5.08.2012

12 weeks...

Wowser!  There's that word again!  I have noticed myself saying or thinking it very often lately, which my students find very nerdy.  No matter how dorky the word may be, it is the perfect word to describe how our 12 week appointment went last week.  

Our appointment wasn't until the afternoon, which I was not a fan of.  I had to sit through the entire day feeling anxious, excited, and unmotivated to do anything at work because all I could think of was 3:30pm.  Even though the day seemed to drone on and on, I did make it through and raced over to the doctor's office after school to meet Andy for our appointment.  We waited in the waiting room anxiously and then we finally heard, "Lindsey?" and that was our cue that it was our turn!

At this appointment, we got to meet our doctor, who came highly recommended.  I was nervous and was hoping that we would like her and to our surprise and happiness, we both loved her instantly!  She is a younger doctor, super knowledgeable, patient, and excited.

She took time to answer all of our questions and didn't act like she had heard them a million times or that they were silly.  She made us feel at ease when she shared that she had also had multiple miscarriages and now has two daughters.  I hate that I feel this way when I hear this news, but it honestly feels like someone instantly understands what we have been through.  

Now the part that we had been waiting for, hearing our baby's heart beat!  Again, wowser!  There was a loud whirring sound and then, all of a sudden, a distinguishable 'boom, boom' of a little, tiny heartbeat.  Andy and I both lost it and cried happy tears!  I think this is and instant piece of mind for all expecting parents and it is a clear sign that things are okay.  The Doppler measured that our little Groettum's heart is at 171 beats per minute (BPM), which we were told is excellent.  The normal range is 120-180.  We thought our appointment was over after this, but were pleasantly surprised when our doctor asked us if we wanted to see our little one.  I am quite sure no parent would say no to this offer, especially when you don't usually get to see your baby at this milestone appointment.

Here, wowser isn't strong enough to describe our feeling.  It was AMAZING!  We saw the little feet, which were crossed in a relaxed position.  We saw a little hand above the head.  Most of the time as we were watching, our little one was just chilling, but all of a sudden, he/she jumped a little bit on the screen.  Also, AMAZING!  I know that most parents are biased and think that their kids are the cutest in the whole world and I am no different.  I may as well jump right on that bandwagon now.  I mean, look for yourself...little Groettum is already a looker!    


Andy and I were flying pretty high after our appointment and had planned to celebrate on a date out to dinner at a new restaurant.  We were both craving a little seafood action, so we made our way to Max Gill & Grill in Washington Park.  It was fabulous right from the start!


We ordered some appetizers, I the walnut crusted goat cheese served with apples and crackers and Andy a dozen raw oysters.  We sat in their outdoor patio and it was super cute with trees built into the decor, twinkling lights hanging above us, and the decor made you feel like you were out East gearing up to eat the fresh catch of the day.  If you closed your eyes, you could probably imagine the saltiness of the ocean in the air!    




For the main course, Andy settled on the cioppino and I went for the king crab legs, which I have been craving for months.  It was beyond our expectations and by the end we were stuffed to the gills (get it?)!  We were two  happy campers.  Not only were we enjoying a fabulous, romantic date night together, but we were also reveling in our new role as parents-to-be.  We shed a few happy tears throughout dinner and talked excitedly about the future.  


I am not going to lie, the journey of parenthood is not all sunshine and rainbows.  There are plenty of things that we are terrified of and the unknown is scary, but this night we celebrated and put our fears to rest if only for one night.  The little thing that I always come back to when I get nervous or scared is that we are on this journey together.  So, no matter how scary things get or if life gets really hard, we have the other by our side to hold a hand or give a shoulder to cry on.  On the flip side, when things are so exciting that we can't even form words, we can also feel comforted that there is only one other person in the world that knows exactly how we feel and it is okay to just say nothing.  



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