CVS and waiting

CVS Thursday.  All is ok so far.  Awaiting the initial FISH results - probably with a call on Monday.  But, the good news is the nuchal fold is measuring only 1.26 something which is normal (my MFM makes a practice of measuring nuchal fold in a pre-procedure detailed ultrasound even though I didn't do the bloodwork part of the NT testing).  So, there's hope that this isn't a fetus with chromosome abnormalities.  Obviously given that it wasn't my egg, but my sisters's egg (retrieved at age 37) we were already having some measure of hope that things would be normal.

Baby was measuring exactly 12w2d at the appointment and flipping around a good bit.  It never ceases to amaze  me despite the gazillion ultrasounds I've had, just how much you can see even at this point - the nasal bone (yay!), the stomach, the bladder with urine in it, the hemispheres of the brain, let alone 5 fingers on each hand!

We'll find out the sex with the FISH results (hopefully Monday) as well.  We haven't decided whether we'll wait until the more detailed results come back - probably 10-14 days - or go ahead and let our family (including my sister whom I've kept in the dark so far) know that I'm pregnant sometime next week (assuming all is ok with the FISH results).

In the meantime, E turned 1 on Monday.  I can hardly believe it.  She had a great time at her birthday party on Saturday.  She had 2 of her 1st cousins and 3 of her 2nd cousins here to celebrate with her (and 14 people stayed overnight at our house Saturday night!)  She's finally getting more teeth.  She's had 2 bottom teeth since early June, and finally we're seeing I think 4 top teeth on their way.  One is definitely further along than the others and it just seems like it's taking eons for it to make any progress. Up until now, she'd only been using a pacifier when she goes into the crib for naptime or nightime, but she's basically carrying one around a lot of the day now.  And you can see that's she's just chewing away on them.  But I can't get her to chew on anything else (like those plastic water-filled rings you put in the refrigerator - just too much work to carry them around versus being able to be hands-free with the paci, I think!)

We're still cautiously optimistic about this new baby.  There's a long way to go yet.  And it almost feels like we're fertility 'virgins' since my pregnancy with E ultimately went so smoothly.  It's like that's our most recent experience now and you start thinking that's the way this one is going to go.

But I've been letting some sneaky thoughts in now and then - should I move E to the room next door or leave her where she is and put the baby in the other room?  Except if it's a boy, the other room was freshly painted a very subtle grayish lavender and that won't work for a boy and I don't want to repaint that room since it was just done and we could move E's furniture and even her lavender accessories to that room and they'd look just fine and her taupe room wood work with boy-color accessories and on and on and on........  Too early to think about all that.  Although I guess we'll know sex next week.  Anyhow, trying hard not to get too far ahead of myself.

Hope you all have a spectacular weekend!

9 week ultrasound

Whew!  It's still alive.  Measuring 9 weeks exactly.  Saw the umbilical cord, spine and a leg bud hanging down (baby was upside down).  Gestational sac seems to be just slightly smaller now.  Dr.Dry thinks it's not an issue.  Heartbeat is 165.

We've been going to these OB ultrasound appointments at the fertility clinic at 1:15 p.m. the last 3 appointments.  It works for Mr.Right since he's only a 5 minute drive away and that's his lunch break.  First patient of the afternoon isn't until 2 p.m.  But, because we don't have childcare at that time of day (I only have Monday and Wednesday mornings right now), we have to bring E with us.  So, she's been there for every appointment.  At first we were trying to respect our clinic's policy of no children, but realized that at that time of day we were almost always the only ones in the waiting room.  And the staff, when asked, were very encouraging about bringing her in so my husband could be in the ultrasound room with me.  Thus, E has seen her (crossing fingers still!) sibling already.  Indeed, she seems to be fascinated with the ultrasound monitor that's turned towards me (and Mr.Right and E.)  So cute!

So, OB appointment next Monday - which should be totally uneventful.  It's with the nurse practitioner and I have a short list of issues for her 1) no toxo screen, 2) I'd like a referral to the MFM docs we saw last time at the antenatal center for monitoring, 3) I'll let them know we've already got the CVS scheduled for September 27th.

Interestingly, though, we had a discussion with Dr.Dry about monitoring through the pregnancy.  I asked whether the placenta was my age or the age of the egg donor.  He said the placenta came from the embryo - so I guess the answer is the age of the egg donor.  I was interested because would you monitor a 37 year old (age of my sister when she donated) for fetal growth?  (I've been assuming we'd do fetal growth monitoring since we did so when I was pregnant at 40/41).  I think we're still going to request monitoring (hence request #2 above) though.  Even though the placenta itself can be an issue, I imagine there are non-placental issues related to my age (42) that will warrant the monitoring. It was reassuring last time.  And my OB doesn't have an ultrasound machine so we we'll be in the dark (so to speak) there.

So, here we go.  We still have hurdles to jump - the genetic one mainly.  But I'm less worried this time around given my sister's age and history.  But, we've been on the short end of the statistical stick before, so you just never know.  But, here we are at 9 weeks with a - for now - seemingly normal pregnancy.  Can't cross enough fingers and toes.