Strawberry ultrasound at 6 weeks 3 days. Upper right corner of the gestational sac. If you look closely, you can see the yolk sac to the left of the baby.

Just got back from the doctor, and got another great shot of Strawberry. Today the baby is right at 9 weeks. Strawberry was so excited to be on camera she started jumping, moving her arms, and doing flips for us! It was amazing, this is a very active baby. Strawberry measured at 23 mm, which puts her at 8 weeks 6 days old! We also got to see the heartbeat, which was fiercely beating at a healthy 176 beats/minute. The normal range is 120-180, so we're doing ok there.

The cysts appear to be shrinking, which is great news too. The only bad news we got was that I apparently have a septate uterus, which is a birth defect in which the uterus doesn't completely absorb the septum dividing it, leaving a lump protruding downward. If you look carefully at the ultrasound, you'll see that the bottom of the sac is kidney bean shaped. The curve of the kidney bean is the septate uterus. If the baby implants into the septate part, he or she will likely miscarry because not enough blood supply will be available. If it implants into the outside of the uterus, then the baby will probably carry to term. The doctor said the greatest risk was during weeks 6-9 for miscarriage, and it is a little higher than normal for weeks 9-12. Once week 12 passes, miscarriage is unlikely. I guess that means I have 3 weeks to worry.

The weird thing about it is that this did not show up on my hysterosalpingogram, and it should have. It makes me wonder if there is a defect at all, and if there is, maybe it's not really such a bad one if the hsp didn't show it.

Anyway, strawberry seems to be doing fine now and all we can do is hope for the best. She survived a week of snowboarding in Norway, so I think she'll be ok!

We have our next appointment on Valentine's day. How sweet! I'll post pictures when I get them.

I've been waiting to post to get confirmation from the doctor and to return from our holiday. I can't believe it, we're finally pregnant after months and months of trying!

I got a positive result about 10 days post IUI, but it was really faint. DH didn't believe it, it was so light. However, I took another the next day and another, until there was no mistaking the positive home pregnancy test. I called the doctor at 12 days post IUI, and had a blood test to confirm. They called me to congratulate me and then dropped a bomb...no travel. This was December 22nd, and our flights were to leave on December 23rd. Apparently the doctor felt there was a risk of ectopic pregnancy in the first two weeks with flying. DH and I stayed up late discussing and worrying. We did every possible calculation, and determined that I had most likely already implanted, so the next day we hopped on the plane. I was a nervous wreck, and for days afterwards was convinced I was going to have a miscarriage. I had wild and crazy dreams about it and everything.

Fortunately, that didn't happen, and a second blood test performed on Dec. 24th confirmed that the pregnancy was progressing normally. What a pain it was to get that test, though! We were in Little Rock, which had been hit with a snow and ice storm, and nearly every lab was closed. The only lab I could find open was at Baptist Hospital, and I was able to speak to the director of the lab. After much begging, I was able to convince her to do my test even though the doctor ordering it was in San Francisco. A couple of hours later we had the results. Dec. 22nd my HCG levels were 126, and by Dec. 24th they had risen to 364.

We told our parents on Christmas Day, and everyone was thrilled with the news, especially us. When we got back to the Bay Area, I called and made an appointment for our first pregnancy ultrasound. Apparently by about 6 1/2 weeks they can hear the heartbeat. We're getting our ultrasound Friday the 7th, and hopefully they will be able to hear something, or at the very least see Strawberry.

While in Arkansas we had dinner with Amy, a friend of my sister's from childhood who is now an OB/GYN. Amy gave me this cool pregnancy wheel so I can keep up with the weeks in my pregnancy, and helped me calculate my due date: August 31!

Strawberry ultrasound at 6 weeks 3 days. Upper right corner of the gestational sac. If you look closely, you can see the yolk sac to the left of the baby.

Yesterday was the big day for us! We went to our scheduled 6 1/2 week ultrasound, and it was so unbelievably cool. We could actually see the heartbeat, and it was strong and fast!

I was just blown away by how real it made it for me to actually see the baby's heartbeat! I had been cramping for two days straight, and it reassured me that everything was ok and the cramping was normal. Today I haven't really had a cramp at all.

The reason we're referring to the baby as strawberry is because when we first started dating, we went to a booth that morphs your pictures together to show you what your future children together will look like. Ours looked exactly like the character Strawberry Shortcake, red hair and everything, so we have been calling our furture children strawberry (or boysenberry, since dh thinks it will be a boy).

I am so excited now! Seeing the heartbeat was such a treat, and it really sinks in that there is a baby, alive, in there depending on me for support. I guess I need to eat my vegetables!