2nd ultrasound

We had our second ultrasound today!  We got to really see the heart beat; it was so cool!  S/he is just over 2 inches long, and measuring at 10 weeks, 6 days - right on target!  The little heart was beating at 157 beats per minute - nice and strong!  We could even see the umbilical cord pulsating with the heart beat!  S/he was very active - kicking and waving and moving all around!  I think we woke her/him up though, because s/he wasn't moving much at first.  But, once the tech started poking around, the movement was full force!  I scanned the ultrasound pictures and cropped out the important part!

10 weeks!

From http://www.parents.com/:  "[Our] baby is still so tiny that he has plenty of room to move and groove in [Julie's] warm, protective amniotic fluid. He's now approaching 2 inches in length. If you could see him, you'd be pleased to note that his body is more in proportion; his head doesn't seem as large in comparison to the rest of him. You'd see that his ankles and wrists have formed, and his fingers and toes are now visible too.  An ultrasound taken now would probably show that the yolk sac is separate, and the umbilical cord from the placenta to [our] baby would be visible. [Our] baby's intestines are still part of the umbilical cord, but they're starting to move into his abdomen and will soon be covered by skin.  As for his organs, several more are starting to function. His thyroid gland -- the master switch for controlling his body's own unique chemistry -- is now operating. His pancreas is making digestive enzymes, and his gallbladder is secreting bile; these functions will be essential for eating and digesting his own food after birth.  [Our] baby's lung tissue is continuing to develop, and his bones are forming, even in his fingers and toes. Cells in the tiny hollows of his bones will soon start making blood cells, a function that until now has been the job of his liver and spleen. His face is starting to look more human; he may even have his first permanent tooth buds, and he will soon be able to open his mouth and move his tongue. It won't be long before he's sticking that adorable pink tongue out at [us]!" 

They Grow Up So Fast

We now have a fetus!  From whattoexpect.com: "Sunrise, sunset: Would you believe [our] baby is having his or her first graduation already? Yes, it's true: At 9 weeks pregnant, [our] scholar-to-be has ended his or her embryonic stage and is entering the fetal period now (good-bye embryo, hello fetus). [Our] fetus is now about one inch long, the size of a medium green olive (but no martinis, please). The head has straightened out and is more fully developed, the ears are much more prominent, and some new organs (the liver, spleen, and gallbladder) are forming. [Our] fetus is also making spontaneous movements of his or her arms and legs now that minuscule muscles are beginning to develop, though [Julie] won't feel [our] tiny dancer for at least another two months.

While it's way too early to feel anything, it's not too early to hear something (possibly). [Our] baby's heart is developed enough — and grown large enough — so that its beats can be heard with a Doppler, a handheld ultrasound device that amplifies the lub-dub sound the heart makes. But don't worry if [our] practitioner can't pick up the sound of [our] baby's heartbeat yet. It just means [our] shy guy or gal is hiding in the corner of [Julie's] uterus, or has his or her back facing out, making it hard for the Doppler to find its target. In a few weeks (or at [our] next visit) the miraculous sound of [our] baby's heartbeat is certain to be audible for [our] listening pleasure."

Our next ultrasound is scheduled for December 16th.  The baby will be 10wk4days at that point, so we should be able to hear the heart beat for the first time.  Julie is having more fatigue lately, and is a bit more emotional, but otherwise is having a very easy pregnancy so far.  We are hoping that it stays this way!

8 weeks!

From whattoexpect.com:  "At a length of about half an inch right now, [our] baby has graduated from blueberry-sized to raspberry-sized. Baby is growing in your womb about a millimeter each day, and is looking a lot less reptilian and more baby-like, as lips, nose and eyelids take shape.

How's [our] baby measuring up this week? At a length of about half an inch right now, [our] baby has graduated from blueberry-sized to raspberry-sized. But weekly growth is getting a bit hard to estimate, and here's why: Growth occurs at about the rate of one millimeter each day, but that growth isn't necessarily just in height. Spurts can occur in the arms, legs, back, and other parts of your baby's body. So, big changes will be occurring every which way in the coming months.

What else is changing at 8 weeks pregnant? A close-up view of [our] little embryo (say cheese!) would reveal a more baby-like appearance (and thankfully, a less reptilian one). You'd see an upper lip forming, the protruding tip of that cute button nose, and tiny (and very thin) eyelids. And check out those hands and feet! Your baby's webbed fingers and toes are differentiating now, so give your baby a round of applause.


All this growing is exciting for [our] baby too. How do [we] know? His or her heart is beating at the incredible rate of 150 times per minute. (That's twice as fast as [Julie's] heart beats.) [Our] baby's digs are growing, too. Amniotic fluid increases at a rate of about two tablespoons per week to accommodate [Julie's] womb's growing tenant."


Julie is still doing very well!  In Michigan right now, she has had the opportunity to tell her parents the good news.  Everyone is so excited!  Thankfully, she still does not have much morning sickness at all; just a little bit of nausea every once in a while, but only if she doesn't eat every couple hours.

