9 Week Ultrasound - Growing Strong!

I am happy to say that the ultrasound went pretty well today! Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers! The little bean is measuring just a day behind at 9 weeks, 4 days and its heartbeat went up to 182! Yahoo for a strong baby! The best part of the ultrasound was that I got to see our little one moving around! It was waving it's arm, saying "Hello, I'm doing good in here!" and was even scooting it's butt around (I couldn't see the legs, but the lower half of the body was shimmying around!). It was so neat! And I was able to hear the heartbeat again which is just the coolest sound in the world!

The pocket is still there and pretty much the same size, but I'm glad it's at least holding steady. The one large dimension (length) is the same size as before, but the other two dimensions (width and depth I'm assuming) have gone down a tiny bit, so we're hoping that means that my body is starting to reabsorb the pocket. She also said the pocket may have moved a little more "south" which is good too...when they're positioned down there (rather than up "north"), she said the chance for a miscarriage is less...wahoo! I'll take that!

So, my next appointment will be September 9th....these next three weeks will feel like an eternity! I will be filling them with prayers and positive thoughts! I will be 12 weeks at that point and will be having an ultrasound done that evuluates for your chances of the baby having downs syndrome or trisomy 13 or 18 I think. So during that ultrasound, they will also evaluate the pocket again and hopefully it has gone way down by then! The ultrasound appointment is at 9:45am on the 9th, and then I go back later that day at 1:30pm to meet with a doctor (and get weighed, etc.!). Depending on how things look during that appointment, we'll make a gameplan as to when (or if!) I need to come back in for more follow-up ultrasounds.

And, last but not least, our newest picture of the bambino! This one is a little harder to decipher than last weeks...I think the baby might have it's head tucked in (chin on his/her chest) so it's hard to differentiate the head from the body. You can see a little arm popping up (a white "stick" about half way down the body)! It almost looks as if his/her legs are crossed too (Indian style), but I'm not sure if that's the placenta or the actual legs!

Thank you all again for your prayers and support! Please continue praying for all three of us!

Love you all!
Nile & David

Our 8 Week Update

I just got back from my ultrasoung and things went pretty well! I had a really nice technician who worked with me. We saw the fluid pocket and it is the same size as last Friday's...so the good news is that it hasn't gotten any bigger. When she measured the pocket, I was able to see where it was...it was sort of making a backwards "C" around the right hand side of the gestational sac. So it looked thin, but long...but at least it hasn't grown!

On the other hand, we were able to see the baby and it has grown and is right on track! So it's also good that the pocket isn't affecting the baby's growth. The baby measured at 8 weeks, 5 days which is exactly what I am, and the heartrate had gone up to 176bpm which was great!! So fluid pocket aside, all things are looking good! Oh, and this time, they did the ultrasound using a wand on top of my tummy so I was able to hear the heartbeat - it was so amazing!! We'd been able to see it flicker on the screen before, but had never heard it, and it was so awesome!

On this picture, you can see the baby's head on the left (even a little nose!) and the placenta floating up towards the top of the gestational sac. We are so in love with this little one already!

The ultrasound technician suggested that I come back in next week for another follow-up and then maybe every few weeks after that. I told her that the OB had mentioned coming every month, but I would much rather come more often than not (even if the ultrasounds can't help anything, it puts my mind at ease to know what's going on!). So I have another ultrasound appointment on Thursday, August 21st, at 2:15pm.

Thank you all for your prayers and support! Please keep praying for us and that as time passes, the baby will keep getting bigger and the fluid pocket will start to get smaller. I am hoping that by next week maybe it will have started to shrunk a little bit!

We love you all!
Nile & David

My First OB Appointment

I met with my OB's office today and a very nice doctor there. We spoke about my fluid pocket and he really did not seem concerned. He said they see these frequently and isn't really worried. He asked that I schedule an ultrasound with their office this week, so I'll be going in on Thursday at 12:15pm for that (instead of going to my specialist's office). He said, from there, he would recommend coming back in 4 weeks unless something happens where I begin bleeding a lot, have cramping, etc. He said it's good that I'm not bleeding and that the baby's growth and size isn't being affected by the fluid area. He also said that I should stop taking baby aspirin (I had started taking this back in June to help me get pregnant)...as the baby aspirin has the opposite affect of what's needed for this. So, I will be stopping that right away and hopefully that will help us see a positive difference by the ultrasound on Thursday. I am also going to try and see my acupuncturist, as there are some "stop bleeding" treatments that he can do that will also hopefully help all of this.

