Good Cervix! Now Stay....

We went on Friday to the perinatal center at our hospital for our ultrasound and incompetent cervix test. (Can't study for this one, kids!) While monitoring through the fabu dildo cam, the doctor applied pressure to the fundus of my uterus. What they're looking for is the amniotic sac to balloon out into the internal os of the cervix (that's the part that's closest to the uterine cavity). Happily, my compliant little cervix toughed it out and stayed all tight and closed. Good for her! Now we need to go back every two weeks to check up on her and make sure she's doing her job, at least through the 26th week.

I'm 17 weeks today and felt the wee one for the first time. It felt a bit like gas, except that I know my intestines are not where my uterus is presently, so it must be the wee one. They also did a scan of said wee one, who looks great. Wee, and small, but not Mexican (reminiscent of a joke a heard once, I forget the comedian). The baby bee was fairly compliant, and revealed all to us...That's right... We have a BOY! Not that it mattered to us, we'd be just as excited if we were having a girl. We're just thrilled that we're even expecting a baby who won't have this stupid disease! Yay! So there you go. I suppose it's convenient that everything in the baby's room, which was once the guest room, is in shades of blues and greens. We had painted the walls a gorgeous pale blue in anticipation of actually having a child one day, as blue is relaxing and soothing. Girl or boy, they'd have blue walls. With white trim.

Everyone was happy to hear the news, although my mom was slightly disappointed because she bought a whole bunch of adorable little girl outfits on sale at Talbot's. She couldn't resist, and figures now she has gifts for baby girl shower presents. See? It all works out.

I showed my dad the ultrasound images, which actually gave him the icks. This is not surprising, since my dad has quite the weak stomach for all things medical. He can't even look at most of my work as he turns promptly green. He's still very happy for us.

My in-laws are just thrilled, and my father-n-law says that when our son is old enough to go trick or treating, he'll go along, dressed as whatever the baby bee is dressed as. He's a sweet man and will make a good grandpa.

Our trick-or-treaters are done here, which is good because we're down to our last three pieces of candy. Mmmmm...candy. Gotta run, I hear Reeses peanut butter cups calling my name... (or maybe that's just gas).

Newsflash! My Mother Appears to be Happy!

Mr. Right & I traveled to my mom's house the day after the previous ultrasound image was captured and presented her with a copy in an envelope. We took her and my aunt out to lunch to tell them the big news. Now, normally for some there might not be apprehension involved, but this is my mother, who is entirely dependent on other's emotions, specifically my brother's. If bro is in a bad mood or has had a bad day, so has mom. If he's doing okay, then so is my mom. But that co-dependent relationship is a whole other ball of wax.

I was planning on telling her one way, when Mr. R asked for the envelope (please). I handed it to him, which he then handed to my mom and said, "I think you're going to want to see what's in here." She opened the envelope, looked at the ultrasound, looked at us and said "Oh! Are you pregnant?" I said yes, and she practically cried she seemed so happy. So this was a good thing, because my brother had a bad morning and we weren't sure what kind of reaction we would get. We weren't expecting such a happy reaction, but we were rather relieved. She asked if my father knew, and I told her that yes, he knew, but we wanted to tell her in person. Aside from a tantrum from my brother, it was a fairly pleasant afternoon and little stress was experienced.

Sadly, my mother invited my (other) cousin A over the next day, when she proceeded to grill her for five minutes: "You knew, didn't you! You knew! while giving her the evil eye. My poor cousin kept asking what my mother was talking about, a little taken aback at the vehemence at mother's tone, until mom finally believed her, and then showed A my ultrasound picture. My cousin was thrilled for us and my mother finally apologized. She thought if my father knew, he must have told my aunt, who would have told A. The only thing my mother hates more than someone thinking ill of her is People Knowing Something She Doesn't, even though she keeps secrets just for the sake of keeping them.

So far she's been behaving, and has even sent a gift box of cute things she's bought for the baby. While she wouldn't help with the IVF costs, I sincerely appreciate her helping out for the baby. With my mom, I've learned not to expect anything, but I'll take whatever I can get.

For those cooters who have moved on, was sharing your news a universally happy announcement? Or were there some eggshells that needed soft treading? I'd love to hear of you're so inclined to share.

So I've Got That Going For Me, Which is Nice...

Forgive me for the lag between posts, but have no fear - all is well. Work has just been picking up, and when I'm about done for the day, I'm fairly famished and can think of nothing but food. Thank you for inquiring, but I'm okay, and so is our little baby bee. You all are wonderful (my few yet fabulous readers!)

We had an Ultrascreen, a screening test performed in the first trimester to test for the likelihood of Down Syndrome and two other Triploidys. They take a number of measurements from the ultrasound, then take some drops of blood and put them on a card. Apparently all went well. My risk factor went from that of a 22 year-old to a 20 year-old. Thank you, cousin A and your healthy eggs! So that was good. However, I did find out that I am at risk for developing an incompetent cervix.

Why, you ask? Well... Let me tell you! And this may be an eye opener for some of you. It was for me.
I had some cervical dysplasia found on a pap smear in 1999. After a colposcopy, I had a LEEP procedure to remove the offending cells. I asked my doctor prior to this procedure if it would interfere with my ability to carry a child, to which he replied, "Not at all." Okay...
Well, when I went on Friday, September 30th for the Ultrascreen, I was told by the very kind doctor in the Perinatal Center that they were going to keep an eye on my cervix. Due to my prior LEEP, I was at risk for developing an incompetent cervix. See, it turns out that surgical procedures involving the cervix will put you at risk for having an incompetent cervix. The tremendous upside to this is that since they will be monitoring my cervix (starting October 28th and every two weeks afterwards via our favorite dildo cam), they can put in a cerclage if there is a problem. That's right, they just sew the cervix shut until 2 weeks before the due date. It's amazing, because most women don't know they have an incompetent cervix until they miscarry. What an awful way to find out. Thankfully, this is at least something they can keep an eye on.

I know that many women are rather familiar with the transvaginal ultrasounds - oh, excuse me - dildo cam, having gone through numerous ART attempts. Some are bothered by it, some just ignore it. After five rounds of IVF, I feel neglected if I'm not offered one. Anyone else find that odd? What do you think about this particular mode of imaging?