Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

Today was the big day. The day that I would finally know what was really going on with my body.
Am I really still pregnant? (my big belly and slight nausea would have me think so.)
Do I have an empty sac still?

I was hoping to be able to hear a heartbeat, and see a little something within a bigger black sac...

For several nights I hadn't been sleeping too well. I found myself surfing the internet pregnancy forums in the middle of the night- that, of course, didn't really help the way I was feeling. I don't know if the insomnia was a symptom of my pregnancy, caused by my worry, or a result of the fact that I'm finishing up a week of "taking it easy" (aka. napping in the afternoon). Either way, I was ready for it to be all over either way. I wanted to be able to exercise a bit- to be able to at least just walk around.

So, finally 7PM rolled around, and I went to my appointment.
How have you been?
Nervous.
Why?
Because of the empty sac last time.
But I told you that it probably is just that your dates are off.
I know, but I've heard so many stories since then!!

So, I went to the scale. Already up half a kilo from last week's appointment (but at least it was more than a kilo less than what Socorro's scale measured yesterday). :)

What I really want, though, is to get to the ultrasound.


Once the images showed up on the screen, I was relieved. I could tell that the sac looked much bigger, and also could see something inside the sac.

I had been studying enough ultrasound pictures on the internet over the last few days to have a good idea of what I was looking at.

To help give an idea, you can take a look at this link:
http://www.baby2see.com/development/ultrasound_sonogram/first_trimester_scans.html#week4

But, I'll try to make things a little bit clearer here in this next picture.

I've circled the Gestational sac in red.

Then I've circled the yolk sac in green.

Finally, the baby (aka. embryo) is what I've circled in blue.

Seeing it in a picture is one thing, but actually being there is another because on the screen I could actually see movement.

Yes, I could see and hear a heartbeat!!


Anyways, the doctor changed the mode of the screen, and there were a few moments that I could see the heartbeat flashing on the screen in red, superimposed on the ultrasound screen.


This third picture shows the 4d ultrasound image of the baby. Really you can only see it as a little projectile within the gestational sac. Considering only a week has passed, though, this is still an amazing difference from what I saw last week.



So, we determined that the rate of growth was normal. So the dates were just "off."

This part is a bit ironic. Instead of just admitting that every woman is different, and giving a guess at the time of concpetion, and basing the other dates off that date, the date of my last period was changed to reflect the size of the growing embryo. So, officially, my last period started on Dec. 8th 2009, I guess. (even though I know it really started on Nov 29th). I am no longer 7 weeks and 2 days pregnant. I am now 6 weeks pregnant as based on my new official last period date.
This chart now shows the measurements, and the comparison for the age of the embryo.
CRL is the crown rump length of the embryo- now about a third of a cm.
SV- is what I'm assuming would be YS or yolk sac in english.
SG- is the GS or Gestational sac length.



These next charts show how the size of the baby compares to its new established age.





Finally, the generic page gives me development informational about the baby for its current age to give me an idea of how it's progressing. (although in this case, it is still based on my original date for last period, so this is what the baby will be like in about a week).


I was very happy with my appointment, and was so relieved, that when they took my blood pressure, it was back down to a more characteristic 110/70.

I told the doctor that I was glad that they had waited to take the blood pressure until after having seen that everything was OK!!

Finally, I asked him about the iodine that the midwife proposed I take. He told me not to take it- I didn't really need it yet. The multi-vitamin that I should start taking at the beginning of the second trimester would have it, and for now the iron and folic acid that I'm taking are enough. So, I wasn't exactly sure what to do about my appointment with my doctor.

I also asked about the "reposo," and was happy to hear that now that everything looks OK, I am free to go back to "vida normal."

I was to stick with the progesterone (once you've started, It's good to keep it up), and was to make an appointment for around the time of my other appointments at the end of the first trimester. So, I got an appointment for Feb. 23rd, right after the appointment with the midwife.

So, that was it. I left my appointment very happy and relieved.
Now I just have to get my hospital appointment, and make sure it fits in with the rest...