Our fetus is still going strong!

Yesterday was my first trimester screening or “NT Scan” and overall it went very well. Here is one of many great pictures we got of our fetus from the ultrasound tech! It’s heart rate was 138 and it’s crown to rump length (CRL) measured about 5.2 cm, which she said put it at about 11 weeks 6 days, 2 days more than I was yesterday according to our 6/28/2008 due date.

My mom came with me to the appointment, while my dad stayed home with Sean and it was really nice to have her there and to know that Sean was being well taken care of at the same time.

The first part of the appointment consisted of meeting with a genetic counselor who went over the purpose of the screening, including what Down syndrome, trisomies 18 and 13 are. I was already familiar with most of what she told us, but it was still interesting to review and in more detail. She talked about what options would be available to us, in terms of further testing, if the test results were positive for the fetus having a strong chance of Downs or trisomies 18 or 13. The genetic counselor also took a family history of Bob and my sides of the family, trying to get a sense of any genetic disorders any of our family members might have. Finally, she took my blood sample through a finger prick and then squeezing my finger to get drops of blood on five circles on a piece of paper, that will then be tested. As much as I have gotten use to needles, blood draws and injections from the whole IVF process, I was not expecting my blood to taken in such a way. So that did throw me a bit! The counselor explained that she is not trained to draw blood through a needle in my arm and thus this is the way they decided to do this particular form of testing with their patients. She suggested we use my pointer finger on the hand that I do not write with, which was a good choice as it has been pretty sore since.

Next we went in for my ultrasound. The room was set up nicely, in that my mom was able to sit in a chair during the scan and we both had a great view of a TV monitor that they had mounted from the ceiling that showed us the ultrasound pictures as the tech checked out and measured our baby! It was the longest ultrasound I have ever had and I ate up every second of it! Our little miracle was moving around a lot, especially at the beginning, and we got to see it do so many cute things, like suck it’s thumb, wiggle its legs, touch both hands to it’s face and other interesting movements. My mom also really enjoyed the whole experience, as she had never gotten to see an ultrasound before! The tech explained that it can be difficult to get the nuchal translucency measurement (NT), as the baby needs to be at just the right angle/position. They like to get a few different measurements and then average them. She was able to get one measurement of 1.5 mm, which was somewhat reassuring, as they like for it to be under 3 mm. However, she literally tried for over an hour to get more measurements and our little one was not cooperating, despite attempts to try to get it to position itself correctly! The tech had me cough, lay on my side (both ways), walk around, go to the bathroom and other such things in effort to get the baby to move in just the right place. She even had another tech come in and try. In the end, they assured us this was common and asked that I return for another try next week. They apologized for the inconvenience and I assured them that getting to come back and see my baby again next week on the ultrasound was NO inconvenience… I’d visit every day, if they’d let me! 😉

So I am scheduled for another NT Scan, ultrasound only, on Friday, December 21 at 9:15 a.m., the day before my next OB appointment! At that visit the genetic counselor will take the averages of the NT measurements, that they hopefully will be able to get, and then combine that with blood test results, they will already have from yesterday, to give us our chances that our baby will have Downs or trisomies 18 or13.

As it turns out, Bob had already taken next Friday off, so our plan is for him and Sean to come along! The tech explained that they won’t let a child be in the room the whole time, but that Bob can stay with him in the waiting room until towards the end and then they can come in and get to see the baby on the screen for a brief time! How cool is that?! Speaking of Sean… our current plan is to finally tell him our big news sometime this weekend, but most likely tomorrow after Bob gets home from work!!! His “I’m Going to Be a Big Brother” t-shirt arrived today and we already have a special ornament that we are going to give him, along with a book called “What to Expect When Mommy’s Having a Baby.” If he takes a nap tomorrow afternoon, we may also go out to dinner, to one of his favorite restaurants to celebrate!

So that’s the scoop! On Saturday we will be 12 weeks pregnant and we are over the moon that we have made it this far! It was so awesome to get to watch our little one moving around inside me on the ultrasound screen yesterday, as I still haven’t felt it move yet (though I know it is still early for that).

