My first prenatal appointment was Wednesday Jan 15. My doctor’s office was reluctant to schedule it, when I called last Friday (Jan 10), since I hadn’t gotten a positive HPT and my period wasn’t late yet. But I insisted, since all the signs were pointing to yes. I was certain I’d get a positive home test before my appointment, and I did.

At my appointment, I had to take another pregnancy test, which obviously confirmed that I’m pregnant. My doctor did a brief internal exam to make sure everything felt okay, which I guess it did since she didn’t say anything about it. She said she would have her nurse draw some blood to test my hormone levels, and that she wanted me to return Friday Jan 17 for followup blood work to compare. It was too early to see anything on an ultrasound, but I knew that already.

On Jan 16 I got a call to say that I have “good early levels.” Friday’s appointment was just a phlebotomist drawing blood, and my doctor’s nurse called later in the day and said that my blood work showed “a good rise in levels.” Then she said that my doctor wants me to come in the week of Jan 27th for my first ultrasound!!! I am so excited, but I didn’t want to take an extra day off work for this, so I scheduled it for Friday Jan 31st since I already have the day off.

I am really excited about (probably) being able to hear my baby’s heartbeat and getting a sonogram photo, even if I won’t understand what I’m seeing. My biggest fear is that I will be like Rachel on Friends when she couldn’t see her baby in the sonogram photo:

Actually, a lot of what I know about pregnancy and birth comes from watching Friends — Carol having Ben, Rachel having Emma, Phoebe having her brother’s triplets…

In other news, this week has been good as far as symptoms go. The nausea and heartburn haven’t been nearly as severe or frequent. On Thursday night I had a really bad backache, to the point where I had to lay down because I couldn’t get comfortable sitting up or standing. But since then even that hasn’t been too bad.