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Archive for Ultrasounds – Page 3

Ultrasound: 11 weeks

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (2)·   February 9th, 2007

All is well!

I am happily back from my 11 week ultrasound (more for my peace of mind than anything). Both twins are still present and accounted for, both of their hearts still beating away (170 bpm). One is measuring about three days behind the other, but I didn’t get a sense that was a big cause for concern.

Lefty here is a teeny bit smaller, but looked pretty good:

11wlttwweb

And righty was a little bigger and moving all around. We could see the hands and fingers on both of them!

11wrttwweb

Though I’m not exactly 100% feeling great, I do feel less anxious and more excited. I think we’ll break the news to the future grandparents this weekend, so that will be fun, if not a little nervewracking.

Comments (2)
Categories : Pregnancy, Ultrasounds

Self-Advocacy

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (2)·   February 2nd, 2007

Sometimes I’m not very good at sticking up for myself.

People who know me might laugh at this statement, and it’s not 100% true. When dealing with my students, I can be a total hard-ass. When I know I’ve got backing (like a clearly stated rule, policy, etc.), I have no problem being the “bad cop.”

But when it’s more ambiguous, I’m terrible. I’m not a particularly good negotiator, I hate situations when people haggle over prices or terms, and I don’t like to come across as particularly demanding. I’m something of a dyed-in-the-wool peacemaker that way. So calling my OB’s office to try to make my ultrasound appointment earlier was somewhat stressful for me.

It shouldn’t have been. I know my OB would have no problem with it. I know that when the nurse practitioner wrote down an order for an ultrasound in two weeks, she meant “about” two weeks. I know that the scheduling people read that as “at least” two weeks, and that’s all there was to it.

But anyways, I called and left a message for my OB asking if she had any suggestions for how to make it earlier, tried to sound very nonchalant, non-urgent, etc. Someone from the office called back and said she thought I had sounded concerned, so she wanted to get right back to me. Ooops! Apparently my tone of voice, while trying hard to sound like it was no big deal, instead sounded sad and/or scared.

She checked with the nurse practitioner to make sure the earlier timing was OK, which of course was fine, and now I’m scheduled for February 9 (one week from today) in the office that I like. I got exactly what I wanted. So why do I feel a little guilty about it?

I know, especially when I’m pregnant and having been through what I have, I just need to stick up for whatever I need and not worry about how I come across. But it’s really hard for me to let go of that one. I want to be liked, I don’t want to get a reputation as an over-reacter, a demanding psycho, or generally just a crazy pregnant lady. Even though I know I have a little bit of license in the crazy department right now, I’m trying hard not to take advantage of it.

Well, now I just need to let go of that guilt, and be VERY happy that I have another ultrasound in one little week! Hooray! I’m very excited to make sure both twins are doing well. Assuming that’s the case, we might start selectively letting the cat out of the bag next weekend. I can’t wait!

Comments (2)
Categories : OB Appointments, Pregnancy, Ultrasounds

Ultrasound: 7 weeks, 6 days

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (1)·   January 19th, 2007

7w6d-web
Had another ultrasound this morning, and everything looks good. Both twins were clearly visible with their little hearts beating away. Twin A had a heart rate of 175 bpm, and twin B was 180. Go, my little ones! Go! Twin A is kind of curled over on his/her belly, but you could see a faint little line of the spine beginning to form. Twin B was sitting almost straight up and you could see the little arm buds. It was so exciting to hear the little heartbeats and see things changing from last time.

My husband had a look on his face when the ultrasound tech left the room. I knew something was churning in his little head. He swears that, when she was moving the wand around, he kept seeing glances of a third. I think he’s crazy, and I think the ultrasound tech would have noticed such a thing, but oh well. I’m going to stick with two for now, thank you very much. I most certainly do NOT need a third.

I’m excited, and it was certainly reassuring to see things the way they looked this morning. But I don’t exactly feel like I’m out of the woods just yet. I saw the heartbeat twice last time, too, and still lost it. But, I’m trying to be optimistic. After this morning, it’s hard not to be! So I’ll just keep on hoping that things continue just the way they are. Hang in there, kiddos!

Comments (1)
Categories : Pregnancy, Ultrasounds

Check it out!

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (1)·   January 10th, 2007

Internet, meet the twins.

Twins, meet the internet.

6w4d-web

How cool is that?!

Comments (1)
Categories : Pregnancy, Ultrasounds
Tags : twin ultrasound

Holy twins, batman.

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (3)·   January 10th, 2007

Yes, that’s right. Twins. And then there were two.

