Ultrasound #2

The morning of our second ultrasound, I felt a complete sense of reassurance that everything was going to go well.  We went through our same routine, arrived at the office, got prepped for the abdominal ultrasound, and again, the sonographer couldn't see anything on the screen.  Come to find out, my bowel almost completely covers the front of my uterus, so that explains why it was so difficult both times to see anything with an abdominal ultrasound.  Again, I emptied my bladder and tried for the transvaginal ultrasound, instead.  Once the sonographer found the correct positioning, we were able to see our growing little bean!  The baby had grown so much in one week, it was no longer a dot on the screen, but had graduated to a tiny blob.  This time, we got to see the heart flicker with more power and advancement, and we heard the sweet, strong sound one more time at 140 beats per minute.  I could listen to that sound for every second of every day and be so, so happy.  It puts my fears at ease to know there really is a baby growing in there!  She also showed us the blood flow with both red and blue on the screen, which was so neat to see.

We moved on to look at the cyst on my ovary, which hadn't grown in size much, but also hadn't gotten much smaller.  The sonographer took lots of pictures again, yet this time, rather than having a follow up appointment immediately after, they scheduled me for another appointment in one more week to meet with the doctor to go over everything.  If seeing and hearing the heartbeat for a second time didn't ease my fears (which it definitely did), the fact that they weren't concerned with me talking to the doctor did ease those fears.  

At our follow up a week later (8 weeks, 3 days), Dr. Juarez reassured us that everything was going exactly the way it should be with baby.  The cyst had shrunk just a tiny bit, and had gone from 3 cm. to 2 1/2 cm.  He explained that this was fine and as long as it doesn't grow and I have no sudden, severe pain, then we should be good!  The best tidbit of info that I got out of our appointment was that most miscarriages happen between 6-8 weeks of early pregnancy... and we were past that point, so although he couldn't guarantee we're in the clear, we're getting pretty close!  I was hoping to hear a heartbeat again with a Doppler at this appointment, but he said it was too early along for that possibility.  We will get the chance to use the Doppler for the first time at my next appointment at the end of the month when I'm a few more weeks along (if I don't cave and buy one from Amazon before then!)

We left feeling extremely optimistic, and I had a new sense of accomplishment to know that we're so much further with this pregnancy than the last!  Although we still aren't in the clear, I know that my chances are so much better this time around and feel confident of making it to January and holding our baby in our arms!  

So, here's our first picture of our baby bean!  Meet baby Kelton at 7 weeks, 4 days!

Baby is laying horizontally on bottom, head is to the left, arm at bottom.  The top circle is the yolk sac, which apparently grows back into the baby in the upcoming weeks!