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First Trimester
Testing Results
11-Nov-2004: The doctor's office that we did the genetic testing called today and Jen talked to them. The lady told Jen that she had (in her words) "pretty results" and that everything looked good. We will get a copy of the results in the mail (as will Dr. Imig) but the lady told Jen the odds for the problems they tested for.
The baby's odds for having Down syndrome are 1 in 7,000 (0.014% chance).
The baby's odds for having trisomy 18 are 1 in 250,000 (0.0004% chance).
Second Appointment
10-Nov-2004: We went in for our monthly obstetrics appointment today. Everything is looking good. Jen was slightly concerned because she's not gaining weight yet, but Dr. Imig assured her it was fine as long as she wasn't losing weight at this point. The actual "real" baby-caused weight gain won't start for another couple of weeks.
We got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. We had seen the heartbeat on a monitor before, but to actually hear the clippity-clop was pretty breathtaking. Dustin's been getting sympathy hormone changes, so this stuff almost makes him cry (which is huge since he's cried maybe 5 times his whole life). A stupid TV program almost made him cry the other day (it was an Extreme Makeover: Home Edition where the parents were deaf and their second child was blind and autistic, so his almost-tears were justified). Of course, Jen is now crying at Applebee's commercials, so Dustin has a way to go.
We also learned that Jen has lost her immunity to rubella, which she was vaccinated for as a small child (as were most Americans). The doc said this happens in about 10% of people. Jen will get herself revaccinated after the baby is born.
Dr. Imig also told us that Jen is immune to toxoplasmosis, a disease usually carried in cat feces. 
What this means it that at some point in her life she did get toxoplasmosis, but has now built up a resistance to it and will not have to worry about contracting it while pregnant. Dustin will still clean the cat box, but this means that if needs be, Jen can do it with gloves and a mask on without freaking out.
Dustin mentioned in the room that immunity to toxoplasmosis is cool, but what he really wanted to hear was that Jen was now impervious to fire. That would be cool. The doc giggled and Jen rolled her eyes and said that Dustin has an overactive imagination.
Genetic Testing
08-Nov-2004: The start of week 12, which means there's one week left in the first trimester.
Today we went over to a doctor in Mountain View to do some genetic screening. The screen involves an ultrasound to test the fetus's nuchal translucency along with a blood test. This is a fairly new test, only becoming available for the mainstream in the last couple years. As stated on WebMD.com, "taken together with the risk conferred by the mother's age, these measures detected with 85% accuracy whether a fetus had the chromosomal abnormality that causes Down syndrome."
Everything looks good! The ultrasound showed that the baby had a normal nuchal translucency. We will get the results of the blood test in about a week. We will also get an assessment of the odds for Down syndrome (mostly trisomy 21) and trisomy 18 at that time.
Glossary Time!
Nuchal translucency: The thickness of the skin behind the fetus' neck.
Trisomy: Three copies of a chromosome. 95% of Down syndrome cases are caused by trisomy 21, or three copies of chromosome 21. All chromosomes, except for X and Y, should have two copies.
First Obstetrics Appointment
18-Oct-2004: Jen went to her first obstetrics appointment today, and Dustin tagged along. She's using her gynecologist, Dr. Mary Imig (only mention that because some women use a different OB from their GYN).
Anyway, it's quite an experience for a guy. Especially when the doc sticks her arm in your woman 
(okay, just a couple of fingers) and says her uterus is a good size. Huh? Dustin's other "favorite" moment was when he eyeballed a device attached to the side of the table that looked like something RotoRooter would use. He was assured that it was just a light and not some crazy torture device.
Jen had to do a urine sample, so after her appointment we went over to the lab, which is in the same building as the doctor. The lab people had her go into the bathroom and pee in a cup. When Jen came out with the cup, she didn't know what to do with it and the lab assistant wasn't around. Dustin said to Jen, "Well, I don't know what you should do with it, but I do know you shouldn't drink it." And just as he says that, Dr. Imig comes walking by. Way to make an impression Dustin!
First Ultrasound
04-Oct-2004: We did an ultrasound at 7 weeks to check to make sure everything was developing normally. (You can click on the image to get a bigger version of it)
Jen was concerned because she was not feeling like crap (what kind of complaint is that?). The doctor wanted to be safe and check it out. Everything looked normal. The baby's heart rate was 126 bpm, which is well within the normal range. We couldn't hear it, but we could see it fluttering on the monitor. The length was measured at about 9.2mm, so just under 1cm.
The baby is upside-down in the black oval. The round image in the bottom right of the black is the yolk sac, and the more cylindrical object towards the top of the black is the baby. You can see the two eye sockets. The black spots at the top of the head are actually fluid in the brain (a normal occurrence). At this point, there are no arm or leg buds. Dustin made the comment in the room that it looks like an owl. 
The ultrasound technician said that was the first time she had ever heard that term used to describe an in utero baby. Jen thinks it looks like an alien head.
Here's a closely-cropped-and-rotated image that shows the baby highlighted. The spots at the top are the fluid. The left eye socket (on the right) is very dark and prominent, while the right is harder to make out next to the yolk sac. The spots at the top are what makes it look like an owl, although those aren't really it's eyes.
Surprise!
24 & 25-Sept-2004: This picture pretty much is an exact duplicate of the looks on our family's faces when we told them the news. We decided to tell Jen's family (Earle, Lani, Mindy and Jerry) on Friday the 24th because Jen didn't think she could keep it from Dustin's family the whole week we were in Minnesota. We told Dustin's family (Rudy, Diane, Nate and Susan) on the 25th after we got to Nate's apartment. We wanted to wait until 10 weeks to tell everyone, but decided we'd rather risk telling the family earlier so that Dustin could tell his brother in person.
Everyone was so surprised because we had told no one that we were trying to have a child and in fact had indicated that we weren't that interested in having children. We decided to keep that very personal decision to ourselves for many reasons, one being that we didn't want to get everyone's hopes up in the event we couldn't have children. Jen went off birth control in late February / early March, but we didn't actually start trying (meaning consciously going out to "Make a Baby") until August.
We've told a couple of friends now, but we are still waiting until after Jen's appointment on 18-Oct to decide when to tell everyone else. Then they can come to this site and marvel at how good we've kept the secret!
First* Sign of Things to Come
15-Sept-2004: So, this was the omen. Unfortunately, it happened while Jen was out of town on business in Boston. Of course, Dustin didn't believe it anyway because the line was so faint, so he waited on the lab-administered blood test which Jen did on Friday (the 17th). Jen had to hound them on the following Monday to get the results and finally around 4:45 she got the word that it indeed was a baby in there.
* Technically, we all know this was the second sign. The first being, the uhhh, ahem, you know, missing the (.).