December 26, 2013
Before I knew it, Thursday morning had arrived. It was Squeak Day again.
“Hi there!” said the gal at the check-in desk. “Just verify your date of birth for me.” Apparently I had reached Frequent Flyer Platinum status — I didn’t even have to tell them my name.
Tara was on vacation — it was the day after Christmas, after all — so we had the very lovely Kendall for our ultrasound. She jellied up the vag cam, and as soon as a picture appeared, I searched the fuzzy screen for paydirt: a white blob inside a black gestational sac, plus a tiny beating heart.
It took a moment, but then: “I see it! A heartbeat!”
Kendall laughed. “Yep, there’s a heartbeat. I’m going to measure your ovaries and let your uterus relax a little, then I’ll come back to the kiddo.”
7 weeks, 5 days and 164bpm heart rate. Squeak measured right on schedule!
She measured my ovaries quickly and turned back to Squeak. He was rockin’ it. Heartbeat 164 beats per minute. Measuring 7 weeks, 5 days — right on schedule! (Versus last week, when he was two days behind.) The blood was still there, but smaller. Kendall answered our questions patiently, pointing out Squeak’s brain, tiny arm buds, and teeny-weeny leg buds.
Afterwards, we saw Dr. Turkey, who gave us the figurative cap and gown: we had graduated from the IVF clinic to regular OB care, provided I had no more bright red spotting. He sent us to the scheduling desk to set up our first OB appointment with Dr. Awesome, two and a half weeks from now.
I’m a little bummed — no more weekly ultrasounds. I enjoyed checking in on Squeak. I’ll miss that. Back to normalcy, but normal is a good thing.
Subchorionic hemorrhage aside, I’m feeling pregnant. I had two breakfasts this morning; one at 7am and another at 10am. I have had less morning sickness than with Peanut… so far. But it’s getting more intense each day.
In the meantime, I can’t wait for January 11th: Mountain Dew day. That’s when I’ll hit 10 weeks, and I can go back to having one can of pop each day. This is an arbitrary and silly deadline; I’m the only one keeping track. I know I can have a pop any time.
But us IVF girls are superstitious, and since I held off on caffeine til week 10 with Peanut, I’m going to do the same with Squeak. Root Beer or Sprite are sorry substitutes; I looooove my daily Mountain Dew. Yes, I know it’s not good for me, but it’s just one wittle bitty can. Let me have my indulgences, dammit.
I’m showing a teeny bit too. All my jeans are uncomfortable and according to my weekly photos, there’s a pooch for sure. I’m kind of psyched about that. If I’m already showing a little now, I’ll look ‘pregnant for real’ sooner (and the “had a few too many donuts” stage will be short-lived). Yippee!
0 Comments