Phoenix Anatomy Scan

All looks good thank God! None of my fears came true thankfully, the heart has 4 nice chambers and the umbilical cord is not wrapped anywhere! Frontal placenta but high up, looks good. And fluids!! Perfect fluids!! I don't know what I saw the last time but this time there were nice deep pockets and Phoenix's stomach was full and visible, so were the kidneys and the brains! He measures 20w1d instead than 20w4d but this has been his norm all along so I'm delighted with this.No major abnormalities visible which is a relief, I mean, I know there are plenty of conditions which may jut no show up, but I take the good news today. Phoenix is breech so the pics of the profile apparently don't come out good (placenta is shading it) but we did get a few of hands and feet! He was moving around a lot and I could only feel maybe one in ten movements, mostly down low where the feet are.
The tech asked us if we wanted to know the gender and we said no, but that if it was visible we would not have turned away. Neither myself or Mike could make anything out, with Oliver I remember the scan to be very clear, while this one was not as sharply defined so half the time I wasn't actually sure what I was looking at! We will see the OB next wednesday so I look forward to talking to him about the results.

We treated ourselves with a nice meal in town and I feel very happy, Christmas shopping here we come!!

17w2d OB appointment

It was actually yesterday, but I was so so tired when I got home I went to bed at 8.30!
The visit went well, my blood tests came back just fine, my urine is perfect and so is my blood pressure, I put on 2kg on his scale since the first visit 5 weeks before. I think it's good. I had heard Phoenix's heartbeat the night before so I was quite confident the baby would still be alive, but you know...the list of worries is endless, so I was still quite nervous.
And the scan was nice, Phoenix is so much bigger, we don't have measures but he really looked much more baby like, proportioned and all. Good HB also at 133bpm which is very similar to what i get at home by counting and looking at a clock... I am now certain that what I thought was movements is in fact movements. They are ever so light and completely occasional, I may feel them twice a day, just a light tap, but it so happened that I felt one while I was being scanned and so I saw  it on the screen just a second after I felt it (there is a slight delay in the ultrasound image with respect to realtime). We saw the baby moving, opening and closing his mouth, moving the legs and arms etc, all you want to see. I am really convinced he's a boy. But one thing I saw immediately was that it looked like the baby was already filling up all the space available...or there didn't seem to be much fluid in there. And for some weird reason I DIDN'T ASK. Now, Mike did say something like "It looks very crowded in there" to which the Dr. W answered "And yet you won't believe how much they can still stretch and grow". I asked about the placenta which was perfectly healthy. He said everything looked just fine, we got a couple of pics and we were on our way. We are already booked in for the high level scan at 20 weeks on the 12th of December, and I'm going back to the OB a week later.

And then I went home and started worrying about the little fluids and cursing myself for not having asked. How did I not asked is beyond me...I saw it, I immediately thought of it and worried and yet...maybe I was focussing more to see if everything in the baby looked normal to me that I just didn't ask...
So after a night of tossing and turning, googling all the googleable (never a good idea), this morning I called the secretary to see if she could pass on to the doctor my concern...I felt really stupid of course as I was just there, but she was lovely. She said that Dr. W is a very upfront person, if he had any concern at all he would have shared it with us, he would have brought me straight in for a higher level scan. If he said everything looked normal, he definitely meant it. She added "He is a very experienced ultrasound operator" which I of course knew. So I now feel reassured, but I decided to definitely monitor my water intake (I tend to get lazy...) and want to make my 2 L a day at least. Can't do any harm anyway, even if everything is just fine. And here's little Phoenix!

The reason why

I had a very long day yesterday, we had an event in college which I had to attend and I was on my feet for hours. I went to the toilet and had a gush of blood. Oh for God's sake... couldn't leave, had to wait for about an hour till the event was over. I went to the toilet another couple of times and no more blood. 

