My First Pregnancy
Updated: Jan 25, 2019
On June 14, 2014, the day before Father’s Day, I found out I was pregnant. I was only a few weeks along at the time so we kept it to ourselves for a while before sharing the exciting news with our family and friends. Keeping it a secret was fun and I immediately started to look up all the ways possible to determine the gender of the baby before the 19 week anatomy ultrasound, you know… the Chinese Gender Chart, Gender Prediction tests, Baking Soda Gender Test and of course the dissecting of which symptom screamed boy and which pointed to girl. Nevertheless, almost every test performed and every chart analyzed we would know soon whether we had been blessed with a baby boy or girl.
First Heartbeat
At 12 weeks we did the Integrated Prenatal Screening (IPS). This screening test combines measurements from an ultrasound and two blood tests to determine the chances of our baby having Down syndrome. The IPS test took into account the measurements taken during the ultrasound and the level of the proteins and other substances measured in my blood tests. After taking my age into consideration the IPS test gave our doctor a numerical estimate of the chance of Down syndrome. Thankfully for us, the results did not show any signs or issues we should be aware of.
During the ultrasound we had a chance to listen to our little nugget's (that's what she looked like in the ultrasound) heartbeat for the first time. It sounded like horses galloping and I have to say it was the most amazing sound I've ever heard and filled our eyes with tears. This was the first time my pregnancy really began to feel real and made us love our baby even more.
The News is Out
After sharing the baby news with our families and friends we decided that we would have a gender reveal party once both Jay and I had found out ourselves (I am kind of a control freak and needed to know before everyone else did). I had a friend of mine make a cake, a gender reveal cake, one that would either be pink or blue on the inside depending on whatever gender the ultrasound technician believed the baby to be.
After the first ultrasound for the IPS test, we couldn't wait until the next one to see the baby again. At 19 weeks we had our second ultrasound exam (the anatomy ultrasound). This time it was about an hour long so that the technician could take more measurements and pictures. While sitting in silence, praying that everything was alright, Jay waited outside until he was called in after the technician finished gathering all the information she needed. During that time I didn't get to see anything on the screen but I was patient and once Jay was called into the room I knew the moment we had been waiting for was upon us - the reveal of our baby's gender.
The ultrasound tech began to show us the baby's eyes, nose, toes, feet, arms, legs, mouth and precious heart beating. It was the most emotional experience seeing how much the baby had grown in just a few short months. After seeing the baby move around inside me for a little, the technician shared what she believed was the gender of our baby, though she wasn't 100 percent sure. I was in complete shock, I think Jay was too! I just cried tears of joy, shock and excitement. I was just very relieved I finally had a more convincing answer besides the results of my Chinese Gender Chart and Baking Soda Test.
Here are some pictures of the cake we had made for the gender reveal party with our family:
It's a Girl!
The Baby Shower
With the news finally out, the baby shower planning was in full swing. The 100 invitations to the baby shower went out a few days after the reveal, they were absolutely beautiful. Here's a look:
On the day of the baby shower Jay, bless his heart, woke up really early to be at the banquet hall for 7 AM so that he could setup the hall with my uncle. The hall looked absolutely amazing - they did really such an amazing job. I have to say I was really blessed to have Jay's help not only on that day, but also on all the days leading up to it, with things like favours and running errands.
I have never seen so many gifts and people at a baby shower for such a small person who no one has met yet. My daughter, who has yet to arrive, received at least 50+ books, clothes galore, a bunch of handmade blankets, toys... the list goes on. The shower was beautiful and I owe it all to both our mothers for throwing the most incredible and elegant baby shower. Here are some more pictures from the shower: