update--week 10!

It's been a little while since I've last written--my apologies!  I want to update you quickly with everything that we've seen and done so far.

We are currently TEN WEEKS pregnant and feeling less cautious and more optimistic every day.  As you probably know, at the beginning of this pregnancy, I was a nervous wreck.  I wouldn't stand for more than a few minutes because I was afraid the baby was going to fall right out of me!  Every time I went to the bathroom I took Phil with me, just in case I saw something scary.  Luckily for my sanity, the fertility clinic happily took us in for early monitoring even though we hadn't done any treatments with them the cycle I conceived.  I was able to have five visits (three blood draws and two early ultrasounds) before 9 weeks, which was just wonderful.  If it hadn't been for those visits, I would have had no idea whether or not the pregnancy was viable until my first midwife ultrasound appointment at 15 weeks!  That wouldn't have been such a big deal to me if I hadn't gone through a miscarriage (in fact, I declined my early ultrasounds at the fertility clinic last time) but after going through that experience, I felt like I just HAD to know what was going on in there.

Before every appointment, we prayed.  I would look at the information before me and say, "God, our last HCG draw was a 45... it's supposed to double every 48 hours, so please, let us have a 90.  If we get a 90, I'll be so happy.  100 would be so great and I would be so excited if we got 100, but all we really need is a 90 and I'll know that we're still ok."  Then the results came in, and I had an HCG level of 138!  The next time I was praying for at least 275... "God, if we get 275 I'll know everything is alright."  That time the levels came back at 680!  The last blood draw I was praying for a 1300 and my levels came in at over 6,700.  Every time this happened, I would feel this warm feeling wash over me, and I would just say, "Thank you Jesus."  What else can you do or say?  I know that God is hearing my prayers and using my requests to show me that He can do better than anything I am asking for.

The ultrasounds went quite the same way.  Our first one was scheduled, by my calendar, at 7 weeks.  I hadn't been charting, temping, etc. the month that we conceived, so I didn't know my exact ovulation date, but I guessed that I ovulated around the usual 11 day mark.  Most women have a longer cycle than I do and ovulate a lot later than that (around days 14-19), so when I showed up for the ultrasound, Dr. Armisen said, "Is there a problem?  Have you been spotting?  This is quite early for an ultrasound.  You're probably only around 6 weeks."

My heart sank.  I had been praying so hard that the ultrasound would show a strong, 7 week embryo with a heartbeat instead of a little blob dating way earlier than normal like the only other ultrasound I had ever had (to diagnose my miscarriage in the ER).  I answered weakly that I had calculated that I was around 7 weeks pregnant, and he said, "Ok, but if the baby measures 6 weeks don't freak out, it's probably just fine." 

The first thing the tech did was show us the heartbeat.  "Strong heartbeat, 146 bpm!  I like to show everyone that part first so you know all is well," she said, and the feeling was indescribable.  Our first ultrasound with a heartbeat!!  The next thing she did was take a measurement:  7 weeks + 1 day!  Once again, all I could do was thank God for the reassurance of not only having our baby measure 7 weeks--but also a day ahead!

The nine week ultrasound was REALLY exciting because we could see a real baby in there!  All the arms and legs were visible and he/she (most likely a she, is our feeling!) was wiggling and waving like crazy.  The tech gave us a heartrate of 161 bpm, and said "That is a perfect heartrate... ultrasounds like this are what make my job worth doing!  I love seeing strong, healthy little ones and happy, relieved parents!"  Hearing those words really made my heart sing.  Doctors and nurses are usually so reserved, but I am the kind of person that NEEDS to hear that things are looking fantastic, and not to worry.  I know that anything can happen at anytime, but hearing strong positive news when it is warranted can lift your spirits so much, even when you are aware that it doesn't necessarily mean you'll be holding a healthy infant in a few months' time.  Oh, and another thing-- the little bean measured ahead again!

We met with Dr. Armisen immediately after our nine week ultrasound, and he gave us the discharge papers to send to our midwife: we have officially graduated from the fertility clinic to an OB/GYN!  He asked us to send baby pictures and we promised we would.  He also made the comment that the baby's development was looking advanced--so that was something a parent always loves to hear, and we got to hear it while our kid was only in the womb for 9 weeks, lol!  I asked the doctor what would cause a baby to grow faster than normal and be developmentally advanced at a stage when all embryos should be growing at the same rate, but he didn't have an answer.

Maybe it has something to do with the many, many people who are praying for this baby to be born healthy and strong.  Maybe it is just God showing that He can do anything-- anything. 

 Can you believe that BABY is still considered an embryo until 10 weeks?!