I think I will always remember Pittsburgh as the City of Crazy Sounds.

First, there’s a truly earth-shattering horn that sounds from the fire station near my apartment every time they get a call. If the windows are open, watch out! It’ll startle you right out of bed. It sounds sort of like a barge, and for the longest time, that’s what I thought it was. Even with the windows closed, it’s loud as sin.

Second, there’s a sound that I haven’t yet been able to identify.

I hear it at all hours of the day or night. There doesn’t seem to be a schedule to it, but I notice it most at night (also, we tend to sleep with the windows open, so that’s why I hear it).

It’s sort of like an animal noise, but it also seems like it could be mechanical. It’s a one to two second noise, and only one at a time–never a noise *pause* noise.

It’s a semi-high pitched sound that makes me think it could be a strange bird, a dog-like animal (maybe a fox? Coyote?). But, it’s strange enough that in a way, it sounds like a power tool. I’m so baffled.

If it lasted longer or was more predictable, I’d try to get a recording of it to share with you. But, I don’t think that’s going to happen.

Any ideas on what it might be? I’d really love to know.

Today, I’m 9 weeks along and feeling fine, but I’m still ridiculously tired. Just a few more weeks, and in theory, I’ll have some energy back!

According to BabyCenter, this week, Baby is the size of a grape. I’d share a photo of a grape next to a quarter, but I’m having some technical difficulties. You’ll just have to click this link, if you wanna see.

Next week, it’ll be a kumquat (whatever those look like) and much bigger than a grape. That’s a lot of changes in one little week!

I should get some rest.

Some info from Baby Center:

Your new resident is nearly an inch long — about the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. She’s starting to look more and more human. Her essential body parts are accounted for, though they’ll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound: Your baby’s heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do her tiny teeth.

The embryonic “tail” is completely gone. Your baby’s organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. The external sex organs are there but won’t be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks. Her eyes are fully formed, but her eyelids are fused shut and won’t open until 27 weeks. She has tiny earlobes, and her mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The placenta is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of producing hormones. Now that your baby’s basic physiology is in place, she’s poised for rapid weight gain.

Some of the good news that came out of today’s earlier scare (see post below) was that for the first time, we got to see our baby’s heartbeat! The ultrasound tech was kind enough to give us a printout of our baby’s first picture. Cute, right?

I know it doesn’t look like much. Isn’t it amazing that we all start out that small? Right now, Baby is about an inch or so long.

On Tuesday, I’ll be at 9 weeks. I’ll call my regular OB and let her know about my interesting weekend, and find out if she wants to see me sooner than my 11 week appointment.

Also, I need to go and get some routine blood work done. Piece of cake.

I hope things go well for the rest of the time. If that’s the case, then I’ll be sharing the next baby pic in 9ish weeks, when I have my 18-week ultrasound. Should look more like a baby by then!

Thanks so much for keeping us in your prayers.

Dear Baby,

I saw you today! I certainly wasn’t expecting to, but your daddy and I saw you and your little heart beating away at 174 beats per minute. Why? Well, because you gave me quite a scare earlier this morning.

We were getting ready for church, when suddenly I felt like, “I need to sit on the toilet.” Out gushed quite a bit of bright red blood. I was terrified.

I thought you were dying.

I sat there for a minute, just praying, “God please don’t take this baby,” and trying to figure out what to do. Shane and I grabbed two of our baby books to see what it said about unexplained bleeding, and decided to call our on-call doctor’s pager. The OB (not ours) called us back within a few minutes and suggested we could wait a few days to see how I was, or go to the emergency room and have an ultrasound.

Needless to say, we opted to visit the emergency room.

By that time, the bleeding had stopped, and most of the cramping had gone away. But still, I was so worried about what was happening.

Everyone at the hospital that we encountered was incredibly nice. I had some vials of blood drawn. Turns out, I have type AB+ blood. Good to know. That means that I’m a universal recipient if I ever need someone’s blood. Works for me. We also found out that my HCG counts were at 115,000, which is good.

Later on, I had an ultrasound. The technician put the little wand thing on my stomach, and almost instantly, we saw you and your heart beating. Such a beautiful, welcome sight! As you might imagine, it made me cry.

You’re about the size you’re supposed to be, and your little bubble of an amniotic sac was looking good as well. She couldn’t see any pockets of blood, which is good. As far as the doctors can tell, everything is ok for now.

So, whatever caused this to happen, please don’t do it again! I know you’re doing your best to grow and thrive, and I’m doing my best to keep you where you’re supposed to be for another 30 weeks or so. Even though you scared the living daylights out of me, it was so neat to see you, and to see your heart beating, and to know that you’re ok. Oh, and there’s just one of you in there–that’s also nice to know.

Love,

Mama

Everyone say, “Awwww” hehe. As part of our “Thank you for sharing our special day” gift package (super adorable, by the way!), Shane’s sister, Shannon, gave us our first baby outfit.

It’s a little fishy onesie with a zip-up jacket. Too cute! I love the little pockets. Cuz when you’re 3 months old, you need to have pockets to put snacks in and stuff. Also, you probably can’t see in the picture, but on the onesie sleeve, there is a tiny pocket that’s big enough for like a goldfish cracker or something. So little!

It’s so bizarre to think that early next year (Lord-willing), there will be a tiny person to wear it.

Shawn and his girlfriend, Whitney, (Shane’s brother) also gave us some sweet presents. We got a Willow Lake figurine of a pregnant lady (that’s me! Ahhh!) which goes well with the bride and groom figurine my grandma gave Shane and I at my bridal shower.

Also, we got a sweet little plaque/sign that says, “Baby…sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart. –Winnie the Pooh.” Aww!

Thanks, everyone! You’re too kind