The Gummi Bear's Story

Are you all settled in? I'm about to tell you the story of the Gummi Bear. Not the chewy, delicious, fruity gummi bear candy - but the little Gummi Bear that will make his or her appearance in about 4 1/2 months - MY Gummi Bear!

Note 1: For the sake of ease - and cuz I'll forget and do it anyway - I'm going to refer to the Gummi Bear as 'he' going forward. Disclaimer: we do not know the gender of our baby, so assume nothing.

Note 2: This is going to be a long one, so settle in, grab something to munch on and enjoy!

Mike and I had been trying for about six months to get me pregnant – nothing was working so I decided that enough was enough. I started taking my temperature each morning before I got out of bed, peeing on an ovulation stick each morning, and I made an appointment with a fertility specialist. Turns out, being scientific was all that was needed – I was actually ovulating about 2-3 days later than I thought, which can really screw up the “getting” bit of getting pregnant. I went into the fertility doctor for the initial appointment, got all the medication to help boost my fertility, and was getting all ready to start the process after my next period.

It never showed up.

I waited about a week to see if it would appear and nothing happened. No period. I started getting excited and went to the store to get a pregnancy test. I went with the digital happy face one, since frankly, lines are just too easy to get wrong. A happy face, not so easy to get wrong. So, I peed on the stick, and up popped a happy face – I was pregnant (at least, according to the test). Mike would poke me in the belly and say “Are you in there?” I tested again, just to be sure, and then went out to Mike with the test, showed it to him, and said “He’s in there!” Finally!

Nothing much happened with me the first 8 weeks or so – I didn’t really get sick, didn’t gain any weight, just a little more tired than normal. Sounds stupid (even my doctor laughed at me), but I took about ten more tests those first couple of months – just to be sure. Every one of the tests came back positive – of course – but it was reassuring.

We had our first doctor’s appointment on Tuesday, September 14th – I was about eight weeks and three days at that point – and all was well with the baby. We heard the heartbeat – a quick 172 bpm – and saw the baby with an ultrasound. The ultrasound tech confirmed our due date – April 24th – which was exactly what I thought it would be. The picture we got shows just a little peanut, but one of the shots she showed us showed the little arm and leg nubs. When she showed us that shot, the tech said “Your baby looks just like a little gummi bear” – hence the nickname. I teared up a bit when we heard the heartbeat and saw the little baby on the screen – it was pretty amazing.

Throughout the next few weeks, I started to actually ‘feel’ like I was pregnant. I got sick a few times – a couple of times because I ate too early, a couple of times because I waited too long to eat. Once I got that right, things were good. I think God was blessing me. I had another doctor’s appointment at 13 weeks, and then at 17 weeks. Both times we listened to the heartbeat, and both times, the baby was still galloping away at 162 bpm. It made me smile every single time to hear that.

My baby belly finally appeared around 19 weeks or so. Before that, it was a little rounder, but nothing major. No one could really tell that I was pregnant yet – and then bam! One day the belly was just sticking out proud as could be! Here's a couple shots at 20 weeks:

My 20-week appointment was great. The ultrasound tech showed us all kinds of shots of the kid – the face front shot (totally looks like a lizard), the profile shot, the arms and legs (including the knees – how cool!), a look at the spine and ribs. We got to see the hemispheres of his brain and all the chambers of the heart. We saw him scratching his neck and at one point, it looked like he was doing little sit-ups. His heart is still beating really quickly – still at 160bpm – so we’ll see if the old wives’ tale about the speed of the heart is true or not.

Here are a few shots of the baby - face front (I'm telling you, this baby might not be quite human), a shot of the baby's profile, and one of his feet:

This last week, I also finally started feeling the baby move around. Around the middle of the day and the end of each night, the baby really starts poking around. At first, I thought it was just indigestion or gas bubbles, but those feel bubbly. These are pokes. Mike felt the baby last night – I pulled him over and put his hand down where I was feeling the pushes, and the baby poked him! He got the biggest smile on his face and just chuckled. It’s a good feeling – it’s somewhat awe-inspiring as well. There is a living being inside of me and how amazing is that?

So, there you go – the Gummi Bear’s story… so far.