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.