Saturday, August 26, 2006

NO! MORE! SHOTS!

OK, I can't help it. It's just so great to not have 1cc of sesame oil injected into my hip every morning anymore. Those effers weren't fun. At all. I got the "AOKAY" at the RE's office yesterday to discontinue the meds. I won't lie -- I'm more than a little nervous about it. I mean, hell, I'm technically not even 10 weeks yet (but don't tell the little overachiever that. It measured 10w2d yesterday). But I do trust Dr. H. and he said it'd be ok, so it must be true.

So yeah, I went for my final RE appointment yesterday. Got a CD with a boatload of pictures on it, including ones from the past 3 weeks. I've replaced the crap ones I put in the last entry with the good ones for those of you keeping score at home. Like I said earlier, fetus was still measuring ahead and the heartrate continues to rise. It was 176 BPM yesterday. I guess that's good, I'm not really sure. Either way, they gave me a copy of my records and kicked me to the curb. They did invite me back to visit sometime, and since my OB's office is on the floor below them in the same medical building, I think I can manage that.

Here are more boring pictures. If you click on one, it will render full-sized. Be sure to click the "back" button to return to read more blog! heh:



ARM!


FEET!


Face:


Fingers:


Legs:


So the bottom line is that I'm just an average pregnant lady now, I guess. It feels weird, reasurring and petrifying all at the same time. I'm quite used to be coddled and spoiled and hope that I don't get lost in that big practice. Dr. H. really loves the OB that I've chosen and told me that during her internship rotation with him, he tried to get her to become an RE -- no go! So there's a recommendation that makes me feel better.

On the non-fertility front, Stella (my Rottweiler) and I have started RALLY classes. She's a natural! We're training at the same farm where we herd sheep so we've got both activities on the same day. It's going to be fun. She really loves it. Now we actually have homework every night.

Whew! If you've read this far, thanks! You're a true friend. Now, it's pizza time. I'll post more when I can.

posted by Debbi @ 6:45 PM 4 comments

Sunday, August 20, 2006

You're doomed -- the pictures have already started

It won't end now. Seriously. You think pictures of vacation, trips to visit family and parties are boring, you ain't seen nothin' yet. I've already started with the pictures of the baby. AHAHAHAHAHA.

I finally got some ready but first the update: RE appointment Friday. Everything looks good. Fetus measured 6 days ahead (9w3d) and it's hand was wiggling. Heartrate was 170. The ultrasound tech told us that over the next few weeks we'll start to see the heartrate go down as the nervous system matures and starts to have more control. I've got one more visit next week -- I "graduate" to my OB next Friday. I'll hopefully be able to go off the PIO injections and the Estrogen patches soon after. I guess I'll find out then. And speaking of PIO, C. hit a blood vessel (or vein... whatever) for the first time ever yesterday. Man, that gets messy. I bled all over the place. It was uglier than it was uncomfortable.

OK, here are the pictures... First, here are the embryos that they transferred:





This one's from 6w3d. It's the first time we saw the heartbeat. You can see the yolk sac below and to the right of the embryo.



This one's from 7w3d -- The yolk sac is to the left of the embryo. No heartrate was measured but the Dr. pointed out to us that the limb buds are beginning to form. Notice that the embryo is about twice the size of the yolk sac in a week's time.



These last two are from Friday. I'm 8w4d but the embryo is measuring 9w3d. The form of the body is really starting to get visible and the hand was wiggling when the pictures were being taken.





posted by Debbi @ 8:55 AM 4 comments

Friday, August 11, 2006

Overachiever!

Had 2 appointments yesterday -- one with the RE and then my first OB appointment.

The RE appointment went great. It's the first time I've seen him since the positive beta. I saw the nurse practitioner for the first ultrasound. He gave me a hug, congratulated me and we got down to business. He pointed out that the first thing they do is look for the heartbeat and he saw that right away. As usual, I just saw big blobs of gray. I did notice that the embryo is now about twice the size of the yolk sac now. The first ultrasound showed them both about the same size. He didn't measure the heartrate today but said that the embryo is measuring almost 8 weeks. I was 7w3d yesterday. He showed me the limb buds, where the arms and legs will form and the brain and the spine. He also told me that everything looked great and there was nothing that was a cause for any concern at this point. Asked me if I wanted to come back in a week. "YES YES YES!" I can't get enough of seeing this little half-cheerio grow. Heck, it'll probably be bigger than a half-cheerio next week.

You should know that I've grown accustomed to sneaking away after lunch and going down to the parking garage to the bus for a nap. I usually get 45 minutes in and it literally gets me through the rest of my day. Yesterday was no exception. I had 90 minutes between the end of the RE appointment and the OB appointment so I went down to my car. It's amazing where one can sleep when they're completely dead on their feet. We've lent our full mattresses/frame to a friend and had them loaded in the car for delivery yesterday so the usual stretch on the back seat was unavailable. I'm not lying when I said that I tilted the steering up, piled up blankets on the center console and slept for over an hour in the public parking garage. Did I mention that I'm really tired? Man, I love the bus.

The OB appointment was very LONG. We got a pile of books and information. They drew blood, collected urine and did a PAP smear. Interestingly, she didn't mention "advanced maternal age" which made me feel better, and I got the impression that we're just average patients. That makes me feel good but yet kinda sad, too.

So next up is another RE appointment in a week, then the Full Integrated Prenatal Risk Profile in 4 weeks and another OB appointment the same day.

posted by Debbi @ 9:57 AM 3 comments

Sunday, August 06, 2006

One isn't such a lonely number after all

Well, no, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth but yes, we did have a not-so-natural disaster this week. Our house was flooded by a malfunctioning clothes washer. I came home to find that 7 1/2 hours of water ran all over the bottom floor of my house. It has not been a fun few days. The good news is that we got a really spiffy new washer and dryer set from the local Sears smash & dent store.

The even better news is that the ultrasound Thursday was just AWESOME. There's a little itty bitty singleton in there, measuring right on target (6w3d on Thursday) and has a heartrate of 120bpm. I get another peek Thursday in addition to my first OB appointment.

OK, gotta go get some laundry done!

posted by Debbi @ 10:22 PM 2 comments