Tuesday, November 9, 2010

She is in there!

 Turbulence 6w4d









Don't know why, but I'm convinced Turbulence is a girl.  Anyway, I went in for a hideously overpriced u/s with my RE this morning, and yes there is a sac, yes there is a little embryo in there, with a heartbeat of 108 bpm!! That is in an acceptable range for this gestational age (6w4d) according to this website


There is also an extremely clear yolk sac. I was shocked as to how clear it was, its definitely not what I remembered from my last ultrasound!
Bighead,my poor angel baby at 6 weeks and 5 days
This was my poor little bighead at around the same point (6w5d). There is a yolk sac (probably on the right of the embryo) but its really indistinct.

I don't know why my last pregnancy failed. I've tried to find the answer in tests, in ultrasound pictures, in crown rump length measures- no luck whatsoever, other than the maybe-maybe not findings with the thyroid.


But now, I'm struck my the difference in the yolk sacs between the first and second times. Did my first baby have a not so great yolk sac? The doctors never commented, but I think they just give all of this the most cursory of attention. I also don't know if its because of different ultrasound machines used (my RE's office, sadly has the better ones). Seems doubtful though, the difference between the two pictures is stark. If any ultrasound wizards are lurking, please speak up.

The RE who did this ultrasound pronounced it 'textbook perfect' for this timepoint. I really don't know what to think. The thing that makes me the most nervous is Turbulence is kind of small, probably 2-3 days behind in CRL measurements. And then there is the yolk sac. The doc did not say it was abnormally large, she said it was a nice looking one. I've been here before. The kind of nice looking ultrasounds at early time points, people patting you on your head and telling you everything looks great.  I cannot trust anything, or have faith now. I need to see the proof of a baby past 3 months. That is what it is going to take, and its going to be a long few weeks ahead.


Next u/s is on Wednesday morning. Followed by 9 days of staying home.

But for now, all is well.

10 comments:

  1. SO glad you got to see her today and heard a heartbeat :) I grinned as soon as I saw the post title. I'm so happy for you, Jay. I hope this baby continues to grow and be wonderful and healthy.

    Thanks for commenting. Even though there are a few good signs in the not-cancer direction, I'm feeling pretty depressed. Thank you for being so supportive.

    ReplyDelete
  2. So glad you got good news, Jay!

    Re the u/s pix, to me it looks very much as if the difference between the two is due to the quality of the u/s picture itself, not because of quality or health of the embryos. The top recent pic is clearly higher resolution, you can see that by looking at the entire picture, and not focusing on just the embryo/yolk sac. My guess is that if your first u/s had been done with the same machine as your second, the results would have been much more similar.

    Also, I'm quite sure that 2-3 days is well within the normal deviation for CRL. My daughter was about 3 days behind as well.

    BTW, I'm sure you already know this, but it's pretty common for women on thyroid medication to need a higher dosage at some point during pregnancy (for me it was in the second trimester).

    Hope the next few weeks go by quickly for you!

    Tashia

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh wow! Congrats! She's beautiful : )

    I agree with Tashia that u/s pic quality could account for the fuzzy yolk sac on the bottom pic. It is so hard to try to figure out what went wrong so we can try to prevent it in the future or feel a little more assured.

    I have such a good feeling about your pregnancy. And I know that as each week passes, you'll feel on more solid ground.

    Your CRL is NORMAL, my dear. I think 2-3 days is within the error of measurement.

    Finally, just want to say that in my experience, med doctors - even REs - don't tell you things are looking normal and good if they are not. Learned this when I got diagnosed with cancer. And have learned this over and over in infertility. If your doc says it looks good, it does. Take it in, trust it. Celebrate it.

    Congratulations!
    Mo

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm so releieved to hear & see that Turbulance is doing well. Take care of yourself & Baby!

    ReplyDelete
  5. She's beautiful! I'm keeping my thoughts with her so that she continues to grow and be a comfort to her mother.

    ReplyDelete
  6. She's adorable! Early pg is so stressful (for SOME of us). Hang in there. I know it seems like a long time from now (really, it's before you know it), but once you start feeling regular movement, it's so reassuring.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Beautiful!! I'm so happy for you.
    Take it one day at a time.. and don't worry about ordering a bunch of tests.. your peace of mind is important.

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a cute first picture!

    As for the yolk sac - in the pictures from my first ultrasound (this time around) there's one picture where it shows up clearly, and another where it looks all fuzzy. So it probably is just the quality and where the probe was focused on when the picture was taken.

    And I agree with Mo - with my first pregnancy my RE never came out and said things looked bad, but he never once said everything looked good.

    ReplyDelete
  9. YAY Jay!!! I knew it!! Enjoy and relax now! :o) Hmmm... I always thought turbulance was a boy! Ha!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Came over from Mel's 11/11--and wanted to send you so many good, positive vibes for your beautiful little peanut to arrive safe and sound next year.

    ReplyDelete