When I finally got home at about 9pm I had made up my mind that I was going to get checked out. This was no longer spotting. Of course I also used the doppler to see if Phoenix was still with us and thankfully I found very quickly a nice HB. Mike called me a taxi and off I went. I suppose this is one of those situations when not having any support is a bit of a problem, but we managed. I got to the hospital just after 10, the taxi driver was a lovely man with 5 children of his own and was very reassuring. I checked in and was told it was going to be about an hour as there were a few people ahead of me. Ah well, that's no biggie (read: I know the baby is alive!). But I was actually seen at about 1.30 am!! The doctor on the floor was called twice for two emergency c-sections...anyway, she was lovely, gave a scan which showed a healthy sleeping Phoenix with a perfect HB and nothing wrong at all, no SCH, no bleeding, nice placenta etc. She then suggested to have a look at the cervix to see if there was something obvious (my paranoia was of course that all the coughing had shortened the cervix, causing the bleeding), and there was!! It is called ectropion and it's a common occurrence in pregnancy. Practically a bit of the uterine lining start covering the cervical canal and appears through the cervix. This easily bleeds. Totally benign and nothing to worry about. I want to thank my ciber friend Gen who kept me company via Whatsapp during the wait and got me thinking I also wanted to eat fish! I got home and in bed at 3.45 am. Needless to say when the alarm went off before 7 I thought I had just closed my eyes...so today and tomorrow I'm taking it easy!

NT scan and other updates

I have to say much to my surprise, this pregnancy seems to be flying. Which is a good thing in my eyes.
So Oliver and I came back late on Sunday night, very very tired (both of us) and thankfully we both had a good night sleep. Sleeping at my parents' is still a challenge. A huge one. I think on saturday night Oliver woke up at 4.15 and it was up and down till about 5.30. Down for a bit till 8.00 when he was up for the day. Thankfully mom came to pick him up and I rested a bit longer. I have no idea what the problem is, he HATED going to bed, cried his eyes out the minute we entered the bedroom, I think it's because it's much bigger than his and it was scary. Oh I don't know. But at least my parents never once commented on the crying. It was a good break though not particularly relaxing. Since we are back, we had no issues.

And today it was the time for our NT scan. The scan itself went great, Phoenix was measuring right on track (11w4d), happily moving and with a strong HB of 167 wohoo! NT at 1.15 mm and lovely nasal bone too. But my bloods weren't as good, plus we had the complication that we had retrieval when I was still 36 (ok, we said to the tech 37 as I would have been 37 a couple of weeks later). Anyway, my stats with Oliver were fabulous (T21 1:4646, T18/13 1:8406) so it's hard not to compare, but this time I have 1:1076 chance for T21 and, a bit more concerning, a 1:452 chance of T13/18. What screwed the stats is my PAPP-A value which is a bit low at 0.37 MoM. I definitely believe more a good scan than the bloods but of course I started reading on low PAPP-A and the main concern seems to be the possibility that the placenta will have some issues later on in the pregnancy. Thankfully my OB, which I will see on monday, is the top expert in sonography, I will talk to him about these results and see what he thinks. I had issues with Oliver too at the end of the pregnancy (emergency C-section at 36w6d after scan showed he had not grown for 3 weeks) thought the pathology results on the placenta didn't show much a part from some inflammation. I could restart the cardio-aspirin which I had stopped when I was diagnosed with SCH (now totally gone) to help blood flow. We'll see. But I'm not particularly concerned about the stats. Unless the OB recommends otherwise we won't be doing CVS or amnio (also in Ireland termination is illegal).

Me, Oliver and Phoenix in Italy

We arrived today, no particular problems on the flight, we were lucky to have three seats for ourselves which gave Oliver a bit more room to move around.
Almost as soon as I met my parents at the airport they said their OB friend was happy to scan me within the hour. So mam and I went to the clinic and we were relieved to see a much bigger (and moving!) Phoenix which is now measuring only 2 days behind at 10w1d (I'm 10w3d)!! I am really happy and now feel much more positive. No sign of SCH which is nice too. We could see the arms and legs, the brains, the heartbeat (we didn't measure it but he said it looked perfect) and it was incredible how he was moving around. I have to remember to update this post with a pic as soon as I get home.

