It's aaaaaa ......

Well last night we had a little scare.  I had some bleeding and today when the doctor's office called to give me the results to my tests and cultures (still no STD's - go figure!), I told them about it and the doctor wanted me to come in for a more complete ultrasound.  So, off we go to Mandeville again.  In the u/s we saw all of the cranial bones (awesome!), the feet and hands and tooth buds AND it's still early, but we saw a boy package!  I know it's not a fool-proof way of telling the gender, but our instincts were telling us it's a boy, so until a later u/s show's something different, we are having a son!  I will post the beautiful picture tomorrow.  I wish I had asked for a picture of the cranium.  When I took anatomy in school I was obsessed with the skull.  All you A&P'ers know what I mean!

(Left) The bright white spot on the left is the back of the baby's left heel. The next white spot below that one is the back of the right heel.  The right butt cheek is turned down and not seen very well.  So, the u/s tech was pretty certain the stuff in between is boy stuff.

(Below) Picture of baby facing face-down. The head is on the right.

11 weeks & 2 days

Today was my first visit with my new ob/gyn.  Dr. Landry is great and I thank "Monkey" and my friend Angel for the referral.  Dr. L is very liberal, which I love, and I think we are going to get along GREAT!  He told me that I can eat whatever I want including sushi!  I'm not risking it though.  I'll go to the American Pregnancy Association website and do some research first.  I like that I have control over how conservative I'm going to be.  I don't like being micro-managed!  Also, he said I can labor any which way that I want. Yay!   Heck maybe I can get to do a water birth after all.  I'm waiting for the birth plan stage to ask that question.  I didn't want to come off too pushy on the first visit.

Aside from all of that, I did get another quicky ultrasound so that they could see the heartbeat, which we did, and we got to see the baby hiccup!  It was like a reverse sit-up, or the beginning of a back flip.  It was so cute!  I wish Robert could have seen it, but he had to work late today.  

One last bit of excitement ... I bought a couple of pairs of maternity pants!  Everyone should wear them, they are SO comfortable!  I know it is still early, but I am showing (mostly fat), but I can't suck it in anymore if I try so I know it is baby too.  Since the FET on January 29th, I've gained fourteen pounds.  For the sake of remembering, in case I never see 140 pounds again, I was 152 at the time of the FET.

9 wk 4 day - Ultrasound video

I have a terrible headache, so I will post this video now and update later.

********UPDATE*********

The blood clot has completely resolved and I was released from my RE.  My appt. with my new Ob/Gyn is on March 31st.  My most recent numbers are:

CRL:  28 mm (1.1 inches)

FHR:  183 bpm

I was able to go to work for a few hours on Friday which was really nice.  I still have to wait until I see my new doctor to see if I can go back to doing Ashiatsu and to see what type of exercise I can do.  So far I've gained ten pounds on bed rest.  Now I can start gaining baby weight!  This week is the last week we can call our baby an embryo.  Next week it will officially be a fetus.  I'm sure going to miss my RE and being able to see the baby every two weeks.  Oh well,  life goes on.

Stacy Westfall and Roxy

This lady was on Ellen today and I had to post this.  I can't watch this without getting all choked up.  Hormones?  I don't know, but this lady and her horse are AWESOME!

This is their website:  www.westfallhorsemanship.com

Koalas ... not cute any more!!!!!

It's not bad enough that I can't eat all my favorite foods and that I'm always queasy, but now I have cute koalas eating their momma's crap burning a hole in my brain.  Not that I'm complaining about all the pregnancy symptoms.  I've been very fortunate so far and I would gladly barf my guts up for a healthy baby, but geez, does the discovery channel have to ruin that cute cuddly idea of a koala?  I could have done without the visual.  That's all I'm going to say about that.

I'm patiently awaiting my u/s appointment on wednesday with my RE.  He said he's releasing me if everything looks okay.  Bummer!  Now I have to search for an awesome Ob/Gyn.  I'm looking for someone in the Covington/Mandeville area so, if any of you local ladies have good referrals, send them along.   Please!

The sweet sound of heart tones!!!

Gestational age: 7wks + 2 days

Crown/Rump Length: 11.4 mm (.45 ")

Heart beat: 164 bpm

Ok!  We didn't expect to hear the heart tones today, BUT WE DID!!!  Like my husband said, "it's a sound that reverberates through the soul!"  I've been tired and a little nauseated, but no vomiting.  The blood clot is still there, but it is in a good place.  (It has a front row seat next to the exit sign.)  I have been upgraded to modified bed rest.  Yay!!!  The baby is tucked away safe and sound at the very top of the uterus in the fundus.  Dr. C said I have to come back in 2 weeks for one more ultrasound before he realeases me.  I am so so sad.  I have had the best doctor and nurses ever at this clinic and I hate to leave them.  Dr. C has seen me on Christmas Eve, countless Sundays and during Mardi Gras parades.  Hopefully the OB I wind up seeing is just as attentative and available as Dr. C has been.  Good news is that he has 4 more of our embryos on ice and I suppose we will be returning for those sometime in the future.  Meanwhile, here's a picture of our sea monkey!

7wks +1 day Pregnant

Still on bed rest ... I was able to move my u/s appt. up to monday instead of tuesday.  The Reiki class went very well.  It was a long day, sitting up for most of the time (still in bed).  Towards 2:00 I started getting really bad cramps so I layed down.  By that time I was ready to have some work done on me.  When my instructor got to my belly my pains went away completely, but then came back when she left there.  Other than that I really didn't feel much of anything.  This doesn't discount the validity of Reiki, I'm just very challenged in the energy modalities.  I have to practice on myself everyday for at least the next 21 days.  Hopefully I will gain some sensitivity to sensing the energy.   I usually fall asleep during the self-treatment and I can't do the back positions because my arms fall asleep before I do.  I have noticed that I'm sleeping better and am less worried about the baby than I was during the beginning of the week.  

As I've mentioned before, I've been doing some self-hypnosis and I truly FEEL like the blood clot is almost gone and I had a dream about the baby's heartbeat.  I, along with other people and a dog (?) went to this healing spring and we were told that the only way we could drink from it was to drink directly from it while we were in the spring, hence no cups or hand scooping.  I don't know if this is important to know, it's just what happened.  It does add a gross-factor, but what the heck, it was a sacred place.  So we all jump into the spring and I let myself sink underwater and take a big gulp and then in the quiet, I hear the heartbeat -- beating loud, FAST and clear.  So, I'm no longer worried (as much).  I'm anxiously awaiting tomorrow's ultrasound.