Not Much to See Yet

I was delinquent about posting the 7 Week shot last week. So, here are both 7 & 8 Week pictures at once! Perhaps there's a change at 8 Weeks, but it could just be all the gumbo at yesterday's PSU/MSU game:) We had a Big Ten finale party yesterday. About 25 friends stopped over to partake in the fun. Here are a few pictures!

It was the first day in many that I haven't felt sick. I hope it's a sign that I've turned a corner, and not just a football day fluke........

Alysia

The Verdict Is In...

It appears that our first child will inherit the Phillips stature gene. For the second office visit in a row, the total length of the baby is smaller than the what its length SHOULD be for its age (7 weeks, 4 days). So I'm preparing myself for a child that will be a bit on the short side... At least I should win every basketball game, and almost every volleyball game!

That "news" aside, everything looks great according to the office. Everything is developing nicely based on the ultrasound pictures, and the heartbeat is strong and easily noticeable (according to Alysia, the pulse of the heartbeat at this age is 160 beats per minute!). The baby is now very pronounced in the ultrasound pictures - it can be seen clearly in the top right corner of every picture - see for yourself.
We also learned that Alysia can cut back on the injections to once every other day - the less frequent, the better. We won't be going back to the office until 2 weeks from now, which is another nice break.

The next worry to turn our attention to is hoping that Penn State closes out the season strong tomorrow and gets a ticket to the Rose Bowl... Let's go State!

Until next time...
- Mike

Starting to Get Serious

Starting today, we officially will have a lot to think about for the next 7 months. Alysia had her first appointment today with our new doctor - they asked her a million questions, and she gave them answers for approximately two of them. We also received numerous books, pamphlets, and magazines to read... It's too early to feel overwhelmed, right?

It's 9:00 and Alysia is already asleep for the night - that's starting to be the norm around here. On that note, I'm feeling a bit exhausted myself after a weekend of going home to take my dad to the Penn State game...

Until next time.
- Mike

A Fluttering Heart!

Yesterday was our first ultrasound. Everything looks perfect: the little one is fully implanted, there are no signs of bleeding, growth is as expected, and it has a tiny little heartbeat! It is absolutely amazing to us that this tiny creature already has a fully beating heart. It came across the screen as a very quick flutter. Here's a picture. You have to squint to see, but the baby is at the very top of the gestational (black) sac and has cursor 'Xs' on both sides.

6 Week Picture

We'll take pictures of baby's growth (my tummy) to share with you. They'll probably be taken in the mornings when I wake up, so try to ignore the sleepy look. Here's the picture at 6 weeks!

- Alysia

Alysia's First Rough Day

Today is the first definitively cold, dreary day of this winter, and it coincides with Alysia's first day of not feeling so well. She woke up with a very uneasy stomach, and she doesn't have any energy today (extremely rare!). As I speak, she's laying on the couch watching TV and not really saying much (also extremely rare!). Oh, and she has this other problem of not being able to stay up past 9:00 at night and needing to sleep at least 10 hours per day... I'm starting to feel like a bachelor again since I only see Alysia awake for like 2 hours per day.

During yesterday afternoon, Leash went out and bought some items that we'll use to announce our news to our parents - we got a pair of bibs saying "I love grandma/grandpa", and onesie that is Christmast-related saying "Who needs Santa, I have grandparents". We're looking forward to being able to tell everyone, but we're very uncertain about the best time to do it since we'd like to share the news face-to-face. If Alysia continues to feel like crap for the next month, then our trip home for Thanksgiving is the most likely time for telling everyone.

Until next time...

- Mike

First Baby Pics

You could say we're priveleged to have very early shots of our little one. We have struggled for a long time for our wish to come true and had to call upon technology for some help.......

Most people spare others the details of conception. Not us! Here is our little one at just 5 days old! Isn't he/she cute?

Ironically, our pregnancy was successful the day after our anniversary. We're sure our child will always believe they're the result of an anniversary dinner with too much wine:) Here is a picture of our embryo transfer on October 17th. If you look carefully, you can see our baby swimming north from the outlined white "glob" in the center!

We Started a Blog!

Our wish has finally been granted - we're starting a family!

I've never been the most computer savvy person, but we're going to give this a shot. We hope this blog is the perfect way to share life moments with family and friends who are far away.