The weather here is great, quite warn for us coming from Ireland, and really enjoying it. Oliver seems to have settled very quickly, he didn't sleep on the plain so was quite tired but went with nonno to the park and had lots of fun at the playground while we were at the clinic and then had a nap on the way home. He's in bed now and everything is quiet, hopefully we'll have a good night sleep. Missing Mike quite a bit already, I'm sure time will fly though, I am quite busy between meeting with colleagues tomorrow and going to Milan for a talk on thursday. Better get some rest myself!

8w6d another scan

I had no spotting or bleeding since Sunday. I felt so confident I stopped wearing a pad. And then I woke up this morning to another gush of blood. For the love of God, can this stop? Or can I have a definite sign that the pregnancy is over and I can move on? Of course it's friday, what do I do? Shall I stay put till tuesday when I have my scheduled appointment? This would be 4 more days of drugs and my face already looks like a full moon... So I called the clinic and went in. Fav Doc is on annual leave this week but another lovely nurse scanned me. I told her about the bleeding, about the SCH, about the slow growth and slow heartbeat. I told her I was not expecting to see a heartbeat today, in fact a part from the tiredness I don't think I have many other symptoms (big boobs aside, but sure with the hormones....a tree would have grown boobs by now). She said let's have a look, it was a frozen embryo I've seen all sorts of slow growth and healthy babies at the end. Ok.
Sure enough Phoenix was much bigger, and with a heartbeat. Not only that, the SCH is much smaller (she thought it could have bled out this morning) and definitely not threatening. I told her I stopped the aspirin but was still on clexane and that I wasn't sure it was ok with the SCH. She said great I stopped the aspirin and the dose of clexane I'm on is low and to keep that up. Then she started taking measures, Phoenix is catching up in growth measuring now 8w2d she said perfectly within range (it was 7w1d last saturday so it's a big growth) and the heartbeat is up to 157. She was so kind she showed me the amniotic sac which is already formed, the umbilical cord, the placenta and the yolk sac being pushed away as you would expect between 8 and 9 weeks of pregnancy. She showed me the brain vesicle which looks normal.  This looks like a very normal pregnancy to her, she even gave me pics! Through the tears I said to her "I better start loving this baby so" And she said "You better!". She also said there's no need to have a scan every week, but if I feel anxious to go in. I told her that strangely I don't feel anxious but for some reason I feel quite negative. I actually thought I was developing an infection of some kind, I don't feel very well overall, I have shivers, headache for the last two days and my tummy is acting up too. In my head these were all signs of a miscarriage. But this is not the case. Stop thinking this is gong to end any minute now. Start believing.

8 weeks, emergency scan, Phoenix hanging in there

8 weeks today. I had a dream about bleeding and then it happened after a visit to the bathroom after breakfast. Now, it's 8 weeks, it happened with Oliver too, but the situation is different. So I decided to call the clinic, no point in waiting till tuesday if things have stopped already (mainly for the meds). As always they are great and just said to come in, there was a very experienced nurse available to scan me but also Fav Doc would have been in at 11 if I wanted a second opinion. The nurse was great, in fact she also said, if she had concerns or if I had concerns after the scan we would wait for Fav Doc. The screen was on, we followed the scan together. Phoenix is still there, growing, though not fast at all, he measures 7w1d today (grew 3 days from tuesday) and the heartbeat is up to 144. The nurse said if it wasn't for the fact that we know I'm 8 weeks, she would see nothing wrong with the embryo or the solid heartbeat. But I am 8 weeks so it's still not looking good but it seems to hang on for the moment. I also have developed a clot which is below the sac but definitely obvious at the scan, I can't tell if it's the same as last tuesday given that last tuesday I didn't see a thing on the screen. In her opinion, this is not threatening for the pregnancy, there is no bleeding in the sac, no misshape of the sack or yolk sac, and it's between the sac and the cervix. It may bleed and if it does it can be quite a lot. Or it may just reabsorbe. Who knows.
In any case, I cancelled my scan for this tuesday and booked it for the following tuesday (unless something happens in the meantime), no point in going in every 3 days.
It must have been a tough day at the clinic, the nurse said I was the third pregnancy that went in with bleeding this morning (and it was 10am), I hope the others got good news.
I am calm and ok with the situation, something strange going on with me, I am remarkably calm when things are bleak and I fret about nothing when everything is going well...

