First Ultrasound

Yesterday we had our first ultrasound to see how many babies we're expecting.  We were both pretty anxious to find out and while my gut instinct told me there was only one in my belly, Chris was positive there were two.  We got to our fertility clinic 10 minutes early and were taken back pretty quickly.  After a few minutes for me to get undressed (they did a transvaginal ultrasound), Dr. Norian came in, congratulated us again and asked how I was feeling.  He started doing the ultrasound and this is what we saw....

One perfect little bean with a heart rate of 109 beats per minute.  Dr. Norian was impressed that we were able to see the heart flicker and hear it because I was only 6 weeks, 1 day pregnant.  He said the heart probably started beating the day or night before.  Maybe that's why I was so exhausted the night before and went to bed at 7:30! We were ecstatic to see the heart beating and hear it.  It's such an amazing sound.  We got some video of it, but it's a little hard to hear and then Dr. Norian chimes in and says, "Baby Benson, coming to you soon" so it cuts down how much we can hear.  Hopefully at the next ultrasound, which is scheduled for November 25th, we'll get a better video of the heart.  Dr Norian was pleased with the size and shape of the gestational sack (the black blob around the baby) and the yolk sack next to the baby.

Seeing our baby made me feel so much more at ease. Knowing there's a heartbeat and hearing it made it seem so much more real.  Dr. Norian told me I could finish my current prescription for progesterone lozenges and then be done with them, but i'll need to continue my other medication (estrogen patch, estrogen pills and progesterone suppositories) until I'm 10 weeks.  I can do "light" activity which basically means walking and then as things progress i'll be able to do more.  He advised us to keep the pregnancy between the two of us until I'm 10 weeks.  Oops.  I really disagree with people who say you shouldn't announce your pregnancy until the end of the 1st trimester.  Why should it be kept such a secret just because there's a "what if".  I would want as much support as possible if the "what if" became a reality and why is there such taboo with it? So many couples go through loss and feel isolated when it happens to them because no one talks about it.  And with so many people knowing the struggle we've had over the last 3 years and 10 months, our journey through fertility treatments and IVF, it's kind of hard to keep it a secret.  I know we could have kept it all between us, but that wasn't what we chose.  Struggling with infertility is very hard and opening up to others has helped me with the process.

So there it is! Baby Benson is due July 9, 2015!

Alissha