12 weeks, 6 days

We've gone public!!!  

Amanda and I are sharing our amazing news with the world.  We are having a baby!!!  We've been hanging out to tell everyone but wanted to get through the first trimester.  Today marks the first day of our second trimester!  We are now 13 weeks pregnant.  Our due date is March 5.

Many of our friends know that the road to pregnancy was long.  We have been trying to start a family for a couple of years.  After many disappointments, we met with Dr. Stephen Mooney of Reproductive Gynecology, Inc.  Dr. Mooney placed Amanda on a crazy cocktail of fertility medications.  The medications were rough on Amanda, causing her all kinds of physical and emotional stress.  Even with the fertility medications, Amanda and I experienced many disappointing months.  Then upon taking a one-month vacation from the fertility treatments (June), we of course become pregnant!

Sonogram at 12 weeks, 6 days
(click to enlarge)

The pregnancy has been extremely successful.  The baby is developing perfectly and appears to be in great health.  Amanda and I have been getting sonograms every fortnight.  The baby's size, heart rate and physical development appear perfect.  Amanda has suffered her fair share of "morning" sickness, although it should really be called "all the time" sickness.  Dr. Mooney kept her on a couple of medications to supercharge her pregnancy.  These medications have wreaked havoc on most of Amanda's body systems.  However, today Dr. Mooney took her off these medications and said we no longer need them as we enter the second trimester.  What a relief!  Hopefully Amanda will quickly begin to feel better.  It's been ages since she's had an appetite or could even tolerate most of her favorite foods.

Today Amanda had her third sonogram.  The baby is growing like a weed and is very active.  The baby is now 78mm in size (3 inches) and can be compared to the size of a peach.  The heart rate was 154 bpm.  All measurements indicate a perfectly healthy and normally-developing baby.

We are graduating from the fertility clinic and will transfer to a traditional OB/GYN for the remainder of the pregnancy.  We found a wonderful clinic called Atrium.  At around 20 weeks we will be able to determine the baby's gender.  And, yes, we do intend to find out!  I will post the news here when I find out.

We are super excited that Amanda's mum is planning to fly here from Australia in February to attend the birth.  Amanda will plan a baby shower in mid February so that her mother can attend.  (Yes, that's cutting it close, but we really want her mum to be at the shower.)

Below you will find a video I took at Monday's sonogram appointment.  Our Aunt Deb accompanied us to the sonogram.  You can really see the baby move!  He/She has a few good dance moves, if I may say so. Amanda and I will update this blog as the baby continues to grow and learn new dance moves.  :-)