I once again wanted to thank you for your comments, I actually replied to most of them on the blog but I am not sure if you get notified, so you may want to check!

And we hit limboland

Did I say already I feel a bit disconnected from this pregnancy? Maybe is the fact that we have Oliver with us already, the fact that I feel guilty I cannot care for him as much as I like (lifting ban, getting up early to go to work, tired in the evening etc) and I think he's definitely noticed. In any case, at my 6w3d ultrasound, I did say we saw the heartbeat but that also we didn't measure it. To me it looked a bit slow just by looking at the monitor, but who am I?
Today I felt again quite nervous, but I always do. I didn't have a good feeling, but again that's nothing new with me. I tried repeating myself the mantra "there will be a strong heartbeat of 144". I remember I did the same with Oliver at the same scan.

Fav Doc wasn't available for the scan and a different doc did it. We have met him before, but the change of plan gave me a bad vibe. In any case this Doc could't get the tv screen to work, so I practically saw nothing at all. As the wand went in, we could see things were bigger, I could see the flicker on the monitor. But when we heard it I had no doubt it was slow. I guessed that if it was 120bpm it would have been doing well. It was 115. The Doc didn't seem to concerned. Started taking measurements and pics which I didn't see if not for a fraction of a second on the screen when he was saving them on my folder. I mentioned the spotting and he checked around the gestational sac, where there may be a very small SCH, nothing to be worried about. Doc said to get dressed and we go over the pics and stats. As I got dressed I said to Mike, this doesn't look good. Basically the baby measured 6w5d (so 5 days behind) and of course I know it was a different person taking the measurement, also the yolk sac was very near the baby so maybe it made it more difficult, but still it would have grown 4 days in a week (last scan measured 6w1d). He said it's the low end of normal but that this means it's still normal. Same for the heartbeat. Now, I have read plenty on the matter, and the low end of normal starts at 120bpm when you are well into the 7th week. Associate this to a slow growth and I am not sure how optimistic we can be. In fact they want me back in for another scan next week. Things can pick up of course or demise. Welcome to limboland. This Doc didn't even give us a pic. So we may not have any other picture of Deng (never liked the name either!).

Being a scientist in this situation is a pure blessing. I do strongly believe that should the pregnancy stop it is due to bad genetic make up of the embryo and it would be the right natural path to avoid worse heartache later on. Add that I am not yet feeling particularly attached, and I'm living this situation as if it was happening to someone else. Very strange, right? What can I tell you. I am ready if things turn out for the worse. I even asked the Doc very matter of fact "the worst thing that can happen is that I miscarry, right?" and he immediately said "but hopefully that won't happen!!" But let's be honest, I'm no spring chicken, I was almost 37 when we produced these set of embryos, just assuming that they are all genetically sound is foolish.

But, as they say, the fat lady has not sung yet. We just have to wait and see. And I'm relaxed, at peace actually. Feeling almost the same as when the ectopics were diagnosed. But not giving up hope either. I don't know, I know I sound confused, but I said it so many times, we are so so blessed already, another baby would be an amazing thing, but I don't want to be greedy either.

