Monday's 12 1/2 Week Appt

Sorry for the delay in posting, I was busy and I kept leaving the ultrasound picture in inconvenient locations - at home, in the car, etc.

Last Saturday I was scared with a couple of episodes of cramping. The day before I had spent five hours on my feet and during that time had two large bottles of Gatorade, but I don't think that was enough - I was dehydrated for five days after that! And like I mentioned the next morning I had some scary cramps. Immediately, I got off my feet, drank a ton of water, went to the bathroom .. and they subsided ... until the second round came around dinner. I followed the same steps and things resolved much more quickly. Since then I haven't had any strange symptoms or feelings ... but I will say that it heightened the fear at my Monday morning appointment.

So last Monday (6/15) was our first appointment with our OB. It is scary because Berilac (for the last two appointments) has shown up later than me, so they walk me to the exam room alone and I get so worried that he's not going to make it in time - but he has both times. This past week was especially scary because they walked me back to the very first exam room I'd ever seen in their clinic - the one where I learned that the baby from our first pregnancy had died. I took a deep breath and entered the room.

They had me pee in a cup and my protein levels and sugar levels are fine. My blood pressure came in at a nice 110/70 and I haven't gained any weight since Colorado. Then the OB discreetly brought out the Doppler and gently pushed me to my back to place in on my stomach - I was in the middle of a sentence so I hardly recognized what she was doing ... not to mention I've never seen or used a Doppler before. As I lay there I could feel my heart pounding so hard against my ribs, I kept thinking she's not going to be able to find a heartbeat, what if she can't find a heartbeat!!?! ... And after a few minutes of probing around (and pretty low too) she said that all she could hear was my enormously loud heartbeat that was quickening in pace so she said - "let me get the ultrasound machine to calm you down."

When she left the room I put the inside crook of my elbow over my eyes and took deep breaths while Berilac prayed for us. It was so reminiscent of our first appointment there - at that appointment they had left us alone for a few minutes while they found someone else to prove that nobody could find a heartbeat. But this time, the appointment ended differently ... whew.

The doctor came back with the ultrasound machine and for the first time used the abdominal wand. Very quickly she found the little one hanging out tucked back into the uterus. When she found the heartbeat (about 150bpm) - I cried and started breathing again. It was so emotional and I was so scared. Unlike the 10 week appointment the baby wasn't dancing - all the baby gave us was an arm swing which I like to think of as a wave.

In this picture you are looking at the close up head shot of the baby with his/her left arm lifted above his/her head - kind of like in a "Hi Mom!" kind of positioning. The crown of the baby's head is pointing toward the 10 o'clock - so it's not like the baby is straight up and down.

After the appointment we went downstairs for the integrated screening blood work. We should have the results back by Tuesday in the Peri's office, while we do the NT ultrasound.

When we left Berilac was pressing me for a smile. He was so happy that things turned out differently this time and that we found the baby's heartbeat. I shared with him that I was (and still am) a little nervous because our baby was so active last time, and so quiet and subdued this time. The OB kept trying to get the baby to move positions to get a good profile shot, but baby kept in the same spot and only moved to give a wave.

I'm glad, after this appointment, that there's only 8 days between ultrasounds. Our next appointment is on Tuesday at the Perinatologist's office - we will be getting a 1 hour scan where they will look at many different things - specifically measuring the nuchal fold at the back of the baby's neck and checking for a nasal bone. I'm sure they'll do other investigations, but I'm not exactly sure what.

Please keep praying for our little one.