Still truckin' - 8w2d

8w2d ultrasound this morning and so far, so good. I had gotten nervous because I've felt SO much more energetic in the past few days, not nearly as sleepy, though still eating like a 600lb trucker. So, of course -- like a good infertile -- feeling better scared the crap out of me. On top of still reeling from the bleeding episode 5 days ago and I was a nervous chickie going in for the u/s. But all still looks great with little Boon (the Dutch word for 'bean', in honor of the baby's Oma) -- we've renamed from John because of the gender specificity plus not being paired with Paul anymore makes it kind of bittersweet to call this baby "John", so Boon it is.

The heart rate is a nice 167bpm, it's actually getting close to hitting it's peak and should scale back a little and vary between 120-160bpm for the rest of the way. Boon is still measuring one day ahead at 8w3d, a mini-overachiever:


One thing of interest from the u/s just 4 days ago (the emergency one, post bleeding) was that you can no longer see Baby B's sac. On Monday's u/s, it was right there, right next to Baby A and just as big. I was concerned about the proximity to Baby A and whether the deterioration of the sac might cause problems. But as you can see above, it seems to have migrated away and not clearly visible anymore as a defined element.

I got to talk with my own RE today and he said he's 99% sure that the bleeding episode was the beginning deterioration of Baby B's sac. Which is not AT ALL what the physician's assistant said, which was more of a shrug of the shoulders. I guess doctors do learn something from all that extra schooling ;). He said though the sac still looked intact on Monday, that had we scanned on Tuesday instead (so two days after the episode started), we likely would not have seen a defined sac shape. He explained that most twin pregnancies where one twin in lost early, the mother's body will resorb the contents, as I was told to expect. But it's not totally unusual for your body to expel the contents instead and that's what he believes is happening to me. So, he said to expect continued short bouts of bleeding, sometimes heavy, and passing of tissue and, get this: Not to worry. Um, yeah, right.

I'm free to call in any time I'm worried and come in for an emergency u/s (you better believe it) but otherwise, I have my final appointment with him in a week and a half at my 10 week mark, which is further than I've ever made it, so I'll be a little nervewracked waiting over the next 11 days. I have a girl's weekend in NYC with some buddies next weekend 2/5-2/8, so that'll distract me a bit while waiting. Though I'm not telling any friends about the pregnancy until after testing, so I'll have to see if I can skate under the radar for not drinking and potentially needing naps.

Another interesting conversation with my RE was regarding said testing. I had automatically scheduled a CVS for 2/17, when I hit 11 weeks. But as time has passed, I've started to get nervous about going in for invasive testing without, at least, beginning with noninvasive testing first. I actually thought my RE would be on board for getting a CVS, given my history of RCL, but as soon as I brought it up, he said "Why are you getting a CVS??". He was adamantly against it and advised me strongly to do the nuchal screen and PAPP-A bloodwork first and then an amnio around week 15. If the 1T screen showed elevated risks, then I could schedule a CVS. But doing it cold turkey he saw as risk for risk's sake and as hard as NoodleGuy and I have worked for this pregnancy, he doesn't want to see us take an unnecessary risks. So, since I was on the fence anyway, that sealed the deal. I called as soon as I got home to switch the CVS to a 1T screen -- they explained to me that they way it works in their genetic testing center is that NG and I will meet with a genetic counselor first and then, depending on what we decide, will be sent for whatever testing. So the CVS was never written in stone anyway, but I feel much better knowing what we'd like the first step to be going in. Whew!

OK, gotta get back to work. As I've mentioned before, I work for an online retailer and it's getting really busy again after a month-long post-holiday lull. I just snarfed down a gigantic chicken parmesan sandwich in about 6 minutes flat. And my former beloved pregnancy food, dill pickles (yes, I'm a cliche) now repulses me. Maybe my lack of symptoms is so lacking after all ;).

p.s. Teaser for tomorrow's post: I heard about a really good deal for IVF, the best I've ever heard, for any of those paying out of pocket. I wanted to pass along the info, so take a peek tomorrow if you're interested!