The ultrasound

Things are progressing well! I went in for my follow up scan this morning (6w3d) half doubting that we would see much, we are at that borderline time with Deng being a frozen Penguin and all, that 6w3d could actually be 6 weeks only. In any case, the Fav Doc did the scan, things were definitely bigger and we could see the yolk sac and the little tadpole. She said "can you see the flicker?" mmhh not really. "Here it is!" and sure enough I could see a little flicker. She said her machine would not pick it up yet, but she measured the CRL which put the little one at 6w1d (perfectly within error) and she was delighted. I also found out that the Fav Doc runs now an early pregnancy clinic on tuesdays at my clinic, so she'll be happy to see me every week if I want to. And of course I do! I'll go back next week for a proper viability scan.
She also recommended getting in touch with the OB I want for the pregnancy. I thought it was a bit too soon, but she said it's no harm in getting in. The doctor that followed Oliver's pregnancy is actually retiring, so he's not taking on any more patients. My other excellent option was to go with the doctor that delivered Oliver and that I had named Dr. Wonderful. I called his secretary and the fact that I was a private patient with his colleague and then he delivered my first baby gave me a priority boarding pass. So we are on. First appointment on the 15th of October (Jeez...will I get that far?) I feel I'm rushing things a bit, but in the spirit of not waiting for the other shoe to fall, I'm just going to go with the flow.

This is today pic of Deng (surely we have to find a better name for this Penguin...)

And also just to remark that the intensity or fading of the control line on a FRER means nothing at all! 

It's in the uterus!

I was a wreck this morning. A tiny bit more spotting last night didn't help my mind at all. I was ready to see nothing at all in the uterus, to see something outside the uterus, to see nothing anywhere, and of course a tiny bit of me was hoping for the best news possible. I had not peed on any more sticks either, that's just too stressful at this stage and like you all said I'm just over analysing the intensity of each line making myself insane.
The Fav Doc called us in and immediately noted how nervous I was. But she didn't leave me hanging long, she immediately saw the sac in the right place and the developing yolk sac. Right on track for 5w3d.

What a relief! Again she said the spotting is so normal (but I never had it unless things were going wrong) between the progesterone, the clexane, the aspirin etc, it's almost a miracle not to have spotting. She'll see me again next week to see how things progress, but at least now I'm at peace! Thank you all for your support, this pregnancy will be lived differently, I just cannot waste this other chance to enjoy it rather than constantly worrying.

5 weeks

I will have a scan next tuesday at 5w3d at my clinic. The Fav Doctor estimated that by then my HCG should be over 1600 considering a doubling time of 48 hours.

This morning I tested again, the clinic actually suggests you test every week till the viability scan. The line is darker but not as dark as I had at the same time with Oliver. So I am now not feeling that great about this anymore.
You know the way on a FRER the control line tends to fade as the test line becomes so much stronger? Mine is still not that different.

This is the comparison with the exact same test I had with Oliver at 5 weeks.

I just want to curl up in ball. Today it's raining here, perfect day to feel sorry for myself. Maybe I should call the clinic and go for another blood test today? I am in no pain, which is good, maybe it's not ectopic and maybe it's just the pregnancy arresting. I have of course already looked at the library of pics on fertility friends and all of them show the control line fading with respect to the control, so I don't think I have much hope.

Cyber Friends

I was so so fortunate to be able to meet in person two fantastic cyber friends that I have followed for years. Best When Used By and Rain were as amazing as I expected. I think the best thing of meeting people you "know" through the blogs and occasional emails, is that there is an immediate connection, things are easy, there is lots to talk about and it feels like you know them quite well already. I met Cadet who is the softest baby ever, really he's so so cute and cuddly, Oliver was really taken by him too! And Scout is such a big boy now, we had a lovely time at the park with me and BWUB chasing after the children up and down the slides. I also had the chance of meeting Rain's husband, McRuger, we had a family day out with them and again it was so easy going and enjoyable, I wish we could have done it again. Seriously! And I'm hoping they'll be coming to Ireland one day soon and though we don't have the weather to offer (Rain may actually love the weather here!) and neither the food, I'm sure we would have a great time together. Now, BWUB is about to become mom again (twins!) so I suspect she'll be busy for a while, and Rain is planning adoption number two...but one can hope right? Worse case, we'll be meeting them in Cali the next time we go over!

