Sonogram, 9 weeks

There's a bad glare right in the middle of this picture from me taking a photo of it with my phone. Sorry...

Bulbous tadpole head is on the right side. Here's another photo showing you what most babies look like at nine weeks gestational age (via BabyCenter):

The sonogram was taken on the day we met the man who will likely deliver the Babe Gaultney, Dr. James Norwood. Super guy, very knowledgeable, fantastic personality and bedside manner. Brad really liked him too. I honestly had just found him online and chose him based on glowing patient reviews. I heard Baylor was a great place to deliver, so I consulted my frenemy Google and made the call! When we arrived at his office, we saw a Christmas card from a Watermark (our church) family that we really admire. Knowing he had delivered their kids made us feel really good.

He and I seem to align on the important-to-me issues (inductions, C-sections, etc.). The absolute ONLY time he is not on call is the weekend, so I'm already having little pep talks with Baby G to make sure not to make his or her debut unless it's Monday through Friday. 

Sonogram, 7 weeks

Gummi bear baby with a halo. Actually, yolk sac is the loop at the top, with the baby just underneath.

I was back for another ultrasound, just a week after the first!

That's pretty unusual. See, the first time I went in, my doctor guessed I was four weeks along. They drew blood, told me to come back in 48 hours for another blood draw, and at that point my hormone levels (HCG in particular) were supposed to double. That's a sign of a healthy early pregnancy.

When the results came in, though, my levels hadn't doubled. In fact, they had only risen about 30 percent. The numbers themselves were VERY GOOD; in fact, one doctor said progesterone and HCG levels were so high, they could be considered twins level. Still, the fact that they hadn't doubled was concerning. I felt like the clinical staff, without saying so directly, was trying to prepare me for a high chance of miscarriage.

I'll stop and say that Google is not your friend in early pregnancy. Not even a little bit. DO NOT GOOGLE. Very reputable websites with solid medical science say that if your levels don't double within 48 hours, the pregnancy is not viable and miscarriage is certain. I pretty much wanted to lock myself in a room until the end of my first trimester.

So they asked me to come back a week later (the earliest they could fit me into the schedule) to check on the baby. I came in, uncharacteristically calm in the face of that kind of situation. It had been a huge exercise in faith and trust in God.

I can't tell you how relieved I was to see the baby -- looking more and more like a baby -- bouncing around on the ultrasound screen. Turns out, the doctor had incorrectly dated my pregnancy, and I was actually six weeks along at the time of my first visit. Around six weeks, the hormone levels start to even out and plateau in many cases, so that's why the numbers didn't double. Crisis averted.

And that's how at seven weeks, I got a cute picture of a babe who looks like a Gummi bear.

Sonogram, 6 weeks

First time I laid eyes on this precious little life.

(Forgive the poor picture quality. I took a photo of the sonogram with my phone.)


The dark area at the center of the image is the gestational sac. Within that area, the loop at the bottom left is the yolk sac (feeds the baby until the placenta is fully formed), and the polka dot to the right of the yolk sac is embryonic Baby G.

I've heard from people who cried happy tears when they first saw their little one like this. It was not emotional at all for me, surprisingly. I was just so shocked that the proof was staring me in the face! I was suddenly a human incubator!