Had the 2nd ultrasound this morning. It went well, and I was much happier with the nice woman who actually did it. She immediately found the first one, and we got to both see and listen to the heart beat (115 bpm). It measured 6 weeks, 4 days, which gives me an “official” due date of September 1, 2007.

Then she found the other one. The second one was (I think) a hair larger, and had a heart rate of 127 bpm. There are two distinctly separate sacs, so they are almost definitely fraternal. I have pictures of both, I’ll scan them when I get home.

Not surprisingly, I laughed when she showed me the two side by side. At least she understood why I was laughing.

Holy crap! Really?? Two?? I hardly even know where to begin. My husband is freaking out. He’s beside himself with excitement (this had been his hope, all along), and is going to pop if he doesn’t tell someone. But I *really* don’t want to tell anyone right now. One or two people know, but I don’t want to tell our parents. I’m super super excited too, but I’m also now doubly nervous. I’ve seen a heartbeat before and lost it, so now I keep thinking I have the chance to lose two. I mean, I really really hope that I don’t, but I’m still really nervous.

Oh please oh please oh please oh please let them stick!!

That’s as much of a coherent thought as I can string together right now. Perhaps I’ll post again later when I calm down. Ha. As though that will happen…

Comments (3)
Categories : Pregnancy, Ultrasounds
Tags : discovering twins, pregnancy after miscarriage

The Ultrasound, or, How to Make a Pregnant Woman Even Crazier

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (2)·   December 30th, 2006

Here’s what I learned from this morning’s ultrasound:

  1. I am not six weeks, one day pregnant as I thought I was (according to my last period).
  2. I might have a blighted ovum, i.e. another miscarriage.
  3. I might be having triplets.
  4. I will never have this ultrasound tech again.

So, it was an early appointment, so it was enough to just get my hubby out of bed so that we’d get there on time. The ultrasound tech brings me into the room, and says she’s going to start with an abdominal ultrasound, because she “might be able to see everything we need to see that way.” OK, strike one. I’ve been down this road before, I’ve done my reading. You can almost never see anything via abdominal ultrasound this early, and especially not when the woman in question has, ahem, a little extra padding in that area. But she wants to do it anyways, so who am I to argue? Well, she can vaguely see my uterus, but gives me the nice, confidence-boosting, “I don’t see anything in there.” No kidding. Maybe you should just do the damn trans-vaginal ultrasound my doctor asked for, genius.

She switches equipment, tells me to go pee again (I assure you, I had gone FOUR minutes earlier, nothing else was coming out), and sets up the bed. Well, she wants me to sit on this cushion so that it raises my pelvis up a bit, but she has it turned and propped the wrong damn way. My confidence in her is fading fast.

So, she sees a little round area that she “guesses” (I kid you not, she said it was her “best guess”) is the gestational sac. This is how we know I’m not 6w1d, because if I were, we’d see a noticeable blob of baby and a heartbeat. I know this from experience. What we saw was definitely not what I’ve seen in the past. But, OK, I suppose I could have not ovulated when I thought I did. Fine.

Now she’s trying to measure the sac and it keeps telling her she’s “out of range.” But, of course, she’s new to this practice and this is a new machine to her, so she’s not entirely sure what that means. SERIOUSLY??? You’re killing me here. But she keeps poking around to try to get a better look. And then she asks me, “are you taking any fertility drugs?” Uh, no. Why? Because she’s now seeing two sacs. One more prominent than the other, but two. I start to laugh, but she doesn’t seem to understand why.

Then she’s prodding around some more and finds my right ovary, which she is convinced has a large cyst on it. “Have you had a tubal pregnancy before?” Uh, no. Why? Lordy, who knows? And then she can’t actually find my left ovary. I assure you, I’ve had four previous trans-vaginal ultrasounds, and they always seem to take great delight in showing me both of my ovaries. Lefty has apparently gone AWOL. Great.

By the way, as she continues to poke around and generally make non-encouraging comments (“Are you sure you don’t have any fibroids?” Yes, it was checked out a month ago. “I’ve never actually had one of these, myself.” Oh, great. I’m glad you know what it’s like, then.), and while she’s pointing out the sacs (“there’s #1, there’s #2″), hubby and I are both quite certain we see a third of whatever it is she’s looking at. He says he saw her kind of flinch and not say anything, probably because she was afraid he’d jump across the table at her.