In FET news, today was the last scan. The Favourite Doctor was there and scanned me herself! There was a new doctor that joined the clinic and so she assisted at the scan too. I love when this happens as generally I learn a lot more. My lining is at a whopping 11.1 mm! Wow! The transfer is confirmed for thursday next week at 4pm and hopefully I won't start panicking about my penguins surviving the thaw...ok, I'm already thinking about it... Anyway. I'll start progesterone in two days time and maybe I should start listening to the meditation tape soon...Stay tuned!

Fabulous Cali

California was amazing. The weather, the food, the absence of mosquitos...practically Heaven for me! We stayed in Walnut Creek, north-east of San Francisco, but we got to travel a bit too. We went to Napa and Sonoma valleys, Muir Woods, Yosemite and Sacramento. We were very lucky to be able to sneak in a visit to Cupertino and the Apple campus too! Of course we went a few times to San Francisco and we had a highly recommended trip to Alcatraz which was amazing. 

The one thing I have to say is that everything is quite far. I mean, I was looking on the map the places we were going and they never seemed that far...I suppose I should have had a map of Ireland beside to have more realistic distances! But we had a car we could drive and driving is very easy in the States, so it wasn't a big deal. I loved the wine country, so peaceful and relaxing.

Yosemite was breathtaking, we only had one night there which was way too short and if we could have we would have stayed much longer. We didn't see any bears (which I was terrified of!) but we did see plenty of squirrels and dear which Oliver was fascinated with.

Muir Woods for me was magic. The worse part was to find a parking spot, but once we were in the old forest the sense of peace was overwhelming. I loved the smell of the woods, the majesty of the trees and the various loops you could do. We went down to Muir Beach too.

I really want to go back and se more, we didn't manage to get to Southern Cali, it was just too far, but maybe next time!

In FET news I had my second scan this morning, I'm amazed at my lining, it's already 9.7mm which I think it's almost a record for me! This means I don't have to increase estrogen or add any medication! It is definitely a first for me. Next scan in 5 days time and hopefully the date of the transfer will be confirmed.

Retrieval on monday

Last scan this morning and all looks good. I think I have 20 follicles in total and 14 are of a very good size. Also I was scanned with a different (older) machine and even the measure of the lining (incidentally the best I ever had!) was less than 2 days ago so I am thinking there may be a couple more follicles in the "right zone", but we all know this means nothing till you have actually eggs and then embryos. So I don't want to have my hopes up too much as the disappointment the last time was massive. If I don't hear anything this afternoon from the clinic, I'll trigger with the full dose on saturday night and I'll be the first one in the morning going through the procedure.

In Oliver's world things are well, he had his first cold which had him up at night (and us too!) even more than usual, being quite uncomfortable and slightly feverish. But yesterday he was already much better and last night...oh yes, last night we NEVER had to get up! I'm looking 10 years younger this morning!! And it's just as well...we had the official opening of our new research facilities and the Prime Minister was on the premises...big big deal as you can imagine, in difficult economic times you have to really show that your job and research are worth the investment.

Finally we had another full on alarm with the sensor monitor. It happened one the afternoon, Oliver was actually awake and all smiley when Mike run up to check on him. Mike had heard him cooing seconds earlier so we are now absolutely certain the thing it's false alarming on us. I think Carlito may have started playing with the cable that connect the under-mattress sensor pad to the unit...I have to say I'm so so relieved!!!

Update number 2

Academic teaching term will start on monday and we are having orientation week at the moment and it's just hell. So I've not been able to read or comment! So sorry, I'll try my best during the weekend.

I had my second scan this morning, everything is on track, 10 follicles on the left and 7 good sizes on the right. A couple of smallies which won't count. Mike went in for his SA yesterday and he had nothing to report on the "Sample room" of the new facility, apparently it's the same as the old one, no new "interesting" material to look at. The results weren't great, 7 million/mL, low motility. Bleah. The Fav Doctor had a look for me at his precious number and actually in 2009 he only had 5.4 million/mL so it's not as bad this time. And she pointed out they only need a few for ICSI so they have plenty to work with.

