The first time we laid eyes on you.(Kevin's Story Part 2)

On September 30, 2015, at nearly 12 weeks along, Scott and I went in for our first ultrasound.  We were both incredibly nervous but trying our best to stay positive.  Only a short time before I had gone in to have an early ultrasound for a previous pregnancy.  We had been told there was no heartbeat and our own hearts had been crushed.  We just knew that if we went in today and saw a heartbeat that everything would be fine.

I went back to the room and the doctor had me lay down on the table.  She put the cold gel on my belly and slid the ultrasound wand across my abdomen.  I had never been so nervous in my life and I think Scott was feeling the same.  The doctor quickly located the baby and there was the tiny flicker that was the heartbeat!  Scott and I both breathed sighs of relief!  Not only that but our little baby was squirming around on the screen as if showing off just for us.  In that moment all was right with the world.  The doctor wasn't able to print out pictures for us that day because the machine refused to work properly.  Normally we would have been disappointed but on that day we were so happy to have seen that little heartbeat on the screen that nothing was going to bring us down.  We walked out of the clinic that day on cloud 9.  After all the struggle and disappointment of the previous years we had our miracle baby.  It had happened all on it's own!

The doctor got me in again one week later on Oct 6th just so I could get photos printed out.  Everything looked great.  The baby was more active than the week before.  I even got to see my sweet little baby suck it's thumb for the first time.  The doctor handed me the little sheet of photos and I was so excited to get home and show them to Scott and the big boys.  I think seeing them was the first time it truly dawned on the boys that they were really going to have a new brother or sister. Now it was real.

I had been given a number to call to schedule an anatomy scan for 20 weeks.  When I called a few days later I was told there were no appointment available for that time frame and that they would call me back with the first available appointment.  I got the call later that day.  The first available slot was for December 17th-the due date for the baby we had previously lost.  On that day I would be nearly 22 weeks along.