IVF: US #6 - Heartbeat

At 1 PM on our anniversary, we had our appointment for what was hopefully my last ultrasound at RCC for quite a while. It was to go in and make sure the pregnancy looks good, and hopefully see/hear a heartbeat. Having a positive pregnancy test is great, but there is so much that can go wrong early on in the pregnancy. From what I understand, once you hear a heartbeat, your chances of having a miscarriage go down significantly (although not entirely). So I've been pretty anxious for this appointment to get confirmation that all is going well.

When they called us back and we walked into the room, Owen immediately burst into tears. He thought that it was a doctor's appointment for him. It was so sad. I don't know if he remembered getting shots from his 18 mo checkup, or if it was leftover trauma from when he went into the ER for his croup last month and he got really upset when they listened to him breath and checked his oxygen levels. Either way, it was sad that he was freaking out so much. Miles held him, tried to calm him down and reassure him that the appointment was for mama and not for him, while I got ready and sat on the table so he could understand that *I* was the one the doctors were coming to see. Once I sat down, he calmed down pretty quick.

The doctor came in and said that I had had good HCG levels which made for a 50/50 chance of twins. I had no idea it was that high. However, as quickly as I got semi excited at the thought of twins, he started the ultrasound and said, "Looks like there's just one." And then he moved it around a bit and before he even said anything, I could see the little flutter of the heart. All my concerns just vanished. Seeing that little flicker on the screen is amazing. He wasn't sure if we'd be able to hear or not since it's so early, but he tried and we did. He said it was a good heartbeat. He checked things out, measured the sac, and said things looked good. He mentioned I have a small blood clot just behind the sac that might cause some spotting. He said if it was bigger, it would be a potential concern, but he didn't see any need to worry since it was small. I'm glad he told me about it so that if I do spot I won't freak out...well, at least not as much as I would have.

Afterward we took a picture with Dr. Heiner. I figured it would be nice to have one with the doctor who helped us get pregnant with Owen and now another baby. :)

Katie was busy in a surgery or something so I wasn't able to get a picture with her. They congratulated us, the nurse gave us a hug and they gave us a little bottle of sparkling cider with a parenting magazine and other info.
We also did a video recording while we were there. I just uploaded them, and sadly, most of it didn't get recorded. Miles handed the camcorder off to me, but I thought he'd turned it off to do the pass. I guess he didn't. So we got about 3 seconds of the flutters, then a bunch of nothing. :( Sad day.

My due date is October 9th (my niece, Elena's birthday). So far I am feeling ok. I've had moments of nausea, but nothing too major. I'm pretty sure last time all that kicked in between 6-7 weeks, so I would imagine it will be anytime now that I am 6 1/2 weeks along. Here's hoping it's not that bad! Luckily I've prepared some by making meals to freeze for those times I feel terrible and don't feel like cooking. Of course running after a toddler will also make things interesting. Either way, I am just so so happy about this and feel so blessed that for both of our IVF attempts, I have been able to get pregnant on the first try. I am really excited and plan on calling first thing on Monday to set up my first appointment with my prenatal doctor. Of course now time will drag as I wait for monthly appointments, but that's ok. I'm really hoping to enjoy these last 7 or so months I have with just Owen. :)