In other news, Oliver had a terrible night last night, we had very little sleep, he seemed inconsolable between 1.30 am and 3am. Normally it's enough to give him his soother and the night-teddy but we actually had to pick him up and rock him till he stopped sobbing. My little baby...I think he suffers from separation anxiety now that I'm in work all day...and I'm a bit tender in the belly so I don't pick him up as much in the evening either...let's hope he'll settle soon. Love to all.

Anxiety is back

Last night at 4.30am I heard the sensor monitor alarm going off (the full thing, not just the warning "bip"). I was in Oliver's bedroom within seconds. He seemed to be just fine, but sleeping at the edge of the cot, on is belly, with his knees up, so I thought the alarm went off as perhaps his breathing motion was not really happening on the mattress. Of course I moved him, he didn't even wake up, he was breathing just fine, didn't gasp for air on anything, I gave him his soother and then listen, from my bedroom to his sucking noises. I just couldn't sleep again. Heart pounding. What if he had actually stopped breathing? Maybe he had and I'm just telling myself it was the position he was sleeping in that triggered the alarm.

And so of course today I fell back into the loop of reading about SIDS stories frightening myself to tears. I was doing so well, this summer I felt comfortable enough to not have the Snoo.za monitor on him at night (it was falling off the nappy and going off consistently) and today I had to go and watch him breathe. He's going to be 8 months on Thursday, I know the major risk should be over and yet you always read about a tragedy. Today I read that SIDS seems to happen more commonly when the child is minded by someone else. For the love of God...I'm going to insist that they'll have his breathing monitor on in the crèche (yes, sorry, that's day care) when they put him down for his nap. This is bad and I know it. I know I cannot control what will happen, I can only take precautions. I'm back to being anxious and what would I do if something happens. Damn anxiety...I was ok and then the monitor had to go off just to remind me I'll never be free from worrying.

In other news tomorrow I'm going in for my baseline scan. I got the prescription and they changed a couple of meds, not sure why, I'll ask about it tomorrow and very likely will go back to what I previously used. I'll update with news then. Love to all and thanks for listening.

OB visit 34w2d

Wow, I've been posting a lot these days!

Just need to update on my OB visit this morning, all well, Dr. L is extremely happy with the scan and all the parameters (he said the blood flow is excellent!! wohoo!!). Mom was with me at this visit too, she absolutely loves seeing the scans.

My next appointment is in two more weeks, but with the Christmas holidays the Dr. is going away for a few days and has me booked in for the 1st of January at 10! He said to enjoy this last Christmas with the two of us alone eehehe.

At the next visit I'll also get a vaginal swab done to check for Strep B infections, I'll be 36w6d by then. We are nearly at the finishing line...

Elvis this morning did a little show for the doctor also, dancing around through the belly! It's as if in the last three days or so he's run out of space completely and he's constantly stretching. I love it!

Mike is flying back today, his talk went well, and we've only been texting each other so I'm dying to hear how it all went. Looking forward to going back to our home routine!

34 weeks down, 6 to go!

My little honeydew is definitely growing! I have to say after the initial MASSIVE appearance of stretch marks on my boobs I have not suffered any others on the belly...it is still too soon to tell I suppose, but I thought I make a note of it for now. Still having plenty of Braxton Hicks, getting up much more often for peeing and I'm eating plenty. My weight is probably a bit higher than the last week but as it's not officially a full Kg I'll keep it at +15kg for now! Following the advice of the midwife who did the pre-natal I've started drinking raspberry leaf tea (I had used it in the past for menstrual cramps). She assured us it won't start labour, but after 34 weeks it should help toning the uterus, so there you go!

You guys were asking about pictures, well I don't have any really, I didn't know but at this gestational age is much more difficult to get a proper shot...we saw the belly, the cord, the head etc but no real profile view to talk about. I do have 3 pics which show the fluid (the deepest pocket), the cord flow and the edge of the placenta, but they are not very interesting I'm afraid. I'll post them though just for the blog records!

