First prenatal appointment

Yesterday, I had my first prenatal appointment with Monika, one of my midwives.  Mary, Debra, and Monika all practice together, so I'll see each of them along the way.  It was great to see her-- I haven't seen her since my postpartum checkup nearly 2 years ago.  Mary has been my midwife for the longest and I love her, but Monika is closer to my age and we're a good personality fit.  It's a good practice to be in.  They are all genuinely excited about this pregnancy.

The appointment took quite a long time, because she had to take a comprehensive medical history and talk through any issues surrounding this pregnancy.  There was a lot to catch up on!  They took blood and urine samples to run the standard OB lab panels, since the ones I did before cycling were just old enough to be outdated.

Then it was on to the fun part-- feeling and listening for the baby.  When she was palpating, she said I had excellent muscle tone and asked whether I'd been working out, which is so the opposite of true that I laughed. Turns out that part of the reason she said that is that she was trying to decide is something was part of my abdominal muscle or the top of my uterus, because it was so much higher than she expected. When we listened for the baby, she started low, where she would have expected the uterus to be, and found nothing. It was a little nerve-wracking, and she said something like "Don't worry, I can definitely feel your uterus" (so I knew it was growing like it should be).  So she moved up into the questionable area and sure enough, baby was right at the top (video posted yesterday from my home computer, since it is more cooperative).

She said that if I hadn't already had 2 ultrasounds, she'd be referring me for one to rule out twins, since my uterus is measuring at about 12-13 weeks (I am 10w4d)-- and it's both high and wide, so it's not just long and skinny or something.  But I did have TWO ultrasounds showing ONE baby, so... I think we're good to go for one baby.

And, for context, I checked my old blog and when I was carrying twins, at 12 weeks, I measured *19* weeks, so a whole 7 weeks ahead.  A little 2 week difference is probably just an indication that my uterus is overeager (and had played this game a few times already).  Monika said it more nicely-- "the uterus blooms the way it wants to; you can't predict it."  I have bloomed.