We’ve got a heartbeat!!!

Our “overachieving embryo’s” crown-to-rump length (CRL), crown of it’s head to it’s rump or rear end, measured 4.1mm! 🙂 Our RE told us that he likes to see it measure between 3 – 4mm. The yolk sac measured 2.1mm. He didn’t say what measurements he likes to see for that, but we figure if it was off, he would have told us. The baby measured 6 weeks 1 day on the ultrasound and according to our RE and my calculations today I am actually 6 weeks 2 days. Our RE did say measuring off by a day or so is normal and nothing to worry about.

As far as restrictions and medications… Our RE basically said that he would like us to continue on as we have been since the ET in both areas. I am to continue with the same doses and frequency of PIO injections, progesterone suppositories, estridiol vaginal pills, estrace patches and baby aspirin. I asked about exercising and though he still doesn’t want me to run, do aerobics or any other vigorous exercise, he did say I could walk up to a half hour per day, as long as I can carry on a conversation while I am walking (and therefore my heart rate would not be too high). So I do intend to start walking this week, as I know that at least moderate exercise can be very beneficial to a healthy pregnancy and my health in general.

Our next appointment will be two weeks from today on Monday, November 19 at 10:50 a.m.! It should be similar to today, in that there will be an ultrasound followed by a consultation with our RE. He said that if everything looked good that day, that he would likely start the process of weaning me off the estrogen and progesterone hormone replacements medications and release us to our OB/GYN! 🙂

Finally, when our RE went to figure our estimated due date (EDD), he used some kind of dial and came up with June 30, 2008. I asked him if he was sure, as I had calculated a different date and he said “yes” and didn’t seem willing or interested in discussing it further. This perplexed me, as I had found through research and many different online calculators that based on the date of my ET and other key dates from this cycle, that my EDD would be June 28, 2008. It certainly doesn’t really matter that much, as it is a difference of two days and I won’t give birth either day since I will have a scheduled c-section at least a week earlier than one of the dates… But details sometimes get to me and I still really think that my EDD is 6/28/08 and not 6/30/08! 😉 For one thing if I truly am 6 weeks 2 days today, then I have to be due on 6/28/08. To be due on 6/30/08, I would only be 6 weeks exactly today. So it has to be one or the other and I am trying not to dwell on the discrepancy. Bob thinks it isn’t a big deal and that I should just pick one and get over it… 😉 So for now, I choose to still go with 6/28/08! 🙂

It was a very exciting morning for us and our RE and his staff could not have been happier for us and it was nice to be able to celebrate our little miracle with them at our appointment! It is still hard for Bob and me to believe, in some ways, that we really are pregnant and that so far everything seems to be going as it should be… But we are trying our best to continue to be cautiously optimistic, to trust that our little baby will continue to grow and develop on track and to enjoy this time knowing that we are expecting. We still intend to wait awhile before we tell Sean, as well as our more extended family and friends, who didn’t know we were using ART to try to conceive. We appreciate you respecting our wishes and not sharing our news with Sean, your children or our extended family and friends, if you have contact with them, between now and when we decided to share our news. We will certainly let you know when it is “public.”

Thank you for your continued support, positive thoughts, sticky vibes and prayers! We feel so blessed and lucky that our little miracle has a heartbeat and that we got to see it for the first time today! We hope and pray that things with this pregnancy continue to go well and are so excited to have another child and for Sean to be a big brother!