Dr.'s Appointment #2

So I had another Dr's appointment yesterday. This was number 2 of many to come at the Ob/Gyn. I went in not knowing what they do at these follow up visits. They weighed me (I have only gained 2 lbs), took my blood pressure, asked me how I was doing and if I had any questions, measured my uterus (just over 12 weeks), then proceeded to listen to the baby's heartbeat. Now I was seeing the Dr's nurse and she was all excited that we were going to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. We had to burst her bubble and let her know we had heard it twice already. Anyway she was using their little handheld device to find the heartbeat. After tracing over my stomach for a few minutes and mistaking my heartbeat for the baby's once, she came to the conclusion that she couldn't find it. Panic was beginning to start. The nurse then decided to squeeze me in for an ultrasound to see if we could find it that way. There wasn't an ultrasound tech available so another RN volunteered to do it. As she began to do the ultrasound, she could find my uterus, but could not find a baby. Panic was really beginning to sink in. I was freaking out that we had lost the baby, but she was finally able to find it and get a good view to see it's heart beating. We couldn't hear it because she didn't know how to turn that feature on. We were able to see it wave its arms around and see its fingers. At one point it looked like it was sucking on its hand. The ultrasound tech finally slipped into the room and got us a good heartbeat; 162 bpm, right where it is supposed to be. That was not a good visit, I freaked out one too many times. I hope the next one goes better. Until next time...

Update

So I went to the MFM (Maternal Fetal Medicine) specialist yesterday. I thought I was going to have my cervix messured, but didn't. I was informed they really can't tell the difference between the cervix and uterus until around the 18th week. Now I am not sure if I go back at that time or not, they really weren't clear. I did get another ultrasound done though. According to the MFM doctor, what my Ob thought was a gestational sac, was not. He said it was just fluid in my uterus. He said it was most likely my uterus lining being sluffed off, like when preparing to get pregnant or have a period. Good news, it was not a miscarriage. Good/bad news, it is not another baby. Another thing I found out, you can have kidney problems when you have a bicornuate uterus. I did not know this. Now I'm not sure if it is something that develops during fetal growth or comes on with age. So we looked at my kidneys as well. They looked good and in working order. Overall, it was not a very productive visit, but I did get another ultrasound and got to see my baby wave at me. Well wave with what little of a hand it has. This picture is zoomed in, the fetus is not that big yet.

FYI- The baby's head is on the left with the body to the right. The little white (detached looking) spot kinda in the middle of the "kidney bean" (baby), is its hand. If you look close, you can see the beginning of the fingers.

Until next time...

We are........PREGNANT!!!!!

It took Bill and I about 9-10 months to get pregnant, but it finally happened. I did a pregnancy test on Monday April 26, 2010 and it came back positive. I had been feeling really tired and irritable (insert "what's different" here), plus had not had my period. Long story short, I decided to do a pregnancy test just to make sure. Well it was positive. The next step was to figure out how to tell Bill and this is how I did it:

I got 2 onesies, put the positive pregnancy test on top and then wrapped it all in pink and white tissue paper with a blue and green ribbon. When Bill opened it, at first he wasn't sure if I was saying what he thought I was saying, but of course I was. I just wish I had gotten a picture of his face.

Next was to tell the family. On the day of our sealing Bill and I decided to tell our moms first, as an early Mother's Day present. We had gotten some pink and blue M&M's that said "Boy or Girl", "Girl or Boy". They too were not sure we were saying what they thought we were saying, but once again they were right.

Now I am going to humiliate myself and put monthly pictures up of the belly growth. So here is the first one, 8 weeks:
There is a little bit of a belly and I must confess, not all of it is pregnancy.

Okay now to the present day. I had my first appointment today, which means the first ultrasound. It was confirmed that I do have a bicornuate uterus and the baby is growing on one side of the uterus. They also saw a gestational sac on the other side of my uterus. This can mean 2 things: I either had an early miscarriage or I could be pregnant with twins who were conceived at different times! Now I go back in 2 weeks to have another ultrasound done to further determine what it could be. Either the sac will be reabsorbed, my body will pass the sac out or there will be another embryo growing. Only time will tell.

As for the baby that is growing, everything looks great and we are on track for a December 25th due date. That's right, Christmas day! The heart was beating good and its little nubbins are growing.

As you can see, there is a little body in there. If you look closely, you can also see the other side of my uterus in the picture on the bottom. It is the white tubular thing to the left of where the baby is. As I said before, there is a sac in that side, but it has yet to be determined at what stage it is at. I will keep you all up to date on the goings on of my pregnancy. Until next time...