On June 30th, I went in to our fertility clinic for my second ultrasound of this baby. Chris was out of town, so it was just me at this one. I was only a little nervous right before I went back for the ultrasound. I had been having lots of symptoms such as nausea, fatigue, soreness, loss of appetite, and sensitivity to smells, so I was definitely feeling pregnant!
At this appointment, I was 8 weeks, 3 days along based on what the nurse told me at my first ultrasound (she was basing the dates on CD 1). However, the nurse at this appointment decided to use my IUI date which put me at 8 weeks, 1 day. I asked her about it and she said it didn't matter, but it matters to me! I didn't want to feel like I was losing 2 days, so I'm still going off of the CD 1 calculation that the first nurse gave me.
So, at 8 weeks, 3 days, the baby was measuring 15.62 mm in length (8 weeks, 0 days).
Its heart rate was 156 bpm . . . quite a bit slower than Brianna at this age, so of course it made me wonder if we're having a boy this time. Dr. P zoomed in on the heart for me, and showed me where you could see all four heart chambers pumping blood. So cool!
This is what my Dr. P calls the "teddy-gram" shot! He was very proud to get this as you can see the baby's head and little arm buds.
Our next ultrasound was on July 11th, and I was 10 weeks, 0 days along. However, the settings from our last visit had been saved, so the computer said I was 9 weeks, 5 days. I will admit, I was quite nervous at this ultrasound. Several of my symptoms had really started to go away. One day (July 5th), I was soooooo sick all day long. I had a terrible, terrible headache (a symptom I dealt with while pregnant with B until about 14 weeks) and was extremely nauseous. Of course, all day I laid on the couch and prayed that I would feel better the next day (I hate not being able to be 100 percent for B). Sure enough, the next day, I felt tons better. Better than I had in weeks! Then of course, I got scared that something was wrong and maybe I wasn't pregnant anymore. Silly, I know, but I had energy, an appetite, and lots of soreness was gone. Since then, I have felt really great overall, which made me scared that I had lost the baby. I know I need to just be grateful for feeling good, but it's just so hard for me to believe that things are going well.
I guess part of me feels like this all happened too easily this time. Of course, spending 5 weeks preparing my body for treatment (and being very sick much of that time), pouring fertility drugs into my body, getting daily injections, then doing an IUI isn't exactly what most people would call easy, but from my perspective, it is. I didn't have to have surgery this time. I didn't have to go through any cancelled or failed cycles this time (which essentially means that my heart wasn't broken and mended repeatedly). Seven weeks after seeing Dr. P again, I was pregnant, as opposed to 15 months. So yeah, easy is relative and I feel like it has been easy for me this time. Which of course makes me paranoid that the ball is going to drop, instead of just being extremely grateful that God has blessed us so abundantly.
So, I'm working on having faith that things will be okay, and that even if they are not God will grant me the strength to get through it. And, of course, I'm striving for the thankful without the paranoid.
So anyway, things did look great, and the baby measured 29.34 mm (9 weeks, 5 days).
The baby's heart rate was 174 bpm! Of course, that made me think maybe it's a girl, haha!
Things looked so great in fact, that we officially graduated from seeing Dr. P to seeing our regular OB, Dr. N! I am very excited about this!
No belly pic this time, but soon. And yes, there is definitely a belly to show already. Ummm, yikes? With Brianna, I didn't start showing until about 15 weeks, and I wasn't in maternity clothes until 17 weeks. Not so much this time around! I have already busted out the maternity pants (I don't really have to have them yet, but they are just sooooo much more comfortable!). With Brianna, I gained a total of 42 pounds (again, YIKES!), then with the help of Weight Watchers lost 50 pounds by the time she was 4 months old. After I quit working and nursing, I gained almost 20 of those pounds back and never disciplined myself enough to lose them again. Ugh.
Anyway, so my clothes were already fitting much tighter, and most people show much sooner after the first pregnancy anyway. I'm trying really hard not to stress about showing already, but I will admit that I am not loving the way I look right now. I haven't really had a normal appetite since I was about 6 weeks, so I doubt that I have gained weight . . . my belly is just pooching out all loud and proud. My goal is to not pack on quite as many lbs this time around, but we will see.
In the future, I'll certainly try not to go so long between updates so they won't be quite this lengthy.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
3 comments:
Congrats! Also if you have no fear you are not a parent! If it makes you feel any better with Lorelei I gained 30 lbs in the first trimester and 70lbs over all.
Thanks for the update!!!
Between you and Brenna I'm gonna end up with baby fever!
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