12 week appointment

Not my baby, but probably what he/she looks like at this point.

Today I am officially finished with the 12th week- tomorrow entering into the 13th week. I think this means I am done with the first trimester and onto the second, but it's a bit confusing because I won't offically be done with my third month until May 6th...
Today's appointment consisted of peeing in a cup, getting weighed, having my blood pressure taken and ... getting the hear the heartbeat!
Now- I must say I like my home digital scale a heck of a lot better than the scale at the doctors office. When I got pregnant I KNOW I weighed 132 according to my scale at home (since I stepped on it that morning) and when I stepped on it this morning I clocked in at 137... they say 2-5 lbs is typical weight gain during the first trimester so I'm normal. However, the scale at the office said a much heftier weight of 141! Perhaps some of this disparity is due to being weighed at home naked, pre-breakfast and at the office fully clothed and having had a good high-fiber meal...I'll blame it on that at least for now.
Apparently the baby is good for my blood pressure as it was down to 96/50- seems low to me but they said it looked great. All my blood work from the first visit came back perfectly healthy.
The heartbeat was wonderful to hear- it took a few minutes to find as Jill started "looking" on my right side but eventually found the baby on the left...heartbeat was in the 160s and we even got to hear two kicks! Strange to think a little 2-inch baby (crown to rump, about the size of a lime) is in there and actually capable of kicking. I could even feel the top if my uterus for the first time through my belly- I'm going to have Tim prod me tonight :)
I also asked out of curiosity what the c-section rate is for the practice and was told it's about 12%- so about a third of the national average.
Next appointment is May 20th with the head midwife again.

Bella Band benefits come early!

If you've never used or heard of the Bella Band it is simply a band of stretchy material you wear over your normal pants once you can't button them anymore so that they don't fall down, or over your maternity pants that you don't quite fit into to keep them snug up against you.

Now other women I hear don't need this fabulous invention until close to 16 weeks when their growing mid-sections get a bit too thick with their 4inch plus baby. I, however, found an earlier use for my newly purchased black bella band.

I can now wear my too small pants! And pants that have been sitting around waiting for me to sew back on their missing buttons! Woohoo! My wardrobe just dramatically increased. So pants that fit in length, and thighs but didn't quite get around my middle I can now wear! Like my cute olive green pants (that I bought last year when Tim and I went to Montana and I visited the Patagonia outlet while Tim fished in the SNOW) can now be worn button undone. And my black pants that I bought back in Africa in 2000 and lost their button 4 months ago, are now currently and happily residing on my legs.

Once this baby does grow big enough that I really do need maternity clothes Christi just let me go thru her stash and it's pretty well filled out. I did order one more pair of shorts and a t-shirt, but I don't think I will need to get very much- especially if we have a warmer fall since Christi was pregnant during the hot summer so her clothes are geared towards that season.