Update: Maternal Fetal Medicine appointment

As of today, I am 18 weeks and 4 days! I had my appointment with the MFM specialist this week. They did ultrasound measurements, verified the sex (still a girl!), and took a look at the subchorionic hemorrhage. Thankfully, everything came out normal and my bleed has mostly reabsorbed! My ovaries are still pretty large, so I still have some physical limitations but I can deal with that. The doctor told me that my bleeding episodes were "very impressive" and so she wants to see me two more times, one around 30 weeks and another around 36 weeks just to make sure my baby girl is growing and within normal weight ranges.

The ultrasound tech also mentioned that she's sitting breech right now, and I wonder if that's why I haven't been feeling as much movement as I did the week before. I can't wait until she starts kicking harder and my husband can feel. (Yeah I know, I'll regret saying that later but I just waited so long for this!)

See, still a girl! :)

I'm really excited that everything is going well, and the holidays are finally here! I'm getting ready to stuff my face full of some yummy Thanksgiving food.

Update from 3D (sort of) Ultrasound - And Team Announcement!

So we went in for our 4D ultrasound at 14 weeks to find out the gender early. The owner said that 14 weeks would be fine for it, and if for whatever reason she was unable to see it we could come back for free in the next 2 weeks after. That was a win-win situation in my eyes, either find out the sex of our baby or get a free bonus ultrasound!

It was supposed to be a gender reveal plus a 4D (3D video = 4D ultrasound) BUT this little stubborn one inside of me decided not to uncross those legs for almost the whole time. So it really ended up being a 2D with 3D/4D sneak peek. But that's OK, because we were finally able to find out the gender!

On the top 2D ultrasound you can see a good picture of my current bleed (subchorionic hemorrhage). It's the black void between the sac and the uterus lining. The baby is almost staring right at it. I finally did get to see where the placenta was too, and it's on the opposite side of the bleed. BUT, what team are we you ask?
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TEAM PINK! I was totally not expecting that at all. For some reason I kept thinking boy. But, I wasn't holding out for either, I'm just happy to be this far. Though I must say the thought of having a girl and being sucked into the girly-girl world with frilly dresses and tea parties is sort of stressful. I've always been a tomboy.

So now I'm just waiting to get my specialist appointment. There wasn't an available appointment until the 25th of November. Sort of ridiculous but I still have my rental doppler. I check every other day or so just to be reassured by the heart beat. It was worked out well for me so far. I love it. Keeps me sane.

More bleeding

Well, Friday afternoon at work (of course right at the weekend mark) I had two medium clots and started gushing bright red blood again. Just like the last time, only this one had a couple clots in the beginning. I had to wait a few hours before I could go home and check out the doppler. Thankfully, baby's heart rate was fine around 160, but I was still bleeding like a light period all weekend.

I already had a formal ultrasound set up for Tuesday for the first bleed episode that I had, so I waited until then. This time it was an ultrasound tech, so they can't tell you much. I do know that both of my ovaries are still huge.

My next doctor appointment isn't for nearly another 2 weeks. I'll actually have a 4D ultrasound before then.

My how the time flies!

Based on dates, I am now 12 weeks exactly. Lots of scans, scares, and a little bit (haha) of stress along the way. Around 9-10 weeks I woke up in the early morning to go pee, but my pee didn't feel quite like pee. I looked down in the toilet and saw bright red blood. I forget if my heart stopped first or I started moaning. I put on a pad, and about an hour later I stood up and felt another large gush. No doubt more red blood. I had thought that the worst had come, I was miscarrying and I would have to begin this tortuous process all over again.

I ended up going to the ER where baby was happily floating away in my belly, heartbeat strong and steady. The ER doc said he saw a subchorionic hemorrhage. He didn't say the size or much of anything else, but I got an acute OB appointment for the next day. That OB doc couldn't even see the SCH anymore (probably because I gushed it out a couple more times after leaving the ER). He just told me to take it easy, no lifting, pelvic rest and all that other good stuff. Which meant even longer period of time without any exercise. Recovery after birth is going to be painful, I can feel it.

Anyhow... fast forward to now (12 weeks) and everything's still going well. I have about 5 or 6 ultrasound pics I'll upload later so you can see the progression. The most recent one actually looks like a mini baby now, and not an alien!

Next goal: Gender prediction! I can't wait, and I have no idea how people can do the whole team yellow thing. That is NOT the kind of surprise I want at birth.

5 weeks 5 days

Sitting at 5 weeks 5 days with nothing much to report. 5 more days until my scan, the days seem to be crawling by! Lots of 5's, that's a lucky thing for me. So far I've had two people say that they think (or have had dreams) that I am having twins. I had a dream last night that I was feeling my belly trying to tell how many were in there. Never did get an answer, hahaha!

Oh Wednesday morning please come soon!

3rd beta test in!

My third beta was 367! Up from 148 a little over 48 hours ago. Going up nicely!

I have my first scan scheduled for the 3rd. Wow, another 2WW? lol.

14dp3dt (4w+3d)

Been a busy couple of days... well more like a big bundle of nerves. The morning after my second beta I noticed some spotting, and the next morning as well. Yes, yes... I know spotting can be normal. But call it PTSD or whatever you will, in my mind spotting = miscarriage. It just gave me flashbacks of being so happy, seeing the heartbeat on US, then spotting and eventually a little cramping and NOT seeing the heartbeat anymore. I was in shock the whole day. It took me a while for it to really sink in. It was a few years ago but it still hurts. And when I see spotting, I just get scared. It wasn't bright red, clots, heavy or anything like that. So I'm trying to remain positive. My IVF nurse said just keep taking your meds and spotting can be normal, especially when using the progesterone suppositories.

I'm getting a third beta today, 2 days after the second. I'm hoping for some good numbers.

Here's some progression pics of the BFPs... Note they are still getting darker from 12 to 14, even with the spotting. :)

One last cute thing: My estimated due date based off of retrieval day is my birthday!! April 26th. :)