MFM Specialist & ultrasound...

We had an amazing ultrasound this morning before our appointment with the specialist. The tech used the words naughty, ornery, & squirrelly several times as the baby was definitely not cooperating with her. For a majority of the ultrasound baby was curled into a little ball, but moving around a lot! I think it’s a good thing we decided before hand we didn’t want to know the sex as I’m not sure she would have been able to tell! The baby’s heart beat was measuring at 136bmp and at this point in time everything appears normal.

Next we met with the specialist, who actually wasn’t the doctor we thought we’d be seeing but a different MFM specialist (perinatologist) that sometimes fills in for the doctor at this practice. Initially we thought that might not be a good thing, but we quickly realized we got lucky because this doctor was absolutely amazing! By the end of the visit we were totally loving her and wishing we got to see her more often! She was fascinated with our embryo adoption story and wanted to know how we were led in that direction. We shared our story with her and she was amazed, she thought our donor family was absolutely incredible for doing what they’ve done for us. We agreed, of course, and told her how awesome they are; needless to say, I think we were her first embryo donor family.

She definitely wants me to continue the weekly (P17) Progesterone injections and felt there was nothing out of the ordinary with the baby’s ultrasound. All the baby bits looked good and my cervix also looked healthy. She suggested a fetal heart echo sometime between week 22-24 of the pregnancy to rule out any heart defects or abnormalities (IVF babies are for some reason at slightly higher risk for these defects), so we’re scheduled for that on April 25^th. She wants to see me back again in 14wks which actually happens to land on Lily’s birthday June 27^th. This was a day we were already planning to take off from work so we decided to go ahead with scheduling the appointment that day. She also said that once I reach the 3^rd trimester, beginning at 28wks into the pregnancy, she wants my OB to do an ultrasound every 4wks. She said these are growth ultrasounds to ensure the baby is growing properly and everything is measuring as it should. She also felt it would be beneficial for the OB to do urine cultures every 1-2 months to check for any bladder/kidney infections. Otherwise, she said what happened with my last pregnancy was most likely a freak incident and there is no reason to believe it will happen again, but that all of the things she’s suggested are precautions to ensure that this pregnancy continues to progress smoothly.

After leaving the appointment with her I felt much more hopeful, and I’m starting to feel a bit excited that maybe we really will be taking home a healthy baby in August! We’ve decided it’s time to announce the pregnancy to everyone now, since no matter what happens at this point we would want everyone to know. So we’ll be taking a leap and sharing the news on fb later tonight! The Hope necklace (good luck charm) I received from the donor mother seems to be doing its job nicely.

A couple shots of our precious baby…

You all know how I love to give book recommendations, well for those of you out there who love to read and have struggled with infertility, I have a book you simply must check out! I started reading Swimming in Circles: A Baby Chase Odyssey by Michael Barr after Stirrup Queens mentioned it this past Friday, and ladies I’m completely devouring it! It’s a fantastically humorous yet touching story of he & his wife’s infertility journey…I cannot wait to find out what happens next, and I’m sure you will all be able to relate to their story in some way. So if you haven’t already, check it out. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll silently nod your head in understanding. 

Happy ICLW for those participating…hope it’s a week filled with hope and reassurance for you as well!