Hallelujah!!

We had two doctor's appointments this morning. The first was with my OB office. They did an ultrasound and told me the blood clot is gone!!! The Bean is safe! They said it's impossible to know how close the clot was to the sack when it formed, so there is a small chance there could be a weak spot that could cause my water to break early, but again, it's only a slim chance. The risk of miscarriage from this has passed. Hallelujah!!!

My second appointment was for old lady testing, since I'm geriatric in the OB world. I had an ultrasound performed by a maternal fetal medicine specialist to test the thickness of the skin on the baby's neck. That helps detect Down Syndrome and some other defects. It looked very good. They also did blood work to accompany that, and I'll have the results by Friday.

The second ultrasound was awesome! Amy went with me and we got to watch the baby on the screen for about 25 minutes! It was moving all over the place! It reminded me of a baby in a bouncer, because it kept using the wall of the sack to kick off of, and it was jumping up and down on it. It was the coolest thing I've ever seen. We could clearly see the fingers and toes and I attached one of the pictures where it had its feet crossed over its body. A big revelation from that ultrasound is that I'm further along than we thought. They did many measurements and the average of them said that I'm 12 weeks today. So my new due date is February 19, one day before Missy. Mom and Dad are loving that!

Anyway, thank you for your prayers. The Bean is doing so well and I know it's because of all the love being sent to it already. Thank you.

Dancing Bean

We had another ultrasound last Wednesday. Although Bean has daddy's good looks, it obviously inherited mommy's moves. As we admired the impressive growth - Bean is now 1.5 inches - we were treated to some sweet moves by our little one. Bean went old school on us, busting out like Jennifer Beals in Flashdance! First Bean kicked its legs, then the arms got into it, and finally there was a head roll. What a feeling! We are so proud, and I can't stop beaming as I think about it.

The doctor said Bean is growing exactly as it should and the heartbeat was 174. Great! The blood clot is a little smaller, and she is hopeful it will continue to pass. I will have another ultrasound on August 7, and if all goes well, I may just go to a regular visit schedule at that time. Yay! I even got to leave with my big packet of information. I've been so disappointed on my previous visits that they haven't gone over all that stuff with me, since they weren't sure the pregnancy would last. I'm now 9 weeks and 2 days, so the closer we get to the second trimester, the better off we are. Please keep praying for the Bean and maybe it will all be okay after all!

Week 9

I found this online. This is what the Bean looks like this week and here's what's going on:

Baby has begun movement - While still too small for you to feel, your little one is wriggling, shifting, and dancing already!

Most joints are formed now - and trust that your little one is practicing bending and flexing.

Fetus will curve its fingers around an object placed in the palm of its hand - This is amazing to see! At only nine weeks, if you happen to have an ultrasound, you may observe your infant fascinated by everything he or she can lay their fingers on (mainly other fingers, toes, ears and nose!

Fingerprints are already evident in the skin

Same Shirt Sisters

Last weekend was Margo and Grant's couple's shower. Missy and I showed up wearing the same exact shirt, only in different colors. What are the odds? She bought hers in Cincinnati and I bought mine here. At this point, Missy's chest has had a growth spurt, whereas my belly is where I'm pooching. With our due dates only being 5 days apart, it's very interesting to compare notes. This will be really fun, once we get past all the sickness. Anyway, here we are showing off our lovely baby bumps. Check it out!

Good Times

Nausea, vomiting, dry heaving, fatigue. That about sums up my evenings the past few weeks. Even with the Zofran, the "morning" sickness seems to hit hard at night. I'm so grateful it doesn't hit earlier because work would be a nightmare.

I've also started having shortness of breath. I went to the urgent care center this afternoon to see what could be done and they basically said that happens with pregnancy. He said if I start wheezing, they will do something about it. Don't know how I feel about that. It's pretty scary when I feel like I can't breathe. But we'll see.

Life saver

I have been sick as a dog for two weeks now. It started the Friday before vacation. Missy and I both spent nearly our entire vacation in bed with severe nausea. It has continued this week and on Tuesday I got prescriptions for Phenergan and Zofran. I tried the Phenergan first and it didn't even touch this. I vomited three times yesterday on the Phenergan. Last night Mike picked up my prescription for Zofran and that has made all the difference. I was able to function almost normally at work today and did not vomit once. Hooray for drugs!!

Also, my pants are starting to get uncomfortably tight around my waist. Could be all the carbs I've had to eat to avoid vomiting, but I also like to think it's my little bean, growing large and healthy.

Recap

Okay, so let me recap the craziness that has been my life the past couple weeks. The Monday before our vacation, my doc told me the baby wasn't as large as it should be, and that basically it was probably already dead and I'd probably have a miscarriage. That Wednesday another doc in the office looked at my chart and said she wasn’t convinced there was a problem (I have a friend in the office that prompted that.) She had me come in for blood work and what had happened was that my date of conception was later than they thought because I ovulate so irregularly. The blood levels looked great, my cervix was still closed, so they sent me off on vacation with a new delivery date and the belief that everything would be okay.

While on vacation, I passed a large blood clot. I went to the ER there and the doc did a pelvic exam – but no ultrasound – and said I was having a miscarriage. Of course I was devastated and spent the last week mourning the baby. I called the office when I got back and they asked some questions. When I told them I’d never had really bad cramps, they scheduled an ultrasound appointment for Tuesday to make sure everything had completely left my body. So Tuesday I’m there on the table, upset because I had always pictured getting an ultrasound to be a happy time, when the tech turns around the monitor and shows me a baby with a heartbeat. I lost it. I just cried and cried. Turns out I never miscarried at all.

What is going on is that I have a blood clot in my uterus. There is still a possibility of losing the baby because of this clot. If it continues to grow, it could impact the placenta. But there’s also a better chance that everything will be okay and that the baby will grow large enough to push out the clot or cause it to be reabsorbed. The bad part is that the baby won't be large enough for that to happen until I'm 4 or 4 1/2 months. Truly a roller coaster. So I could still use all your thoughts and prayers and for now I'm still pregnant.