Dear Baby Pacheco,

You are 7 weeks along already! I can’t believe how quickly time is flying by. Last Sunday (the day before our scheduled departure for vacation & just a couple hours after I last wrote you), we had a bit of a scare regarding your health… I started bleeding rather heavily around 10:30 that morning. It tapered off throughout the day, but when it was still spotting around 5 that evening we decided to go to the ER and make sure everything was okay. Dad & I were both absolutely terrified. Here I am in the hospital while they were running a variety of blood & urine tests:

Those tests all came back with positive/normal results, so they sent us to another part of the hospital to get an ultrasound. They wheeled me around in my bed, which is such an odd feeling! Prior to this I’d never actually been in the hospital as a patient before. The ultrasound tech was a very nice lady who measured you at 6 weeks exactly (one day off of what we’d originally thought based on my ovulation), and said that she did not see anything wrong. We got to see you hanging out in there, and the little flickerings which are the start of your heartbeat! It was so exciting! I couldn’t see the screen very well from where I was laying, so I spent most of this time watching Dad’s face. He was staring at you with such awe, smiling and crying tears of joy. It was quite an emotional moment for us both. We were able to take a picture of the ultrasound home with us:

You look like a little tadpole! 🙂 So that is what we’ve been calling you this week: “our little tadpole.” Haha. Anyway, the doctor said that because the heartbeat wasn’t strong enough for them to measure with the machine yet, they wanted us to follow up in a few days for another ultrasound to make sure things are developing as they should, and also to check in at our regular OB-GYN’s office the next day. We delayed leaving the next morning for the follow-up with my OB-GYN, where they took yet another blood & urine sample and did a pelvic exam. My doc said that based on the results of the tests/ultrasound in the ER and her own exam, everything looked great for being so early on. She was very reassuring and said that the bleeding could have been any number of minor things. She told us not to worry & enjoy our vacation, and to keep our original ultrasound appointment for next Monday (June 11th) so that they could check on your progress. After speaking with her Dad & I felt much better about the whole thing…. but let me tell you, that 24 hour span was quite the rollercoaster of emotions!

So then we went on our trip and had an AWESOME time in Atlantic City, New York, and Niagara Falls. Dad & I especially enjoyed Niagara Falls. There was so much to do there & the falls are really beautiful!

Since this was a roadtrip, a lot of time was spent talking in the car about our excitement that you’re on your way, our hopes and dreams for you and discussions about the kind of parents we’d like to be. It was really nice to have that time together to reflect on things like that, & to just enjoy some “us” time away from the hustle & bustle of our daily life. Overall an excellent “babymoon.” We also made our first purchase for you at the Disney store in Atlantic City: a Tigger outfit! Gender neutral of course. 😉 Anyway, now we are home safe & sound… resting up for the week ahead and anxiously awaiting our chance to see you again on Monday afternoon. I have started to get nauseous more & more frequently which I’m hoping is a good sign. Usually I can keep it at bay as long as I have at least a little food in my stomach (getting hungry exacerbates it). I’m feeling extremely tired all the time as well. When we weren’t chatting on the road, I was taking a nap! Dad was kind enough to do all the driving.

This post is getting kind of long (well it WAS quite a week, after all)… so I’ll wrap it up. Just know that Dad & I love you SO MUCH. And we all (me, Dad, Grandma, Papa, Nana, Grump, and many other friends and family who love you) are praying for your health and happiness. Keep growing little tadpole! 🙂

All my love,
Mom