This post has taken a while to be written because it has been an emotional week. On Monday we had our early scan at 7w2d and last appointment at the fertility clinic. The scan revealed the following: I AM pregnant with ONE baby and that baby has a healthy heartbeat of 138 bpm, which is fantastic news!! I guess it wasn’t in our destiny to have twins and we mustn’t be disappointed. We were thrilled to hear the heartbeat and we could see it flickering away too- it’s absolutely incredible 🙂
The doctor performing the scan wasn’t particularly helpful though. She told me to take it easy because I have some Subchorionic collections (blood clots) and the baby is measuring 3 days smaller than it should. I have already been taking it really easy and we left the clinic feeling pretty upset. Since then I have seen a midwife and GP and M has been reading up a lot about these blood clots and we feel a lot more relaxed. Firstly, the clots are really small 10-15mm and apparently quite normal, especially with IVF, secondly I haven’t actually had any bleeding and thirdly, the baby has a really good heartbeat!
Wednesday I had my “booking-in” appointment with the midwife. This is essentially about filling out paperwork, going through medical history (which is interesting when you’re carrying wife eggs and anon. donor’s sperm) and doing some blood tests. We were really impressed with how well we were treated as a two mum family, the midwife was really cool but we’ll have to change anyway as we’ll be moving soon.
Thursday I booked an appointment with the GP to tell her about my scan results as the clinic advised me to have another scan 10-14 days later to see if baby has caught up and blood clots are disappearing. She gave me a referral to the Early Pregnancy Unit but can’t guarantee they’ll actually scan me as the treatment was private and this is not considered an emergency. As she says, if the baby’s not growing and the blood clots worsen, there’s not actually anything they can do. But, I’ll hope for the scan just for reassurance.
We already feel so proud of our Chicklet and just pray that s/he’ll stay strong in there!
We Love You Chicklets 
Don’t you hate it when they just give information without any real context or elaboration?
My scan also showed me 3 days younger than reality, but she said that’s within the error of the measurement. Their ultrasound is +/- 3 days. Every ultrasound measurement will have a degree of uncertainty, which is another thing they should have told you. Unless they were one of those naughty students who never wrote down their uncertainty, who would have drove me nuts in class constantly taking off points for their carelessness. Because those error bars matter, especially here when you don’t know if there’s a concern or not. So….I wouldn’t worry. The heartbeat is strong, and that’s the most important thing. 😉
And I was a little disappointed, yet also relieved to see only one baby on the scan. It would have been nice to have more than one, but two at once is a bit more challenge than I want.
We were actually really hoping for twins. We already know we want a big family so having twins would have speeded the process! But there’s no rush and we’re happy! As long as baby is healthy that’s all that matters!
Yeah. Totally get it. We’re going the foster to adopt route for the rest.
Thank you so much for this comment, I’m glad you made this point! No she didn’t say anything about the ultrasound error of measurement range, she told us very matter of factly that our baby is smaller than it should be! It’s not until we looked into ourselves that we realised it’s not so worrying!
Isn’t it lovely when the ‘experts’ are ignorant and don’t even realize their ignorance?
Wow, the video is exciting! I just read this article on how doctors make pregnancy so complicated now. Technology has made us worry about everything because we have so much information! I know waiting to hear how things are going is tough and I really hope everything continues on in a healthy way. Try not to worry too much!
Thank you 🙂 Indeed, too much information can be just as damaging as not enough! But we’re trying not to worry too much, we’re still very positive!
Beautiful heartbeat!! Congrats.
Thank you! I think it’s a good heartbeat!
Congratulations!
Thank you!
Hearing our little ones heartbeats was the most amazing sound I have ever heard! If i told you that i didnt cry like an idiot, i’d be lying!