On Sunday evening I did my last progesterone suppository making me FET drug free since!!! It has been nice not to have to work those medications in throughout my day anymore. I am still taking the prenatal vitamins of course and will not stop the Baby Aspirin until at least this Saturday. However, we are still unsure whether we want to continue past 12 weeks. I have been in contact with my OB’s office many times this week about this issue. At least two different nurses consulted with two different doctors in the practice, who both ultimately said that it is fine for me to stop this Saturday, however if it will make me feel better (psychologically), it is fine for me to stay on it until no later than 30 weeks. One of the doctors explained, through one of the nurses, that the research studies are inconclusive on whether or not it makes a difference in the outcomes of pregnancies and thus they do not feel strongly either way. I am leaning towards staying on it until 30 weeks, as my understanding is that it would not do anything to hurt the baby and then I will not wonder if something were to go wrong and I had gone off it. But I do plan to read a little more about it before we decide for sure. I may even stay on it until my 13 week OB appointment and then discuss it one last time with whichever doctor I get that day.

In case I haven’t explained this here before, the main reason I am confused is that after my first two miscarriages my OBs recommended I start taking Baby Aspirin, just in case it might help, as they explained that being on it has seemed to help some women with multiple miscarriages go on to have healthy pregnancies. My understanding when we went on to conceive, while being on it, was that I would stay on it until 30 weeks. However, that was our pregnancy that was interstitial ectopic. So anyway, I just feel like I need clarification as to why during that pregnancy we were advised to stay on it into my third trimester and with this one we have been told to stop taking it at the end of my first trimester. I appreciate that our OBs have given their blessing to me to stay on it longer if I want to, but am also frustrated that they don’t have a stronger/more informed opinion on what I should do. I know I may be way over analyzing this… the reason is that I am just paranoid about doing something wrong that could hurt our baby and the possibility that he or she will go full term and be born healthy.

In terms of how I have been feeling, some days have been better than others lately. I am getting more and more bursts on energy in any given day and do my best to take advantages of them, as most of the time I do still feel pretty tired. I also seem to be able to go longer stretches without eating/snacking, but still have to make sure I don’t go too long, as the nausea is still here most of the day. Yesterday morning I actually threw up for the first time this pregnancy. I woke up feeling really sick and did my best to try not to, but eventually felt I couldn’t stop it and did feel a bit better afterwards. I pride myself on having not done so more than that, as there are many other times when I was close but breathed deeply and held back. I know that some women have morning sickness so bad that they can’t help it, but I feel blessed and lucky that though I do feel like I am sea sick or hungover pretty much all the time, it could be a lot worse.

Well, once again I have managed to make this post in to a marathon reading expedition for those of you still with me! 😉 It seems the longer I go between posts, the more I have to say… Bob, Sean and I have been keeping busy with holiday preparations and gatherings and enjoying spending time together as an immediate family and with our extended family and friends! I could go into more detail about what we have been up to specifically, but am tired of typing and need to get back to other tasks at hand.

A couple of quick prayer requests…

My friend who I have shared about here that is doing IVF, conceived on her 2nd cycle this summer and then unfortunately miscarried, is having her latest embryo transfer tomorrow morning and thus will be Pregnant Until Proven Otherwise (PUPO) again! Please say a little prayer that one or more of their embryos will stick, giving her, her husband and their daughter the Christmas miracle they are hoping, wishing and praying for (and soooooo deserve) and if this cycle doesn’t work out that they will be able to continue to make peace with whatever happens on their journey tyring to have another child.

Another close friend of mine’s husband lost his job this week. I won’t go into the details, but their family already had more than enough on their plate. They are a strong family and I know they can and will get through this difficult time, however I am sure they would appreciate your positive thoughts and prayers coming their way.

Thank you for reading and for your continued support, positive thoughts, sticky vibes and prayers! I know there is debate as to exactly when one’s second trimester begins, somewhere between 12 – 14 weeks, but I am excited that we are either almost there or not very far off from yet another huge milestone in our pregnancy! I will check back in at some point soon to let you know how it goes when we tell Sean that he is going to be a big brother!

Take care and may God bless you and yours during this holiday season and always.