Hurdle 2: Results

You would think that after seeing what we saw, I'd be able to breathe a little easier, but I'm not. I am still feeling far more detached than I have ever felt before.

Here is the obligatory "Yes, there is a growing baby in there" photo:

So for any doubters out there who think I'm a big-fat-faker, note both my Name and today's Date and the fact that I have no idea how to photoshop anything.

Based on my symptoms and my BBT chart, I was really surprised to find that I was 3 days further along than I thought.  So rather than being 6 week + 3 days, both the baby and gestational sac are measuring 6 weeks + 6 days.

This means I'll switch over my "weeks" on Tuesdays, just like I did with Jackson.  I found it interesting that even my oldest remembered that Tuesday was my "week" day.

I was a little surprised when I made the appointment a couple of weeks ago that they wanted to do both an abdominal ultrasound as well as a transvaginal one.  I've never had an abdominal one done so soon.

Today I could see why they do it that way.  In my case, the baby was actually really easy to see on the abdominal ultrasound.  We had a moment with a sigh of relief when we saw the faint flicker of a heartbeat on the screen.  I was eventually instructed to empty my bladder for the other half of the process.  We could see the gestational sac, but the baby was no where to be found!  The tech eventually picked up enough of the baby to "listen" to the heartbeat with the sound waves for measuring, but the baby was quite blurry and barely visible.

The heartbeat measured 120 bpm.  She also used that rather blurry view to measure the baby repeatedly and consistently came up with 6w+6d.

So my 8th pregnancy is off to a good start.  It's always better to measure ahead at this point than behind!  Baby Terry is due February 10th, 2015.  That said, the baby will be here in one form or another on or before January 20th.  If we make it to where s/he is viable outside the womb, and growth problems develop, than an emergency delivery will be scheduled.  This could happen as early as 24 weeks.

While I hope that we make it all the way to January, I have to be realistic with expectations and my past.

For the record, I believe this baby is a girl.  Between the heartbeat that matches our little girl and my symptoms (or lack thereof), I'm going with that.

S/he shall affectionately be known as Rainbow Dash until further notice.  Rainbow Dash, for those of you who don't know or can't remember, is one of the My Little Ponies. I am sticking to the nickname because if we have a live delivery, this will be my second Rainbow baby (baby after a loss).  The Dash part comes because of just how quickly the pregnancy occurred. Talk about a quick turnaround!