So, all in all, a rather inconclusive morning, except to say that things just don’t seem to be quite adding up. It’s possible that I would have been 6w1d, but things just aren’t developing. It’s possible there were anywhere between one and three gestational sacs and my dates are just off. It’s possible I have a growth on my right ovary and a disappearing left ovary. Only a few things are certain: that I will have another ultrasound in a week or so; that I won’t be able to talk to my OB about this until at least Tuesday because of the holiday; and that I will do everything in my power to not have this ultrasound tech again. She wasn’t mean, she wasn’t totally uncaring, she just made me feel I’d be better off doing the ultrasound myself.

More than anything, I wish I could have come out of there with something conclusive about this pregnancy. If I’m miscarrying again: fine. At least I’d know and can move on. If I’m not as far as I thought, but having triplets: holy crap. But fine, let me start to deal with that reality. But no. All I know is that I’ll likely have another week or more of being paranoid and wondering what the hell is going on in my uterus. I’m going to lose my fragile little mind.

Comments (2)
Categories : Pregnancy, Ultrasounds
Tags : abdominal ultrasound, suspecting multiples, transvaginal ultrasound

Second Ultrasound

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (0)·   September 29th, 2006

7w4d - Kermit 06 Got to see Kermit again today, hooray! The slightly low heartbeat of last time is now a very good 160bpm. Saw the sac and the baby very clearly, with another little blob which is the yolk sac.

Then the ultrasound tech started measuring something, and I asked what it was. She said “remember the bleeding we talked about last time?” Uh, no. Nobody mentioned any bleeding. Well, apparently I have a subchorionic hematoma. It basically means there’s some bleeding in my uterus. The concern is if that is getting in the way of the sac getting adequate blood supply, but she said it looked like the sac was getting great supply. It appears to be relatively small (I believe it’s the dark area in the upper left of the picture), not surrounding the sac. If it were to get bigger and threaten the sac’s blood supply, there could be an increasing risk of miscarriage. But in all likelihood, it will simply reabsorb into the tissue. She said I might even see a little brown spotting, but so far no spotting of any kind, so that’s a good thing.

One of these days, I’d like to have an appointment where they simply say “everything looks good!” without any kind of qualifier. As soon as one worry gets taken care of, a new one surfaces. Good preparation for parenthood, I’m sure. I’d just like a week or two without drama!

Unless I hear otherwise, the next time I go in will be October 13 (yes, Friday the 13th!) for my first “official” OB appointment. My practice normally sees people for the first time at 10 weeks, and I will be 9 weeks, 4 days. Happy thoughts in the meantime…

Comments (0)
Categories : Pregnancy, Ultrasounds
Tags : hematoma

Pre-appointment Paranoia

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (0)·   September 29th, 2006

Is this going to happen before every single appointment?

For the week or so leading up to it, I feel fine. Optimistic. Confident, even. Then I get inside 24 hours, and I start to freak out. Today: what if the heart rate hasn’t gone up? What if I don’t see a heartbeat at all? What if it’s just gone? What if I just plain made this whole thing up?

OK, so I know I didn’t make it up. I’ve had positive tests of many varieties, and I’ve seen the darn ultrasound with my own two eyes. But as much as I’m excited to go in and see again and get good news, I’m also terrified of getting bad news.

Fingers crossed, as always. Appointment is at 12:15…

Comments (0)
Categories : Pregnancy, Ultrasounds
Tags : paranoia

Whew.

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (1)·   September 20th, 2006

6w2d - Kermit 06

Hooray, all is well! My dates were off, but I knew they were so-so since this was right after the chemical pregnancy. So I am officially 6 weeks 2 days pregnant, with a due date of May 14, 2007. We saw the heartbeat, which was very cool. It was 101 bpm, and they look for it to be over 100, so we made that one by a hair.

But… but… I’m pregnant! This is madness! So exciting! So crazy! Hard to believe.

I think we’re going to tell our parents this weekend. I don’t know that we’ll really tell anyone else for a few more weeks, because you still never know. First real doctor’s appointment will probably be in about a month, I’ll call to schedule it shortly.

In the meantime, HOORAY!

Comments (1)
Categories : Pregnancy, Ultrasounds

Almost there

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (0)·   September 20th, 2006

Three and a half hours until the ultrasound, and I’m freaking out. I’m more nervous today than I have been in a while. Understandable, I suppose, but I’m nervous nonetheless. What if they can’t see anything definitive and I just have to wait SOME MORE? What if it’s a blighted ovum or some other bad news? Ugh. Well, I’ll post again this afternoon, hopefully with good news. Anyone out there, cross your fingers, knock on wood, rub a rabbit’s foot… whatever you can. :-)

Comments (0)
Categories : Pregnancy, Ultrasounds
Tags : paranoia
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