your baby will squirm in response, although you won't be able to feel it. His intestines, which have grown so fast that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into his abdominal cavity about now, and his kidneys will begin excreting urine into his bladder.

Meanwhile, nerve cells are multiplying rapidly, and in your baby's brain, synapses are forming furiously. His face looks unquestionably human: His eyes have moved from the sides to the front of his head, and his ears are right where they should be. From crown to rump, your baby-to-be is just over two inches long (about the size of a lime) and weighs half an ounce.

Week 10 - No longer Grape Baby, now Kumquat Baby now

Although he's barely the size of a kumquat — a little over an inch or so long, crown to bottom — and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, your baby now has completed the most critical portion of his development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in his body rapidly grow and mature. If you could take a peek inside your womb, you'd spot minute details, like tiny nails forming on fingers and toes (no more webbing) and peach-fuzz hair beginning to grow on tender skin.

First Photos of Baby C

July 31st was by far the coolest day of my life so far. We got to see photos of our little perfect baby! I had my 10 week appointment at my new doctor's nurse (who was amazing by the way!) and all we were expecting was for them to try to hear the heartbeat which I was very excited about. However I was trying to keep my hopes down just in case they could not find the heartbeat since that is can happen at this stage of the pregnancy. I had some problems earlier in the day with some bleeding from my bum, and though scary to bleed out of any part of your body, I did know that it was not going to harm our baby so that made it easier. Anyway, it still scared the crap out of me. I guess the bleeding can happen from the pressure in your tummy I learned, but I just have to keep an eye on it and we will discuss next appointment. But enough about me and my bloody bum. So needless to say I was a little on edge this appointment. So the nurse Julie came in and we were just chatting about the details - family health history, date of last period, how I have been feeling...etc. And then she goes "well, why don't I get the ultrasound machine now so we can see a photo of little one and verify everything is going well. How does that sound?" I was so excited but tried to keep it cool for some strange reason. "Okay, cool." I said. When she left I geeked out at Pat and was so excited - we were going to see our baby! I didn't think we could until September or October so this was just the most groovy surprise that has even been. She came back with her machine and off we went. It took a little bit for her to get "orientated" in there, but then there baby was. It is nuts because you can see baby moving and it's little heart beating like crazy. It was the most moving moment of my life. I hate to say it, but I really think out baby is probably the most perfect baby that has ever been on this earth. And I am not exaggerating. The good thing also is there is only one baby so the idea that we were having sextuplets went out the window. I was sure we were having multiples by the way my tummy is, but I guess baby just needs a really comfortable living quarters fully padded and roomy.
I did think I saw a penis in the photo, but Pat just thinks it is a leg. I told him that he wasn't giving himself enough credit, but we will have to wait until September 26 at 2:15 to really be able to determine the sex. Also, our baby was very active and moving all over the place - it kinda makes your heart flutter watching that. Baby looks like they are having just a fabulous time in there. Oh, and speaking of fabulous, nurse Julie said that our ultrasound looks "fabulous." I loved this comment for two reasons - firstly that our baby looked great and secondly that she used the word "fabulous." I knew that we would be great friends.
So there is it. Our first experience seeing our perfect little baby. The most amazing day of our life! I cannot wait to share more and go along this journey each day. Today this pregnancy really became "real." Not saying that it didn't feel amazing before, but a lot you had to imagine and you start thinking "Am I making this up?" or "Is this too good to be true?" or "Maybe I am just gaining weight and missing my period for months on end....that can happen." But today we got to see baby and what all the excitement is about. I just cannot believe that we saw our baby and in 7+ months we will be able to meet baby in person. Ok, I am crying. It's just so cool. Wow......
Love you all,
B, P and baby C

