Doin' The Ultrasound Boogie!

We went in for the second ultrasound yesterday morning at the regular OBGYN office that will be taking over now. After some parking adventure we went in and joined my sister in law in the waiting room. Then we waited. And waited. And waited.

After an hour or more they called her in. She had to have blood taken and her history so we staid in the waiting room for that. Then she came out and told us that since the exam room was so tiny they would only allow one person in there with her. Naturally my wife went, so I didn't get to see the ultrasound live - just a couple stills.

The machine was reportedly nearly a couple decades old, so the images weren't as clear as they might be, but I could still make it out. But my wife tells me she could see the arms and legs moving! It's an energetic little guy or gal in there. The doctor says you don't always see that, but when you do it's a good sign. W00t!

One Baby On The Way!

Okay, the poll is closed and of the many many guesses - okay, one guess - nobody guessed right.

We have one baby on the way. The results couldn't have been better. By every measure it's right down the center of the expected range for a healthy baby. We even counted the heartbeats together.

There were three of us in there besides my sister in law: me, my wife, and my mother-in-law. Since it was done with a vaginal ultrasound probe (the dildocam, as my wife calls it) we were huddled together towards the head of the table. We all got a good view of the screen, though. When the doctor announced he spotted the heartbeat (which was obvious when he held the probe still for us) we were all elated. It was such a relief. Here you can see one of the stills he printed out for us. The baby is over the little "X" and the yolk sac is above it to the left. Both are within the amniotic sac.

Afterward in conference with the doctor he told us we had walked in the exam room with a 15-20% chance of a miscarriage, and walked out with a 5% chance. Our next ultrasound is two weeks after this one, but with the OBGYN practice that's taking over.

First Ultrasound's Friday Morning

It's almost 2AM and we're heading out for the first ultrasound at 8AM. My mother-in-law is tagging along. My wife has mixed feelings about that, in case things go badly, but she was in the waiting room for the transfer so maybe she's good luck.

I'm nervous. I'm really scared of things not turning out right, but I've been trying not to show it, and not to think about this these past two weeks. If things go bad I'm going to have to be the strong one. I guess I'll cry on my own. Hopefully it won't come to that.

But even though I've been trying to occupy myself and not think about it, this has been the slowest damn two and a half weeks of my life. Yeesh!

I had been thinking of putting up a poll to have visitors here guess how many we had growing and whether any looked to be identicals. I've decided not to, though, unless and until we see a healthy fetus in the ultrasound. After that, I'll put up a poll for a few days before announcing the real result. Hopefully it'll be fun.

We Almost Were There

We drove into Fredericksburg today figuring on attending the Obama/Biden rally. We had some work to do at Secret Headquarters first, though, so we were a but late arriving. By the time we got there the line to get in was stretching over half a mile around the perimeter of Mary Washington campus. We knew there would likely be rain and/or isolated thunderstorms so we decided to pass and head home to try and watch online. We weren't the only ones to not get in. The campus police reported that about 12,000 people got in, but about 14,000 more were not able to.

The Obama website has a live feed page for events and, except for a few drops, we were able to watch. It was pretty good, touching on McCain's flaws & shortcomings and Obama's plans. I'm definitely voting for Obama this year.

We watched the debate too, and felt that Obama did eke out a victory there on McCain's "home turf" of national defense. I think Obama sees a bigger picture than McCain and understands that it doesn't matter how well or poorly we are doing in Iraq. The big point about Iraq is that we shouldn't have started the war to begin with. It's a distraction and a drain on our resources and the lives of our soldiers. The real front is in Afghanistan where Al Qaida's stronghold & haven is.

We did find it amusing when the McCain campaign released a "McCain Wins Debate" ad on the web before the debate had even started. Oops! To commemorate the event I put together this little tribute to history.

Beta Test 2

We got the levels for the second beta test today. The beta level was 335. I did some math and figured three days of doubling every 48 hours would give a level of about 322, so we're right in the groove for a single baby. My sister in law's progesterone seemed a bit low, but when we asked the doctor about it he said her levels were just fine considering she's using vaginal suppositories. The progesterone's at higher levels locally, apparently.

Next stop: first ultrasound in two and a half weeks. We should find out for sure how many we have then. We're testing right in the zone for a single, but we're still in the range seen for multiples, so it's still not 100% sure. Pretty sure, but not 100%.

My wife has been having stomach- and headaches the last couple evenings. I think it's stress and worry over all this. She's better during the day when she's occupied. Fortunately the next several days look like good weather, so we might be able to extend the day with some walks around town or along some local trails to keep busy. It'll be good for us to get back into an exercise routine. Doing IVF cycles does interfere a bit with that, what with the bloating and all.

Anyway, that's one more hurdle out of the way, and things look good so far. Stay tuned.

Beta Test 1

We got the results of the beta hCG test: 114. From what we gather the average at this point for women who have a single baby is about 100, so we seem to be in the groove. The next test, to see how it's increasing, is scheduled for Monday. The real test, though, is the ultrasound later on. That will tell us how it's developing and if we have more than one.

Testing... Testing...

We've been doing a lot of pregnancy tests the last couple days, or my sister in law has anyway. Here are the latest. If there was any doubt, having it confirmed by a third brand of test, the digital, removed it.

Friday she goes in to get blood drawn for the beta test which will tell us how much hCG she has in her, which will give us some idea of how well things are along. There will be another one later to see how things are progressing. Then it'll be officially official, but I'm going to say it now: WE'RE PREGNANT!