It's Official!

Sorry for my delay in posting, but this mama needed her nap!

We had our first ultrasound today and it was good.

I left work just before 11:00 to head to Eric's office to pick him up. I got there at 11:15, 15 minutes before we'd planned to leave. He got tied up doing some stuff and we didn't leave until 11:40 a.m. I was getting a bit anxious because my paperwork said to be there 30 minutes early and my appointment was at 12:15 p.m. Shouldn't have been too concerned though, because we had to wait anyway.

I, of course, had to pee, but was trying to hold off, so I could provide a "sample." Finally, at 12:25 p.m., I asked if I could go ahead and do my sample, so I wouldn't have to wait. When I came out of the bathroom, the nurse was waiting and told me they were ready. I went back to the waiting room to get Eric and they took us back to an exam room. It was a different room than last time. The nurse told me that all we were doing was the ultrasound to make sure everything was ok, and that we'd wait on the bloodwork, my pelvic exam, etc, for when I came back to see Dr. D. She said the Dr. A was one room away, and would be in shortly.

I got situated under the paper sheet and waited. And waited. And waited a little more. Poor Eric was starting to get a little steamed. I think he was more nervous than I was. Finally, at 12:50 p.m. Dr. A came in. Eric got up to shake his hand, I decided to stay on the table. He introduced himself and said that we were just doing the ultrasound to make sure "the baby is alive and looks good." He then said that Dr. D really wanted to be there for my first appointment, so we'd save the rest for her later. He said, that they just knew I was probably going crazy and didn't want me to have to wait on the ultrasound. That was the first time I realized that they had made sure they still got me in this week because of my previous situation. They could have just pushed my appointment back, but knew that I must have been holding my breath and didn't want to make it harder on me.

He asked me for my LMP (date of last menstural period). I told him March 9th, but said that I think I ovulated closer to Day 17 or 18. He asked if I'd been charting my BBT. I told him this month we stopped temping, but that I still paid attention to my cervical fluid. He said, "you get pretty good at that after I while." I explained that day 17 was my last "fertile" day of fluid and that my breast tenderness started on cycle day 20, so I figured ovulation was somewhere in that range. He didn't ask to see my charts or anything, but didn't seem to think I was a freak for knowing that either.

He started by trying the ultrasound on my belly. He said that the picture wouldn't be as good, but he'd try this way first. He did see the baby and said he was looking for a heartbeat, very quickly he found it. It wasn't quite as obvious as I thought it would be, but when he pointed to the spot, you could see it flickering. We couldn't see much though, so we decided to go ahead and do the tranvaginal ultrasound. Again, he zeroed on the baby and showed us where the heart was beating. He took some measurements and the baby measured at 7 weeks 5 days. My estimate was 7 weeks 6 days, so I say close enough and it looks like it's right on track.

He showed us where he could see eye sockets (although, I never could really make it out) and I think we can distinguish possible arm and leg buds on a picture. He zoomed in to make it bigger, but a little more blurry, and we could really see the heart flickering away. It was a good feeling. I looked at Eric and he had an ear to ear grin. The doctor also said that once they see an established heart beat, that the chance of loss is reduced almost to zero. I'm not sure I entirely believe that, but he's the doctor, so we'll go with that. He printed us off 5 pictures which I will post, hopefully, later tonight. He also printed off one for my doctor to leave in the file. I'm sort of hoping, she'll want a better view and do another ultrasound next time, but we'll see.

After we were done, we had to stop and make another appointment. The nurse I usually talk to, was very excited to hear that everything was good and I was right on schedule. They are scheduling me for a "New OB" time slot, because we have to do everything else. I asked if that meant we'd do another ultrasound. The schedule lady didn't know, and then a nurse said that insurance doesn't usually pay for a second one. I mentioned that my insurance will pay for anything, so we'll see if they take the bite and let me do another one. I'm just getting greedy. My new appoinment is May 27th, so I'll be almost 11 weeks by then.

When I came home today, I did a little research and found out that you can hear the baby heartbeat via doppler anywhere from 10 to 12 weeks. I'm hopeful that 11 weeks, the baby will cooperate and I can get to hear the heartbeat if I don't get another ultrasound. Oh, it was a good day. Thank you everyone for your prayers. Keep up the good work!