Belly's Debut

Hey!
So I promised to show a photo of the belly. I don't care what anyone says, it is different and growing! It is just crazy how a small change can make you feel SO different. My clothes are starting to feel a little snug and I am so excited to buy my first piece of real maternity clothing! Any who knew that a baby in your belly required your arms, legs and ass to grow as well. I guess it is the whole larger foundation for the large belly that will be soon upon us. What we do for our babies. Oh, and I also wanted to get this up because when I am HUGE and 8 months preggers, I will look at this and think "what they hell were you thinking about your "large" belly?" I think that will be funny! So a message to future me from present me - "Sorry I took this bod for granted."
I have still be feeling great. Tired, but awesome. The not awesome thing that has been happening lately is I have been spotting a little - a very little, but enough to freak me out. I know it is normal, but when it happens to you it feels anything but. It is amazing how much you can love the little grape baby in you more than you can imagine before you even lay eyes or ears on baby. I CANNOT imagine how we will feel when we actually meet baby! Overwhelming feeling!!!! But it is gone for the most part now and I hope it stays away for good! Damn spotting. It will give a mom a heart attack!
Pat and I switched doctors also which is big. We are going to meet with the doc that Erin and Pat (my sister and brother in laws) went to. She is really great, I hear. And with that, VERY difficult to get into. But we are in through September, but they are kinda of "take what you can get" appointment times and I was given strict instructions to "not miss any appointments or you may not get back in for a while." Geez. I will keep you posted on that front. Next week we have an appointment on Thursday - 8/31. We really hope to hear the heartbeat!!!! That will just be the most amazing thing EVER! However, there is a chance we won't be able to, but I really really hope we can! The amazing power of positive thoughts, as Pat says :)
Ok - me and bebe have to head to Grandma's and go on a walk with Louis, Grandma and Charlie!
Love to all!
Bebe and B

How your baby's growing:

Your new resident is nearly an inch long — about the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. She's starting to look more and more human. Her essential body parts are accounted for, though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound: Your baby's heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do her tiny teeth. The embryonic "tail" is completely gone. Your baby's organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. The external sex organs are there but won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks. Her eyes are fully formed, but her eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. She has tiny earlobes, and her mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The placenta is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of producing hormones. Now that your baby's basic physiology is in place, she's poised for rapid weight gain

Bebe Connell is 8 weeks old

Courtney gave me some fabulous advise today to start a blog so I can share this amazing experience with everyone that cannot be here on a daily basis! I am so excited to do this - it will help feel like everyone is here with me! Oh, if only you could all be here!
Anyway, here it is! I will do my best to share as much as I can throughout this crazy and exciting ride! Can you believe that in around 32 weeks we will be proud parents of a perfect baby!!!???!?!
I went to my 8 week appointment yesterday. I was very excited to go to my first official appointment to make this whole thing feel real! They tried to hear baby's heartbeat, but baby is still a little too little to hear it! Being the size of a blueberry makes it a little difficult to hear your little bitty heart! But we did get the due date - February 26th! Almost my birthday! This little baby may be the only person on the face of the earth that I would share my big day with! Just absolutely crazy that we have another February baby in the family! Well, unless baby stays in its little home until March...hmmmmm....
We made an appointment in about 2 weeks to go in again and try to hear the heartbeat! Pat and I cannot wait! Hearing baby's heartbeat will make this all feel so amazing and real! Not that my rounder, squishier tummy, big boobs and constant tiredness don't make it feel a little real. Oh, and the 5 pregnancy tests also help! But really, I cannot wait to hear baby and see baby! That will just be amazing! Until then, I will do all I can to make baby's home for the next 8ish months as comfortable and healthy as possible! :)
Below is what is happening with baby this week compliments of babycenter.com - how crazy is this!?!

New this week: Webbed fingers and toes are poking out from your baby's hands and feet, his eyelids practically cover his eyes, breathing tubes extend from his throat to the branches of his developing lungs, and his "tail" is just about gone. In his brain, nerve cells are branching out to connect with one another, forming primitive neural pathways. You may be daydreaming about your baby as one sex or the other, but the external genitals still haven't developed enough to reveal whether you're having a boy or a girl. Either way, your baby — about the size of a kidney bean — is constantly moving and shifting, though you still can't feel it.

I will post some photos later on of my tummy so I can document baby's and mommy's growth!!!
Love to all!
Mommy and Bebe Connell