The Donaldsons

Wow. I can't believe I have made it to 11 weeks. Honestly I have been so fearful that something awful would happen before I made it out of the first trimester, but I am just in awe and so thankful to God that my baby is still here with us.

Yesterday (Monday), we had our first ultrasound, along with a myriad of other physical tests and labwork tests. Baby is looking healthy and strong, measuring spot on with where I thought I was, to the day. During the ultrasound we realized the first thing about our baby...it is very active. We can't decide if it is like me (fidgety even in the most perfect environment!) or Russ (hyper and active). I'm thinking that it is like Russ. Anyway, on the monitor that baby was moving a bunch. It looked like it was either dancing or running, with its hands and feet moving back and forth really fast. (Russ does a pretty good imitation!)

Then, when we were preparing to hear the heartbeat, the nurse warned us that it might be a bit early and if the baby was tucked low enough in the womb we might not be able to hear it. She then put the doppler on my tummy and within about 2 seconds there it was loud and strong. Badump-badump-badump-badump-badump-badump-badump!!! She said our baby is a showoff! (Me thinking again that this means baby is a LOT like daddy!)

Only concern so far is that there is some family history on my side of heart problems, so they will be sending me to the "big city" for a more detailed ultrasound at about 18 weeks to check the heart. I am not scared in the least, and am looking at this as a positive thing. 1) they are covering all of their bases, and 2) we will probably get to find out our baby's gender 6 weeks earlier than expected!

Here are all of the nitty-gritty details if you are interested:

How far along? 10 weeks, 6 days (11 weeks tomorrow!)

Due Date: Now September 1, 2010 (still hoping for an August baby)

Heart-rate: 150s-160s

Next appointment: March 9th

Next ultrasound: at 18 weeks (somewhere around the end of March, 1st of April)

Gender: Still unknown, but we should find out at our 18 week ultrasound. (Gender will remain "our secret" until the birth.)

Names: Girl name picked out, boy name still working on (Again, will remain "our secret" until the birth)

How I'm feeling: Wow this really depends on the day. I really would appreciate your prayers as I have this horridable cold. (yes that is a word, I made it up!) I'm on an antibiotic and some sudafed, but not much seems to be helping the symptoms.  The fatigue has let up a lot, except for that which has come from the cold.

Morning sickness? Well, I'm not sure what to say about this. It was going GREAT from 7-11 weeks. Only throwing up on a very rare occassion and nausea was slight. But since Sunday I have thrown up twice. Soooo, I'm not sure if this is morning sickness rearing its ugly head again, or just a side affect from all of the icky drainage and congestion making its way to my tummy. I guess I'll find out at the week progresses

Cravings: Still craving tomatoes, but normally only in the form of pizza. I decided to save some money and last time I went to the store I bought some $3.50 Tombstone pizzas so I don't have to bug Russ about buying me Papa Johns all the time! Then of course the fruit...ahh the fruit. Craving strawberries, apples, and pineapples like crazy, and even bought a cantaloupe that I have yet to cut into. Was quite disappointed that the kiwis at the store were all mushy and that I couldn't buy any this time. Other unusual cravings are french fries, eggs (poached, hardboiled, and egg salad sandwiches...WEIRD!), toast, and the last few days Rice Kissies!!! Some of this stuff I haven't eaten in YEARS!

Showing yet? Yes, as you can see by the photos that I posted earlier this week. Its very slight and only pronounced in the evening (which is when I am taking most of my photos), but the last few days I have noticed that even in the morning my tummy is poking out a little.

Excited Daddy? Honestly, because of my hideous cold, after the ultrasound and doppler I think Russ was more excited than I was. He made the baby's photo and heartbeat my caller ID and ringtone on the phone, and he plays it all the time!

Here's one of our ultrasound photos. For more pictures of our baby check out the link below the photo. Also, over on the right hand side of the page, above all of our blog information, is a 10-second recording of our baby's heartbeat. I couldn't get the file INTO the blog post so that's as close as I can get it! Enjoy!