So, I am going to try and follow my doctors lead and not be overly worried! He reiterated that I need to take things easy, so I will be doing that as much as possible too. I am just praying that the ultrasound on Thursday shows that things are heading in the right direction (pocket is smaller and baby is still growing as he/she should be).

Thank you all for your prayers, love and support! I am praying we have great news to share with you on Thursday!

Love you!
Nile & David

A Scary Day

Well, yesterday was an emotional day!  On Thursday night I had a tiny bit of bleeding.  I wasn't totally surprised by it because at my last two ultrasound appointments, they let me know that I have a pocket of fluid in my uterus and women who have that may experience spotting and bleeding.  I still didn't like that it happened though, so I called my nurse on Friday morning and went in for another ultrasound.  The good news is that the baby is still going strong - great heartbeat and size!  The bad news is that the size of the fluid pocket has grown.  Between my first ultrasound appointment (July 28th) and the one I had on Thursday, the size of the fluid area had remained stable at 29x15x19.  So that was a good sign that it hadn't gotten any larger.  However, at Friday's ultrasound, just a day later, the pocket had grown to 48x13x20!  Not so good!

When I spoke to my nurse about it, she gave me a good explanation of what exactly the fluid pocket is and the ramifications of it...

"The area is called a sub chorionic bleed.  It occurs in many pregnancies early on and most of the time resolve on their own.  As the placenta begins to form, there is sometimes a space or pocket between the placenta and uterine wall that can accumulate blood.  Most of the time, as the placenta grows, these pockets flatten out and form a good seal with the uterine wall.  On the other end of the spectrum, occasionally the pockets expand and a good seal is never achieved and a miscarriage can occur."

So, needless to say I am worried!  On the positive side, the odds are in my favor and a good majority of these situations resolve on their own.  On the down side, seeing the pocket grow in size wasn't what we wanted to see happening.  We are trying to stay positive and focus on all the good!  Needless to say, this baby has strong Pfaff/Dorian/Bordelon blood in it...we're going to fight this!  

I have an appointment with my OB on Monday for an exam and initial meeting, so I'm going to get his thoughts on this as well.  I will also be going back to see my specialist on Thursday for another ultrasound, so we can see what changes the pocket has made over the last week.

Please pray for us!  Please pray that our little bean continues to grow in size and strength, and remains unaffected by this pocket.  And that my body responds as it should, and this pocket flattens out and doesn't get any larger, so that a good seal is made with the uterine wall.

Thank you again for all of your love, support and prayers!  They mean so much to us, especially at times like this!

We love you!

Nile & David

Our Bean is Growing!

We got to see our little bean again today! And this time, he/she is actually looking like a bean! It's amazing how much our little baby has grown in just over a week! The ultrasound went perfectly...the baby's heartrate has gone up to 156bpm and the baby measured 7 weeks, 4 days (1 day behind)...so we are on our way! With this appointment, I have officially graduated from my fertility specialist and am now in the hands of my OB! I wish I didn't have to leave my fertility specialist so soon...I love the whole office...but I know it's a good thing that I am able to move on to my OB (who is also great!). The ultrasound tech snuck my doctor a print out of the ultrasound, and after I had gotten dressed and we walked out, my doctor handed me a card that had our ultrasound photo in it, along with a congratulations note from the team at the office! I thought that was really sweet!

On Monday, I have an appointment with my OB's office just to go over my medical history, have an exam done, etc. Then I'll have an ultrasound done the following Tuesday (August 19th) at which point I'll be 9 weeks and 2 days. The baby will have doubled in size by then! After that, our next ultrasound won't be until 20 weeks (first week of November) when we can tell the baby's gender!

Thank you all for your love, support and prayers!

Love you,

Nile & David