One giant leap for Toffoli-kind. Another successful appointment today!! And a great pic of baby Toffoli to boot! Today was the first trimester screening, to test for the possible chances of Down Syndrome.

In other words: "The scan is carried out at 11-13 weeks pregnancy and assesses the amount of fluid behind the neck of the fetus - also known as 'the nuchal translucency'. Babies at risk of Down tend to have a higher amount of fluid around the neck. The scan may also help confirm both the accuracy of the pregnancy dates and the fetal viability. Its high definition imaging may also detect other less common chromosomal abnormalities."

The doctor we met with was great! I think we intrigued him with our situation and it felt like he was going to take us under his wing. He seems very well informed of genetic/chromosome abnormalities, so we feel like we're in safe and knowledgeable hands. From the ultrasound he said things look good so far. They also took some blood work and we will get the results of our risk back in about a week.

We got to see our little one moving around, he was doing summersaults, turning around and such. The heart rate was 164 bpm, which is right on track and awesome. And now we have a pic that looks like a baby instead of a blob :D We'll go back in six weeks for the "big" ultrasound, to find out the sex and continue to make sure baby is doing well.

What a miracle. We got to hear our little one's heart beating today. There's no experience I've had so far that I can compare that to. It was simply amazing. Simply amazing and strong at 170 beats per minute. This seems super high, but is 100% normal, he is on track with other babies at 10 weeks.

I think up until now we have been living under the umbrella of guarded optimism, a completely normal reaction after you've experienced a loss. But now, now it is starting to feel real, the umbrella is being pushed back, the sun is shining and we can now let go of some of that worry and pain. We can start to enjoy this process instead of biting our nails with each ache, pain and moment of "what if?". Not that I've had many pains, rather, I've felt fine. Well, except for the super normal morning sickness and heartburn, which has only solidified in my mind that this pregnancy is strong.

Now that I've heard the heart beat I really really want to buy or rent a doppler machine. Remember when Tom Cruise rented one when Katie Holmes was pregnant? Man, I thought that just added to his crumbling public image, but here I am wanting to be able to hear that glorious sound whenever I want. My doctor doesn't think the cheaper ones out there are as sensitive as the one she used today, but I belong to a pregnancy forum where a lot of gals have bought or rented them and have had success. My obstacle right now, is talking Mark into going down this road of crazy with me!