The One With ALL the Ultrasounds

So, up to this point I've had four ultrasounds.  For those of you unfamiliar with typical pregnancy protocol, that's a lot.  And I have another one this week.  After that, as I've mentioned, I'm back to the normal routine and the next freebie is at 20 weeks.

The reason I've had so many is because my fertility specialist likes to confirm the pregnancy to the point of heartbeat before sending me to my OB.  So we had two blood tests to confirm HCG levels and then two ultrasounds, a week apart, until we saw the wee heartbeat at 7.something weeks.  After that, my OB, given my radical history, decided to see me earlier than she usually sees expectant mothers so I was in their office exactly a week after the second fertility ultrasound.  Then, because she's AWESOME, she agreed to do an extra for my peace of mind two weeks after that and suggested we do the NT testing exactly two weeks after that, all leading up to twelve weeks.

As I've mentioned as well, that doesn't put us out of the woods given the last miscarriage at 14.5 weeks, so I may request another at that point just so I don't lose my freaking mind.  We're so close to being safe...I just need all the reassurance I can get at this point.

Okey dokey.  On to the fun part.  The ever confusing, blurry Ultrasound pictures!!  And a belly shot...with nothing interesting to see, since I apparently have birthing hips the size of the Atlantic and I may NEVER look pregnant.


So, here goes:

 I'm going in chronological order so here you have our lovely yolk sac, which, if you had microscope eyes might show a slight thickness at the top-ish, which is the fetal pole.  This was November 28th.

Next, a week later on December 5th we have the same yolk sac with a strange looking something or other to the left of it that is the baby.  You obviously can't see it in this picture but we had a healthy heartbeat of I believe 125 bpm here

This is by far the worst picture of all of them.  I don't know why it turned out so badly.  In the top middle you have the deteriorating yolk sac and then to the right, between the blurry dots is the eight week old fetus person, chillin' like a villain.  This was taken December 12th.

In our most recent ultrasound, taken on December 27th, you can see on the right a baby with a GIANT head and belly and itty bitty chicken leg thingies.  The baby was super active during this ultrasound, similar to our 10 week one with Alien v3.  That one waved and this one was full on booty-shake dancing.  Our OB opted for the festive "Happy New Year" in place of her usual "Hi Mom and Dad" which she claims is getting "boring."  With my New Year's Eve birthday I found it endearing and fitting.  Happy New Year indeed!

Here you have my almost 11 week belly shot.  Nothing to see here, folks.  If the last pregnancy is any indicator, I won't be showing for a while now.  The baby was about 14 weeks along when it stopped growing and my very thorough nurse sister could barely feel my uterus above my pelvic bone.  I would however like to introduce all of you to my VERY prominent hind end.  Let's just say I'm very popular with the "brothas."

There you have them.  All the pictures.  As of today I'm exactly twelve weeks.  According to most experts this is the point where our chances of miscarriage go down significantly.  I'm crossing all fingers and toes that the odds are finally in our favor.  And in case any of you are wondering I'm still really hoping for a girl even though I have a strong premonition it's a boy.  We shall see.