Hi everyone. My name is Kelly and I live in SE Pennsylvania. I am 28 years old and this is my first pregnancy. My husband Steve and I have been married since 2003. We have a 3 year old JUG (Jack Russell/Pug mix) that has been our baby up until now! We have always planned for children but wanted to wait for the perfect time and were thinking of maybe starting to try this fall. However, things don't always happen as planned and we found out on January 14th that we were expecting!

Unfortunately I started spotting at 4 weeks. An ultrasound revealed an empty uterus so I was sent immediately to the ER for a suspected ectopic pregnancy. At the hospital, a 2nd ultrasound revealed a small empty sac (which they thought was a pseudosac) so I was encouraged to terminate the pregnancy. My husband and I refused due to the conflicting opinions we had been given all day, and asked for a 2nd opinion. I was sent to see a specialist the next day who was more experienced looking at very early pregnancies. To our complete surprise, we were informed that the baby looked just fine. He identified the fetal pole and yolk sac and said there were no problems! I was so angry about being encouraged to terminate the night before, but was incredibly thankful with our decision! I continued to spot for 8 weeks and was told the bleeding was due to a small hematoma created by my growing uterus.

My pregnancy has been going tremendously well since the spotting ended at 12 weeks. I rented a fetal doppler and listen to the baby's hearbeat every other day for reassurance! I will keep everyone posted.

UPDATE - 4/30: It's a girl! At least, we think. The ultrasound tech could not tell us 100% b/c the baby kept her legs shut pretty much the whole time but at the end she seemed to identify 3 little white lines which are girl parts. We are going to have a 3D ultrasound in a few months to make sure. I am so excited! And more importantly - the baby appears to be very healthy. Everything looked perfect and I am so grateful. Now the pregnancy feels real to me :-)

5/7 - I had my 20 week appointment and was told my triple screen came back negative. Yay! I am hoping I got the rough stuff out of the way in the beginning and it will be smooth sailing from here. Now if only I would feel her move regularly.

6/6 - My 24 week appointment was this afternoon. My uterus measured exactly 24 weeks and the baby's heartbeat was 154. I was given a kick count sheet now that I am feeling her move every day and was ordered to take the 1 hour glucose screen during my 26th week. The only problem is I gained 10 lbs this month! The doctor told me to watch it a bit. I am nervous b/c I have heard horror stories about taking off pregnancy weight. I am really going to make an effort to eat healthy and exercise regularly the next 16 weeks. I have gained 21 lbs so far and there is still a while to go!

7/5 - I just got back from my 28 week visit. My glucose test came back normal, which I was very excited about. My blood pressure was good 99/70 (I always worry about this b/c my sister had pre-eclampsia with her first) and the baby's heartbeat ranged between 135-150. I gained 6 lbs, which I thought was a little high, but the Dr said not to worry about it. I don't look puffy and I'm still pretty much all tummy, so they're not concerned. I go back in 3 weeks, then every 2 weeks until the 36 week point, when I go every week. Time is really is flying by!

7/21 - I had my 3D/4D ultrasound today. It was absolutely amazing. Although, the baby wasn't too cooperative. Her face was smooshed up next to my placenta the whole time, which made it difficult to get clear pictures. We didn't mind though, b/c we were just thrilled to see her. She is absolutely adorable. Already has hair and has my nose. I can hardly wait until September!

7/23 - Very short doctor's appointment today. Everything looks great and I only gained 2 lbs. Yay! I made all of the appointments for the rest of my pregnancy. I can't believe I am that far along already. I go back in 2 weeks. I have been experiencing more cramping than usual - but my doctor said this is normal and will only be increasing in the following weeks. Fun!

8-7 - My appointment went well today. BP seemed a little low at 90/60 but no one seemed concerned. I gained 3 lbs and the Dr. estimated my little girl would be high 3 lbs or low 4 lbs if born today. I asked about the low menstrual like cramps I have been getting, and she recommended drinking lots of water to relieve them. With the heat, we should all we doing that anyway! Next appointmnt is in 2 weeks.

8-21 - I had my first internal exam today. I was caught off guard b/c I thought they wouldn't start these until 36 weeks! It was a little uncomfortable, but really quick. My cervix is closed and the baby's head is down. The heart rate was 143 and my BP was normal. I start going every week from this point on!

8-27 - Still no change this week! I saw a different doctor from my practice and the exam was very uncomfortable this time. Immediately following the internal, I had bright red bleeding and passed several clumps of mucus. I am assuming this was part of my mucus plug, but I will have them verify that next week. The one positive from this week's appointment is that my Strep B test came back negative. I can't believe we have to go through this every week! Let's hope she comes early...

Birth Story - Well I didn't go early! This is a bit long, but I know how everyone loves details. I started feeling my first contractions around 12 AM on my due date - 9/25. I had pains on and off all day, but didn't start timing them until around 3 PM when the contractions were 20 minutes apart. I called my doctor around 9 PM when the contractions were 5 minutes apart. I go to a practice of 7 doctors, and of course the one on call is the doctor who encouraged me to terminate my pregnancy in the beginning! I was so annoyed. Even though the contractions were 5 minutes apart and lasting for a minute each, he told me it still might be a false alarm as it normally is with first babies, and to wait until they are 2-3 minutes apart and then call back! I live an hour from my hospital, so this made me a little nervous. I called back around 11 PM and told him they were 2 minutes (even though they were 4) and he told me to come in. I went to triage upon my arrival and a resident checked me. I was already 5 cm and 100% effaced! I had to wait three hours for a room to open up, which was pretty uncomfortable without pain medication. When I finally got into my room, I was 6 cm with the head completely engaged, and was given an epidural. The epidural only took on one side, so I was still feeling contractions on the other. Around 6 AM I finally reached 10 cm and was able to push. Unfortunately, the epidural was up so high I wasn't feeling any pressure and my pushing wasn't really effective. So they took the epidural away and I started pushing for real around 7AM. I was doing pretty well with the pushing, but the baby's heart rate started to drop with each contraction. The doctor was getting a little nervous, so they decided to do an episiotomy and use the vacuum. That was definitely the worst part. My doctor laid on my stomach to push the baby out while one of the residents pulled the suction. Oh - and I had a whole crew of interns watching! But at 7:47 AM my beautiful baby was finally born weighing 6 lbs 11 oz and 19 inches long. It turns out the cord was wrapped around her neck, but she was absolutely fine. It is amazing how suddenly you forget about the pain and immediately fall in love as soon as you lock eyes with your baby! I would do it again in a heat beat :-)

Abigail's picture at 30 weeks 4 days. What a beautiful baby!

Our baby girl's picture at 18 weeks 6 days

A picture of our 8 week scan. It really does look like a bean!

67 % chance of having a girl