Heard the Heartbeat!

I am 10 weeks and 4 days along now. Corey and I went back to the doctor this morning for a checkup. I knew they were going to try and hear the heartbeat so I was a bit nervous! I really haven't had any morning sickness at all and have been starting to feel better as far as the "hungover" feeling so without many pregnancy symptoms I have had myself a little worried that maybe everything wasn't ok. When the nurse took my blood pressure she asked me if it ran high and I told her "No just really nervous - I'm sweating through my pants!". The doctor came in and let me know my blood work results. Thankfully I am not a cystic fibrosis carrier. My Rubella immunity came back equivalent which means I am not as immune as I used to be. Thankfully we don't hear much these days of german measle outbreaks so I should be ok, but they want me to get re-vaccinated after the baby is born.

Next the Doctor tried to listen for the heartbeat with the Doppler. After about 10 minutes she couldn't find it. She told me it was still pretty early to hear, and depending on the way my uterus was sitting it could be difficult. They gave me the option of coming back in a week and trying again or waiting around to get fit in for an ultrasound. I decided to wait since I am a worry-wart and knew I wouldn't get any good sleep if I had to wait.

Thankfully the wait was only about 30 minutes for the ultrasound tech. After hopping up on the table and getting squirted with lots of ultrasound goo (surprisingly it was nice and warm!) the tech got started. Right away the most amazing, beautiful sound of our baby's heartbeat could be heard in the room!!! They have a TV setup in front of the exam table so we could see the heart monitor on the screen and see Baby Burns. He or she was moving its little leg buds around and kept turning its back on us. How amazing it was to see our "mini" baby since the last ultrasound just looked like a little blob on the screen. I sneaked a look at Corey and even he was tearing up! So even though I had to freak out at first, I am so thankful for the blessing in disguise of having to have the ultrasound done so we could see our little one and hear/see its strong heartbeat!

I go back in 2 weeks for the nuchal screening. Its about an hour long ultrasound and blood work where they will test my risk for down syndrome and other defects. Please keep us in your prayers that the tests come back fine.

I am so thankful to be having a very uneventful pregnancy so far. I really thought I was going to be awful sick, so I am counting my blessings to just feel hungover and tired. The bloating and heartburn aren't fun but such a small price to pay. In just a few short weeks we will finally be in the 2nd trimester. I am looking forward to getting over that hump and starting to get some energy back.

Thanks for everyone's continued support and prayers. I will keep you updated. My sister has a scanner so I am going to try to get over there to scan our 6 week ultrasound picture and the one from today.

Love, Corey, Ashley & Baby Burns (and Izzie too)

8 weeks

So this week I am 8 weeks along. Can't believe its been almost a month since we found out we are expecting - time flies! Thankfully I am still feeling pretty good. I guess I am one of the lucky few who doesn't have severe morning sickness. Some days I feel a bit "hungover" but mostly I am feeling good with the exception of a bit more tiredness.

This weekend I am looking forward to my valentine's date with Corey, and next weekend Corey will be heading to Cane Island for my dad's "Wee-Cane". I think he is looking forward to some "guy" time.

I think most of our close friends and family have been told about my pregnancy so its been awesome to be able to talk about it openly. We still aren't saying anything on facebook, but its nice to chat in person or on the phone with others.

This past week one of my best friends gave birth to her first child, a boy named Maddox on February 4th. He weighed in at almost 9 lbs! Still don't know how she was able to push him out, but congrats to Kisha and Lenny! I can't wait to meet the little guy, and it makes me excited that we will have kids less than a year apart.

Well there isn't much else to post for now...next dr appt coming up on the 26th.

Keep the prayers a coming - we are very grateful for them!

7 weeks

This week we have begun telling more family and a few close friends about our pregnancy. It is so fun to see Corey so excited. I think it took him a bit more time to finally realize he was ready to start trying for a baby, so to see him like this has been great. This Sunday, I had a miserable day. I felt nauseated all day, and had a headache. I didn't even get out of my pj's and spent most of the day in bed. Corey was such a fantastic husband (not that he isn't always), and spent his day cleaning the kitchen, doing 4 loads of laundry, raking leaves, taking over dog duty, going to the grocery store, and finally bringing home dinner for me! It was nice to be so taken care of.

During the week I don't feel as bad. Makes me wonder if my body realizes I need to be able to get up and function at work, and on the weekends the tiredness and everything just catches up with me. Sunday (my sick day), I found out that a dear cousin of mine had passed. This weekend, we will be traveling to Columbia for her funeral. I am really looking forward to seeing my extended family even under such horrible circumstances, but also hoping I won't feel so bad this weekend while traveling.

I have so many friends and a cousin that are all expecting also, so Corey and I are looking forward to having a child the same age as them. Corey has already started tossing around name ideas, and thankfully so far we don't disagree on many that we do or do not like. For once we seem to agree on a lot of things :) Now that we have seen the ultrasound it seems real that I am actually growing a child in there! I had a freaking out moment this weekend when I realized that we are actually going to have a baby to care for! Thankfully it lasted just a split second and then my excitement took back over.

We still have a few more weeks until we go back to the doctor, but I will post if anything new or exciting happens.

1st ultrasound

So today Corey and I had our 1st ultrasound to verify our due date. It was the most incredible thing I've ever seen. I felt complete relief to learn that everything looked ok. After pointing out the gestational sac and the yolk sac, the technician showed us the embryo and then had me hold my breath. When I held my breath the screen would quit jumping around and we could see the tiniest pulsing of the heartbeat! She wasn't sure we would see it this early but I'm so glad we were able to! My dates put me at 6 weeks 4 days along, but the embryo measured at 6 weeks 2 days. They said they would still leave my due date around September 20th.

After the doctors appointment, Corey and I visited my Grandmother to tell her the good news and give her an ultrasound picture. We have decided at this point to tell family about Baby Burns.

I will try to scan and post the ultrasound picture if I can. Corey has gone off to enjoy the last weekend of duck hunting season so I am relaxing at home. This week brought on the start of a little morning sickness. I haven't really gotten sick, just pretty nauseated in the mornings and sometimes all day. I've started to have some food aversions. I don't really have a list of foods that I can't eat, just more when someone mentions a type of food or when I look at a menu, I know exactly what I don't want or what I don't think I can handle. I am also starting to have some cravings...mostly mexican food! Thankfully I am not too tired yet...just a little more sleepy than usual some nights. Corey has been great about helping me out around the house when I'm too tired to finish the dishes or laundry after cooking dinner.

Well, that's all for now. We don't go back to the doctor for a month, but at that appointment we should get to hear the heartbeat. I will try to post as any changes happen.

Thanks for all the well wishes and prayers for Baby Burns!

5 tests later...its official!

Proud daddy-to-be!

Shocked and totally excited!

The first 3 of 5 tests I took...just wanted to be sure!

There is no denying or confusion with the new digital tests!

Its official....we're expecting! Corey and I found out that I am pregnant on January 14, 2010. I had honestly convinced myself that I wasn't but apparently what I thought was pre-menstrual symptoms were actually my first pregnancy symptoms.

My sister Tina went with me to my first appointment with my OBGYN on January 20, 2010 so they could confirm the pregnancy. I was relieved when the doctor walked in and offered me a "Congratulations"...even though I had already taken 5 home tests that were all positive! After answering my questions and giving me a bunch of information, they gave me the Swine Flu (H1N1) vaccination and took a bunch of blood to run tests with. The doctor said she thought I was 5 weeks and 2 days along so that gives me an estimated due date of September 20, 2010 (looks like I will be miserable and big in the middle of all the summer heat!)

Corey and I are going back next week (January 29, 2010) for our first ultrasound and a full phsyical exam with the OB. They decided to go ahead and do an ultrasound just to confirm how I am measuring to confirm the estimated due date.

Thankfully for now I am feeling pretty good, but the doctor said it could be another week or 2 before I started having morning sickness (if I get it at all). For now I am just a little more tired than usual and HUNGRY all the time! No matter what I eat, I feel like I haven't ate in 2 days! Thankfully the doctor said that would probably only last a few weeks and to just eat if I'm hungry but try to stick with healthy snacks and not a bunch of junkfood.

The day after we found out I had to tell my mom, so I told her by asking if she would be willing to start a "diaper collection" for us because we would be needing them soon. She was completely shocked since we hadn't even told anyone we were trying. Corey was hunting with my dad that weekend, and it was so hard for him not to say anything. We ended up telling my dad as soon as they got back from their trip. Next we told Corey's parents. Corey is really bad about dropping hints and thinking that he is being inconspicuous (when in truth he is actually being very obvious!) so his dad guessed before we could tell him. I gave Corey's mom a bunch of pictures from Christmas that I had printed and told her there might be some she hadn't seen. The very last picture was the picture from above of the 3 positive tests. She just looked at us and said "What is this?!" then hugged us both with tears in her eyes. Later that night we called Corey's sister on the phone to tell her and she was just as excited as the rest of us :)

The hardest part was waiting to tell my sister who was out of town for the few days after we found out. I invited her and her husband and kids over for dinner the night they got back. I tricked her by telling her I just thought she might not feel like cooking after being on the road. At Christmas, she was so sure I was going to tell her I was pregnant that she was disappointed when I wasn't. She jokingly told me that I had a month til her birthday (January 25th) to get knocked up! I wrote her a card that said "Aunt Tina you're birthday wish came true and your present will arrive in approximately 9 months!". When they came over for dinner I handed her the card and by the time she read it she jumped on me to hug me and started crying. It was an awesome moment, and I'm really excited for this experience to just make us closer as I get to become a mommy! My niece pretended to faint when I told her and then told me she wanted me to have 3 girls and 3 boys! At least its a welcome change from her now famous line of "Ashee when are you going to have a baby - you are taking too long!"

I have started this blog so that our family and friends can keep up with us as we start our journey into parenthood! I will try to post often and add pictures as I figure out how to use this website :)

All prayers for us and our little bean are greatly appreciated!

Love,

Corey, Ashley, Izzie and Baby Burns