So humbled and grateful: Our 9-week ultrasound went wonderfully

I am in complete awe of God's mercy. When I woke up this morning, in my wildest imagination, I couldn't imagine what it would be like to have a good 9-week u/s.

By 11:00, I was watching my own precious baby on the ultrasound monitor, with the most beautiful, strong heartbeat. 

The baby was measuring 8w4d +/- 3 days, which concerned me at first, but the doctor said it's absolutely within the range of where it should be (by LMP, I'm 8w6d today). The heartbeat was 167, so I guess (if the heartbeat increases by 3 bpm per day) by the 9-week point tomorrow it will be around 170... I thought that seemed low for 9 weeks, but again, the doctor said it was fantastic.

I can't believe this. After nine years of trying to conceive, six miscarriages, ten billion tears, an iffy start with low initial betas, minimal symptoms including no morning sickness... I have a living, growing baby inside me. 

Words can't express how thankful I am. This morning, determined to thank God for His blessings even if things went badly, I had made the drive to the clinic singing praise songs at the top of my lungs to my favorite Third Day CD's. On the way home, I was shaking and crying and every time I tried to sing a praise song, I got completely choked up.  I'm thankful God knows my heart and doesn't rely on my voice to know how grateful I am!!

I've been floating on a cloud all day and couldn't even find words to write this post, but I just had to shout from the rooftops what a great God we serve!! 

7-week ultrasound. Houston, we have a heartbeat!!!

I'm on cloud 9!!! I kept telling God I would be thankful and praise Him today, not matter what this morning's outcome... wow, I had NO idea it would be so easy to do that after seeing that precious baby on ultrasound!!

I thought I was going to have a break-down waiting for the ultrasound, though! We arrived 20 minutes early... but then didn't get called back until after 11:45!! So after that agonizing wait, I was glad to get into the ultrasound room and get ready. Well, it seemed like another eternity before the doctor came in... I could feel my heart pounding out of my chest and I thought I was going to go insane waiting.

Thankfully, of course the doctor is very familiar with my history so she didn't waste any time. Almost immediately once she got an image on the monitor, she said, "Well Julia, you can relax... there's your baby... and there's a good strong heartbeat!"

At this point, I felt like I was in a dream... but I knew that just seeing a heartbeat doesn't mean the baby is going to make it... I wanted to know the CRL and heart rate. She got to that right away. I was hoping for a 10mm baby, but it was only 9.3 mm. I was worried about that, since my first sign of a problem had been babies measuring 3-6 days too small, but she assured me (several times) that that was perfectly good for where I am and it's +/- 2 days leeway at this point anyway.
I was hoping for a heart rate of at least 126, and it was 145! Poor baby... Mommy's nerves/pounding heart were rubbing off on her!! (teehee -- J and I both think it's a girl!)



I had thought before today that, since I had three good mature follicles, that maybe more than one had fertilized but only one made it. (With my hCG numbers, I knew the most we could hope for would be a healthy singleton.) Sure enough, there was a second sac that had shrunk back down, and no surviving baby in that one. She said it was probably the remnants of a vanishing twin. I guess I won't know for sure this side of heaven, but I may have a seventh little one to greet me there someday.

I bombarded the doctor with questions and reminded her that I'd had false hope before with early ultrasounds, and she told me point-blank, "Julia, if there were anything here that concerned me, I would tell you. But everything is right where it should be!" I almost melted into happy tears right then and there!  (She also mentioned something about the yolk sac being a good size; something about how if it's enlarged, it can indicate chromosome problems... now I have something new to obsessively Google!)

I know that I'm not out of the woods yet, but I'm so very thankful for what we saw today. I am laughing my head off that I was 100% sure I had a blighted ovum... I guess there can be a healthy, living 7-week baby in there with no morning sickness!! 

I'm going back in two weeks for one more u/s at the RE clinic. In the meantime, I have more joy than I've had in years!! THANK YOU GOD!!!!