Dear Baby Pacheco,

I’d been waiting to write because I was hoping to have some big news to share in my letter… I was anticipating finding out at my 12 week appointment whether you’re a boy or girl. I took the blood DNA test at 10 weeks, and was told it would take up to two weeks for the results to come back. I thought surely, they’d have the results by my next appointment….

Well, that appointment came & went– it was on Tuesday, which also happened to be Dad’s birthday. It’s funny, I’m pretty sure we had this same appointment for my first pregnancy on Dad’s birthday as well. So much of this pregnancy has felt like a repeat of my last, with the due dates being almost exactly the same & it “feeling” almost exactly the same. Anyway, although the ultrasound technician had a pretty confident guess based on what she saw on the screen, the test results still weren’t back yet. And now as I write this two days later, I still haven’t heard anything. If I don’t hear something by tomorrow afternoon, I will probably call their office tomorrow & harass some people. :-X   LOL

Despite that bit of disappointment, it was still an enjoyable visit! This was Dad’s first time getting to see you, which is always a momentous occasion as the sight of your little squirmy self on the screen always makes this whole “having a baby” thing feel so much more real. 😉 Both the doctor and the ultrasound tech said that you are looking great, and everything is right on target with the pregnancy so far. For that, we are so grateful. Here are my favorite pictures from the ultrasound:

The “full body” shot 🙂 I really liked the ultrasound tech we got this time– she took an extra few minutes to zoom in & show us every body part: the organs, limbs, etc. You are looking wonderfully healthy so far!

Five little fingers!!!

Anywho, other than that there isn’t too much to report on. As I said above, this pregnancy has been quite a bit like my first one… which is a good thing, as it means very little morning sickness. I will say that I ruined my perfect streak of no throwing up last week… but I should have known better than to eat Chinese food. For some reason I just can’t handle Chinese food while pregnant. I knew that, but ended up in a situation where I was at a Chinese restaurant last week & had little choice. For awhile I thought I would be okay, but then it hit me pretty hard a few hours later, just as I was about to leave work for the evening. Throwing up in the public bathroom at work is a less-than-pleasant experience, but thankfully no one was around as that would have made it extra mortifying. :-\ Since then (KNOCK ON WOOD, haha), I haven’t had any other issues. And hopefully I won’t from here on out, since we’re moving into second trimester now.

The other thing that’s been different is the alarming rate at which I’m growing. I took this picture a couple weeks ago, also in the bathroom at work LOL (I’ve been woefully awful about taking “official” bump pictures this time around, but quickly took this one to show a friend how there’s already a little bump going on).

I’ll try to remember to take another one soon. Exhaustion & “preggo brain” have hit me HARD. Unfortunately I think it has just as much to do with the pregnancy itself as with going through it while raising a young toddler. Phew!

That’s pretty much it for now…. I promise that the next time I write you, I’ll have your gender and your name ready to share! 😀 Until then, Little Plum!

All my love,
Mom