Julie's belly is measuring about 34", and she weighed in this afternoon at 119.8 pounds!  That's almost a 2 pound gain since the day of the sonogram, which was just over two weeks ago!

7 weeks and counting!

From babycenter.com:  "The big news this week: Hands and feet are emerging from developing arms and legs — although they look more like paddles at this point than the tiny, pudgy extremities you're daydreaming about holding and tickling. Technically, [our] baby is still considered an embryo and has something of a small tail, which is an extension of her tailbone. The tail will disappear within a few weeks, but that's the only thing getting smaller. [Our] baby has doubled in size since last week and now measures half an inch long, about the size of a blueberry.

If [we] could see inside [Julie's] womb, [we'd] spot eyelid folds partially covering her peepers, which already have some color, as well as the tip of her nose and tiny veins beneath parchment-thin skin. Both hemispheres of [our] baby's brain are growing, and her liver is churning out red blood cells until her bone marrow forms and takes over this role. She also has an appendix and a pancreas, which will eventually produce the hormone insulin to aid in digestion. A loop in [our] baby's growing intestines is bulging into her umbilical cord, which now has distinct blood vessels to carry oxygen and nutrients to and from her tiny body."

As for Julie, not much has changed.  She is having some occasional, mild nausea, going pee-pee more often, and is a bit more tired, but overall is doing very well.  She will be in Michigan as of Monday for the Thanksgiving holiday, and will be telling her parents the good news while she is there.  Jen doesn't know this yet, but she will be taking the 8-week belly photo and measuring Julie's tummy.

Until next time...

~Dana

So It Begins...

It seems as though the "morning" sickness has begun.  Julie was a bit queasy yesterday, and again this afternoon.  She didn't realize it today until we were en route to her work, so I stopped at the store and got her some more saltines and ginger ale to keep at work. 

Until next time...
~Dana

Week 6 Development

From The Pregnancy Bible by Joanne Stone, MD and Keith Eddleman, MD:

"Growth is very rapid this week.  [Our] baby might look like a tadpole, with his curved back and tail, but he now has a brain.  His tiny heart is no bigger than a poppy seed, but it is beating on its own.  Other major organs, including the kidneys and liver, continue to develop, and the neural tube, which connects the brain and spinal cord, closes.  [Our] baby's head now begins to take shape.

A rudimentary digestive tract begins to form, together with the abdominal and chest cavities and the backbone.  What will eventually become the testes or ovaries appear as a cluster of cells.  Rudimentary arms and legs appear as tiny buds on the body.  [Our] baby now has his own bloodstream, which has started to circulate blood."

Our First Ultrasound

We had our first ultrasound today and we have one peapod confirmed to be taking up residence in Julie's womb!  YAY!!!  The doctor said that based on Julie's hCG numbers, she was expecting to see twins, but so far we only have one.  Maybe there's another li'l grain of rice hiding in there somewhere!  LOL!  We are very happy to have what appears to be a happy, healthy baby growing as expected.  Our li'l one is right on target, measuring 3.1 milimeters in crown to rump length.  We have been released to the OB and will have our first appointment in her office (albeit with the NP, ergh) on November 30th, and we are hoping to have another ultrasound then.  We could only see a tiny flutter of a heart beat today (the baby is only 5wk6d after all), so we are very much looking forward to seeing and hearing a real heart beat by the end of this month!  Julie is still doing well.  She has not had any morning sickness or anything as of yet; well, except for the sore boobs and snug pants!

Keep watching, there's sure to be much more to come!

~Dana

Week 5 - The Embryonic period begins!

From What to Expect When You're Expecting: "[Our] little embryo, which at this point resembles a tadpole more than a baby (complete with teeny tail), is growing fast and furious and is now about he size of an orange seed - still small, but a lot bigger than it's been.  This week, the heart is starting to take shape.  In fact, the circulatory system, along with the heart, is the first system to be operational.  [Our] baby's heart (about the size of a poppy seed) is made up of two tiny channels called heart tubes - and though it's still far from fully functional, it's already beating - something you might be able to see on an early ultrasound.  Also in the works is the neural tube, which will eventually become [our] baby's brain and spinal cord.  Right now the neural tube is open, but it will close by next week."

As you can see from the ticker on the left, our baby already has more brain cells than Paris Hilton!  Well, it said so during week 5 anyway!

Julie's belly at 5wk3d.  She was standing a little weird; her tummy doesn't usually stick out like that, lol.

Julie gets Gibbs'd!

For those of you who don't know, we love to watch NCIS. Mark Harmon's character, Jethro Gibbs, is always bopping his team on the back of their head when they do doltish things. So, we have adopted this practice and call it "Gibbsing."