Other interesting measurements were:

BPD 83.5 mm

HC 306.8 mm

AC 285.8 mm

FL 67.1 mm

Estimated foetal weight 2.2 Kg (4lb 13oz)

Doppler:

PI 0.83

RI 0.56

S/D 2.26

HB 134bpm

Do you know much about the numbers? They are all within ranges as far as I can tell (the femur is above average, while everything else is slightly below average) but I decided not to do too much research as I know I will obsess (yet again!).

Next visit is tomorrow with the OB. As Mike is away I didn't take a 34w photo yesterday (boohoo) so I'll be posting the next set on Sunday at 35w.

Attic is also coming along, two more weeks and we should move back in!! I'll post the series of pics then.

Finally I've to admit I've given up yoga... first it was the snow and then the icy roads, today I'm just thinking I may as well save the petrol...I really didn't like the teacher, I have only mentioned it once I think how I thought it was a waste of time, as it hasn't got any better unfortunately. I'm doing my Kegel exercises and I want to start on perineal massages soon, that'll have to do!

Scan update

This is my first attempt to update the blog from my mobile! Fingers crossed!

I just wanted to let you know that the scan today was great, Elvis is right on track, plenty of fluid, the placenta is higher (not a concern any more!) and the little one scored 8/8 on his biophysical profile!!

Mom was with me as Mike flew out this morning for his conference. First leg of the journey was great (Dublin-Atlanta) and he's waiting to get the flight to Cancun at the moment.

Very happy overall and looking forward to my next visit on Tuesday, I'll post some more on Monday for my weekly update!

OB upate and MIL

The visit went very well. Due to the heavy snowfall a few people had cancelled their appointment so we had plenty of time with Dr. L. Elvis is growing well (belly measures 33 weeks), fluids all around look good but the placenta is still low. So we have scheduled a more accurate scan for the 10th of December, just before my next appointment with the OB on the 14th. Note that for both visit Mike won't be with me as he's off to a conference in Mexico, so my mum will come along instead. Urine sample and blood pressure checked out perfect which is great. We also chatted a bit about how things are going and so I told him that like he predicted I'm getting a bit nervous about the due date and vaginal delivery. Not for the pain of labour at all, but mostly about things that can go wrong (I know, same old me). I told him I have this image of the umbilical cord wrapped around the baby (which he then checked with the scan and the cord is nice were it should be with plenty of room and seemed to be going from his belly up into the placenta!) and that he may get oxygen deprived during birth. Again he said they will be monitoring the baby very closely during labour and intervene immediately if they think there is any sign of distress, but that all the options are open to me, that there is no rush in deciding as we can schedule a c-section at a very late notice (it would happen a week before the due date). Once again I was very reassured and happily went on my way. I so love the appointments being so close together!

So all was good. Until I got a call from Mike. I had not written about this as I was hoping to be able to write part 2 of MIL story when everything had settled down, but things have taken a turn for the worse unfortunately. MIL has been in hospital for the last 8 weeks (with a brief time off in the middle) for clots in her right leg. They have attempted several procedures to by-pass the clots and restore blood flow to the foot, but her veins and arteries are so compromised that there is no improvement in her circulation. This is such a painful condition she's on pain medication almost constantly. They evaluated the possibility to do a chemical block to the nerve so that she wouldn't feel pain and could exercise the leg a bit. As of Friday this was no longer an option as the nerve the would need to intervene on is too close to the kidney (she had a kidney transplant 20 years ago) and they could not risk it. Last night we were informed that they were considering amputating her leg towards the end of the week. This morning the situation must have looked different as Mike got the call from the consultant that they are going ahead with the surgery today. While this would be a dreaded solution to most people, MIL is looking forward to being pain free (it may give you an idea of how painful the leg is). I believe she's in surgery now. They couldn't tell where they would amputate, if below or above the knee until they are operating. Any thoughts you have to spare for her please do so, she is a fantastic woman and I want Elvis to spend plenty of time with her grandmother. I'll update when I have news.