No New Ultrasound Photos

Had my 3rd appointment yesterday. Unfortunately it was so quick we didn't get any photos of the baby, but I did get to see him and it looks like he's doing good. He was moving around a lot. So everything is going good.

Refreshing?

I just spilled pickle juice down the front of me, while attempting to open the jar. I think this is a good look for me.

New and Improved 9 Weeks and 3 Day Ultrasound

You can see the heartbeat in the last photo. Despite many applications of cocoa butter and baby belly lotion I have a few new stretch marks on my hips. Darn! A few pairs of my pants are already a little too tight. Unlike Sarah, I think I'll be as a big as a house by the time I'm 9 months along. Speaking of Sarah - anyone know if she has an email address?

New Haircut and General Goofiness

Sneak Peek: Ultrasound 9 Weeks 3 Days

Here's a real quick sneak peek of the ultrasound I had done today. Justin won't be able to scan them all in until Friday, so we took a real quick camera phone picture of one of the photos the OB gave us. William aptly said that it resembles a gummi bear. I'll upload the rest on Friday for you to get a better and clearer picture.

It's amazing how much the baby has grown in a week, especially when you place the ultrasounds next to one another. I have one more ultrasound next Tuesday, and then the ultrasounds will be spaced out a bit more. During this visit we actually saw the baby's heartbeat fluttering on the screen. It looked like a little flickering light right in the middle of its chest. We even saw him wriggling around.

Most of the lab results from the 14 vials of blood were in today (we're still waiting on two). Verdict: Staying on progesterone until April 15th. One of the protein levels in my blood was low and so I stay on baby aspirin until the day I give birth, and then stop - it doesn't affect my health normally, but has been shown to cause miscarriages. When we decide to have another baby, he'll get me "tuned up" and I'll probably go back on baby aspirin during that time. My thyroid levels are low, so I'll be taking that for the duration of my pregnancy - or longer if they don't return to normal. It's amazing that any one of these things (including my septum) can cause a number of miscarriages and I just happen have a plethora of them. We are very lucky to have such a thorough OB this time around. I feel very blessed that we are being taken care of so well.

In other news; we got our taxes done today and are actually getting a refund for once (the past three years we've had to pay in some amount). So we've got good news all around.

Okay, okay, I couldn't resist here's another one. Promise to get better quality ones soon!



Oh and just to let you know, incase you're wondering - in regards to the uterine septum; the baby doesn't kick through the wall, as Justin hypothesized; one side gets bigger to accommodate the growth of the baby. You can't see the other side right now even with the current method of ultrasound, so it was lucky we got in last week when it was visible or the doctor wouldn't have caught it. And then who knows when it would have been discovered. Unfortunately the OB kept the picture of the two chambers last week, or I would gladly post it, so you could see what it looked like. ;)

Ultrasound - 8 Weeks 2 Days

Second one shows the heartbeat down at the bottom.

First Ultrasound

As most of you have probably heard through the grapevine, my spotting increased on Monday, and being the worried sort that I am, I called the OB and they let me come in. At first I was under the impression that it would be to pick up the paperwork for getting my blood drawn for a progesterone check, but they surprised me by saying that the doctor was squeezing me in during his lunch break. It was a really fast appointment. He gave me a quick ultrasound -- and even let me hear the heartbeat! To me, that was the most critical thing about the appointment - seeing the baby was great, but actually hearing the heartbeat, and knowing it was okay at that precise moment was amazing. I wish Justin was there to have witnessed it as well. During the ultrasound he also found that I have a uterine septum*, which may be a factor in my previous miscarriages. This was not discovered during my last two pregnancies, so it is a bit of a relief to discover the likely cause of the miscarriages, when there was previously no definitive cause. Other than the uterine septum, he could find no real cause for the spotting, but said we would be monitoring it closely.

After the ultrasound, he gave me a prescription for progesterone (woman who have a uterine septum are more likely to need help with their progesterone levels), told me to take one baby aspirin a day, and gave me the paperwork to have an enormous amount of blood work done (including having my progesterone levels checked). I tried getting in to get the blood work drawn on Monday, but I needed to fast, so I got it done on Tuesday. Both the OB and the blood clinic warned me that there was going to be a lot of blood drawn, but with my series of extended hospital stays these past few years, I assured them that I would be fine (I mean what could be worse than spinal taps and stomach shots? I got over my fear of getting blood drawn real quick after that). I was still surprised, when the phlebotomist took 14 vials of blood - all out of one arm! That's definitely the most I've ever had taken in one sitting, but I was lucky and only had to be stuck with the needle once, and didn't feel dizzy at all.

So what's next on the agenda? I have another appointment with the OB on Tuesday (3/17). I'll be getting an ultrasound and all that other stuff they do during your first appointment. Justin is going to scan in the pictures of Monday's ultrasound tomorrow at work, if he gets a chance, and I'll put them up here for everyone to see. I'm off of work for the time being, so that I can rest (that progesterone really is knocking me for a loop...and thought I was tired before? HA!) and hopefully the spotting will go away. For the past few days my lower back is hurting something fierce. We don't have a hot water bottle, so Justin's Mom heated up a damp towel in the microwave as a substitute, and let me tell you, that feels heavenly. My current due date according to the size of the fetus is October 17th. He said they would adjust it, and get a more solid due date in the next few appointments. So that's about it, so far!

I just wanted to thank everyone for their support in this, and also give a special shout out and thank you to Justin's Mom, Dawn, for helping me out and taking special care of me these past few days while she has been visiting. I love you all.

xoxo,
Rose

PS: I hope all of the above made sense...I'm too tired to go back and re-read it..haha.


*Uterine septum: A septum is a malformation of the uterus that is present from birth.To understand about a septum, you need to know a bit about how the uterus is formed. At about two months of pregnancy, the uterus in a female fetus begins to form. It develops from two tubelike structures called the Mullerian ducts. As the baby grows, these tubes enlarge and their middle portions fuse together to form the uterus. The upper portions of these ducts go on to form the fallopian tubes. The fused tubes continue to grow; as the uterus enlarges, the area where the tubes touch each other dissolves, leaving one hollow muscular tube -- the uterine cavity. It is a miracle how this chain of events happens. Yet things can go wrong. The ducts may not merge; the result is a double uterus. The ducts may merge incompletely, creating a heart-shaped (bicornuate) uterus. One of the ducts may fail to develop, forming a single-horned (unicornuate) uterus with only one fallopian tube. Or the ducts fuse, but the area where they joined does not dissolve, leaving a dividing wall inside the uterine cavity -- a uterine septum.

Sleep, sleep, sleep!

Hello everyone! Just thought I would drop in to say hi. I have my first OB appointment scheduled for March 13th, which was the earliest appointment available. Due to some recent spotting, I had my HCG levels checked and they seem to be increasing as they should be. Still a bit nervous about that, but I'm trying not to stress my body out any further and just go with the flow. Not so easy when you're a chronic worrier by nature, but Justin has been helping there, and at least he has had the decency to not freak out yet (kidding, kidding :D ). For those of you who would like to know the levels, and for my own records they are:

2/23/09: 34,000
2/27/09: 60,388

I kind of wish I could get tested every week, but that is a bit excessive. Plus, the ultrasound (which I hope will be happening at my OB appointment) will help in gauging my progress. Other than that, not much has been going on here. I've been really sleepy and have been taking lots and lots of naps. This past Sunday while Justin was playing a computer game I laid down on the floor in our office and proceeded to take a series of 30 minute naps off and on for a few hours. I guess you could say it was a nice lazy Sunday.

Take care everyone!
posted by Rose