Saw our little bean!

Our baby :)
This is a head-on shot, so it's kind of hard to see. There is JUST one, for those of you who have asked! The little ring at the top of the Gestational sac is the yolk sac. The yolk sac remains until about 10-12 weeks when the placenta takes over.

Yesterday (5/21/08), we saw our little one for the first time. Everything is going well. The baby measured about a week behind what we thought he/she would, but that's normal because you never know if you ovulated/implanted late. It's also early, so it's very possible that the baby will measure differently at the next ultrasound. The due date going by what i my LMP was would have been 12/26/08, but if we go by the ultrasound it would be 01/02/09. My OB will probably talk to me about which date to go by after the next ultrasound.

We get another ultrasound on June 16. This is called "First Look". It's an additional ultrasound with a Perinatologist done between 11-13 weeks to test for the same types of conditions that the Triple or Quad Screens check for. The ultrasound and bloodwork is done at the same time and then the results are compared to give a more accurate result of the potential for anomalies. This used to be a test done for women who were pregnant at age 35+, but in 2007 ACOG advocated to have this be a standard test offered to all patients and for it to be covered by insurance. At first, i was a little bit nervous about this, but the doctor's office assured me that it's offered to everyone, not just me.

Our baby looked very good. The heart rate was beating at 164bpm, which is very good. They want it to be over 120bpm, so I was happy to hear that.

My next appointment is June 2nd. That's just a regular appointment with my doctor. Then I get the ultrasound on June 16th.

I'll keep you posted!

Christy

Announcement

Look to the right. :)
Yep, we are going to have another baby! It was a huge surprise. We've known for about a week now. Many of you know that we really wanted to have #3 and tried for 14 months back in 2006-2007. After spending a lot of time, emotion, and money trying we decided that we couldn't pour any more of ourselves into trying. We decided to stop and took most of last summer convincing ourselves that we weren't meant to have #3. Over the last 8 months or so, the idea of having just 2 was getting easier to accept. We spent a lot of energy telling ourselves of all the reasons that we "shouldn't" have another one anyway. (the kids are getting older and more independent, tommy is almost 100% potty trained, school tuition, no extra bedroom, vacations, money, etc). Not to mention we got rid or most of our baby stuff. We did keep our crib, baby swing, and high chair b/c it was painful enough selling the smaller things, so I couldn't bear to get rid of the big stuff just yet. (Thank goodness!!! lol)
After doing all that we were pretty comfortable with our decision to stop trying and move on with our lives. So needless to say, this was a huge shock. We were very happy when we found out, yet a little apprehensive. It was really hard to believe, so it took a few days to wrap our heads around it.
What happened was, in March, i started early (for any guys reading this, i'll spare the tmi details) so that meant that I would probably start right around the time of our vacation in April. I called the doctor and asked them if there's anything that I can do to delay it. Most people would just take their next pack of birth control right after finishing one month's worth in order to delay it. Well, the doctor will not let me be on any estrogen based birth control pills because after having Tommy I had a PE scare, and estrogen in BCPs can cause clots. So, they said the only thing they can prescribe is Aygestin, which is a progesterone-only pill. Some people take this pill as a form of birth control for the entire month, but if you take it just before you are supposed to start, it doesn't act as a BCP because it doesn't prevent ovulation. So, the instructions for delaying my period was to just take it from 3 days before our trip until the day we returned. I was then supposed to start 3 days after that. Well, 3 days came and went. I researched this medication online and found that some people don't start for 10 days after stopping the medication. I ended up waiting the 10 days and still nothing. I got to the point where I was enjoying not having my period, so i kind of let it go. It never once crossed my mind that I could be pregnant given that we've never been able to conceive without medical intervention, and the last time it didn't work even with medical intervention.
So, Tuesday of last week, I was really crabby. Matt was asking me what was wrong and why I was so moody and I told him that I probably screwed up my body by taking that medication and that I still hadn't started, so my hormones were probably all over the place. He agreed and said I better call the doctor on Wednesday to see if they need to give me a shot to restart my system. I agreed. I thought about it and figured that the first thing the doctor would say is, "well, you never started, so did you take a pregnancy test?" so I figured i would go ahead and take one just so i could say that i had and that it was negative. lol I ended up finding an expired test in the bathroom. I took it and it came up positive right away. I was shocked. I called Matt to come and see and he was shocked, too. I told him the test was expired and we should probably buy a new one. He ran up to Walgreens and picked up a new box. That test came back positive, too.
I called the doctor the next morning and she had me come in that day for bloodwork. My hcg level came back 18,596miU. She estimates that I was probably around 7-8 weeks based on that result. She said that the progesterone actually probably caused the pregnancy and that may have been what I needed all along. So, we're thinking I'm probably due December 26th if we go by my LMP, which was in March. She scheduled an ultrasound to get an exact due date for Wednesday. I'll keep you posted.