So, Julie got Gibbs'd today. She called me while she was on her way home from school and told me that her hCG number had gone from 936 on Monday to 1100 on Wednesday. WHAT? NO!!! The number is supposed to double in 48 hours, or at least be close to double! So, me understanding what this means... I start to freak out. I got all upset. When she walked in, she noticed that I wasn't too, jovial, as I have been lately. So, I told her that I was worried about the numbers and that I thought she should call the doctor's office and find out what we should do. So, she called the office and talks to Lindsay:
Julie: "Hey Lindsay, Juls again! I was just wondering, should I be worried about the
numbers not doubling?"
Lindsay: "What are you talking about? You're at 2100. Everything is good, don't worry!"

OH THANK GOD! I was so relieved that I cried even harder! I still can't believe that happened... what an emotional rollercoaster!

So, Julie got Gibbs'd.

Now, we have one more week to wait until the ultrasound! Hurry up November 13, 2009!!!

Development @ 4 weeks

Our baby is about 1.5 - 2.5 millimeters big; about the size of a sesame seed. His/Her/Their organs, ears, eyes, arms and legs are just starting to form!

2nd Beta

We just got the results from yesterday's blood draw: hCG is OVER 900!!! WOOHOO!!! So exciting! We, especially me, are so relieved! Juls is going to tell her sister today, and I think I will tell mom as well. We are scheduled for our first ultrasound on Friday, November 13.

~Dana

The Weekend and First Beta

So... Mom came over for halloween. SO HARD! She was asking questions about if we thought she would need to rent a hall for the baby shower... and we haven't even told her that Juls is pregnant! We still haven't decided if we want to start telling people after we get all the blood work results (the last results will come in on 11/05/09) or wait until after the first ultrasound. It will probably be mixed. Mom - please don't be mad that we lied to you!

We called the doctor today to get the numbers from the first blood draw. Juls' hCG was 251 and her progesterone was 45. The doc had already told her she could stop the progesterone suppositories after the results came in, so we are expecting that number might drop a little. The hCG should have mroe than doubled by this morning; we'll get the results tomorrow.

Until then...
~Dana

The Journey So Far

After I had my miscarriage, and we had to tell everyone that we had lost the baby only weeks after telling them we were pregnant, we decided not to tell anyone that we were trying this time around. It has been so hard to not tell my Mom. I am hoping that when the time comes and we do tell her, that she will understand that we were not only protecting ourselves from potential heart break, but protecting her as well.

It was kind of last minute this time around when we started trying to conceive. We were running out of time to have an insemination in October, and we hadn't settled on a donor yet. Very quickly we narrowed down our choices to four potential donors and listed them in order of preference. We had all of our paperwork completed and FedEx'd overnight to the new cryobank we had chosen, in Washington state. Once our paperwork was received and processed, we learned that in order to have our donor sperm shipped to the lab (as per the lab policy which does not allow us to hand-carry the tank), another form had to be completed, and notarized, and returned. Now we were certain that October was no longer an option. But, we still overnighted the form back to the cryobank.

Surprise! The form was received and processed in time to purchase the sperm, we thought. Apparently the cryobank is short handed, and they were not able to charge enough tanks and did not have one available for us to use. "Oh please" we begged, "you must have something!" After waiting on hold for several minutes, he comes back and says, "you're in luck!" They had a cancellation and we were able to use that tank! It's now Tuesday, October 13. We had our ultrasound scheduled for the next day, and knew we would need to have the sperm on hand by Friday. We were told that even though they were shipping the tank priority overnight, there was a possibilty that it would not arrive in time because it wouldn't ship out until Wednesday and overnight service isn't guaranteed. We took our chances, and we got lucky! The sperm arrived on thursday, and we had the insemination on Friday, October 16, 2009. We welcomed the two week wait by going out and having lunch at Panera Bread.

October 27 comes, we're nearing the end of the two week wait, and I notice that Julie's nipples look very odd. The surface is cream-colored. We try not to read too much into it, especially since the blood work isn't scheduled to be drawn until the 30th. I notice that Juls seems to be a bit more tired than usual, but she has a lot going on with school and work. But then, she smells the balloons on the side of the road! Juls, who normally does not have the best sniffer in the world, can smell the balloons (from inside her car) that are on the side of the road near her work. I thought it was odd, but didn't think much of it at the time. Then I started thinking about everything else, and I can't help but get a little excited.

Friday, October 30, 2009: Time for the first blood draw! We go to the lab and have the blood drawn around 8:30am. After dropping Juls off at school, I call the doctor's office to let them know. "Thanks for calling. Just to let you know though, we may not get the results back today." WHAT!? Not today? I can't wait any longer! So, 2:00 comes and still no call so... HPT! About a second after she starts peeing on the stick, the test turns..... POSITIVE! Yes! So, we call the doctor's office to let them know that we did get a positive result on the hpt. Still no results from the blood work though. Saturday morning the doctor calls, Juls doesn't recognize the number so the call goes to voice mail. "Hi Julianne. This is Doctor H calling to inform you that YOU ARE PREGNANT!" YES! We now have blood work confirmation. She doesn't state what the actual numbers are, so we will find out on Monday, November 2, 2009.

Until next time...
~Dana