2nd Trimester

I am officially calling today the start of my 2nd trimester. 

Why?  Because I feel like it. 

There’s always the perennial debate around when is the exact start date of the 2nd trimester.  Is it based on the gestational date of 13 weeks, 13wk + 3 days, or 14 weeks or is based on the measurements of 13 weeks, 13 wk + 3 days, or 14 weeks.  Since I’m measuring 2 days ahead and hit 13 wk + 3 days today, I’ve decided that I’m in the 2nd trimester today.  Also, it’s a friday and I had enough stress today that I need to move to a new phase. 

Although deep in our minds, our true 2nd trimester date is in 1.5 weeks time, when we go for our second natal scan at 15 weeks.  We’re still very cautiously excited and still haven’t told many people – so far 3 people at work and 1 couple of our closest friends here.  The 2nd scan will give us more comfort to share the news — although it is becoming more and more challenging to hide the obvious bump + fat that I’m sporting these days.

So will the fear ever go away?  Probably not.  One of my close work friends shared that his wife miscarried at 5 months – out of the blue.  Not sure this is the type of news I like to hear but then it does give us a reality check. 

Now — out with the stress and in with some zen.

12 weeks update

How Far Along: 12 weeks (+ 2 days according to measurements) today!

How big is our little bean: size of a lemon

Total Weight Gain: 1 kg so far

Maternity Clothes: Loving my maternity pants.  I’m starting to feel limited on my tops since I need shirts that doesn’t need to be tucked in.  Of the few tops that I have, the tops are getting snug around my waist.  My boss, who knows about my pregnancy, told me 2 weeks ago that I’m showing.

Sleep: Still 8+ hours of sleep required every night.   I’m constantly feeling exhausted.  Finding it tougher to get comfortable at night and might have to order a body pillow — which is huge! 

Other Symptoms: Sore butt from the 2x weekly shots.  A bit more nausea this week (strange). 

Best Moment this Week: Our NT scan.  The little one was sleeping so no movement but everything looked good and the little one is 5.3cm long! 

Movement: Still too early

Food Cravings: nothing in particular but I’m always hungry now.  If I don’t eat, I feel nauseous.

What are You Looking Forward to this Week: The weekend.  I’m getting so tired at work I need the weekends to recover.  Every week that goes by means getting closer to the next scan.

OSCAR test – 12 weeks

We did our OSCAR yesterday. 

An OSCAR scan is a combined nuchal translucency scan (ultrasound scan) and blood test to test the risk of Down’s syndrome on the fetus.  The ultrasound measures the distance behind the fetus’ neck (the bigger the gap, the worse it is), length of the fetus, size of the head and abdomen, and the presence of the nasal bone (big nose is a good thing).  It’s a non-invasive test around 90% accurate when done during the right timeframe (somewhere around 11 to 13 weeks). 

We were referred to a specialist at an popular hospital here for the special scan.  The place was interesting, to say the least.  It felt like an airport lounge full of pregnant women!  Seriously, it was huge with corridors after corridors of waiting area. 

Anyhow, the doctor was really nice with an english accent.  With his super ultrasound machine, he took the measurements (so much clearer than Dr. N’s) and even complimented on our little gummy.  Our little gummy was laying on its back chilling in the perfect position.  It was probably taking a lunch time nap and it’s already taking after our love for sleeping. 

The dr measured the back of the neck (1.9mm which is borderline on the high side, they like to see the measurement well under 2.0mm) and he found the nasal bone, which funny enough was also around 1.9mm as well.  I think if anything, the little one is going to have a big nose.  He also measured the length from the crown to rump, 5.3cm, confirming that we are actually 12 weeks along (2 days earlier than we thought, 4 days earlier than what Dr. N indicated).  He then checked the size of the head, abdomen, and the liver.  Everything seemed ok but it was nice to see gummy although it would have been nicer if it was moving.  But it was ok and the heart was beating away at 169bpm.

After the scan, Dr. C put everything into a form and out came the results.  Based on my age, risk group, etc., the measurements showed my risk to be at 1 in 514.  For my age, the risk is around 1 in 350 or so.  He showed some charts comparing our measurements versus the average and the upper and lower bands, and for the most part we tracked the measurements other than the thicker nuchal folds (neck) – on the high side, and the lower abdomen size. 

The funny thing is that I joked that I was a year younger at the time of the IVF as the transfer happened after my birthday (we waited 2 months) so maybe my risk group is different.  As we were drawing my blood, the dr actually came by and shared that after discussion with Dr. N, indeed I should be placed at my younger age since it should be at the time of conception!  Talk about thorough!

And the final results: 1 in 1372 so I’m currently in the low risk group.  We’re repeating the test with another dr in 3 weeks time with a different philosophy and hopefully, will get the same results. 

Pics from the scan to come.

9 weeks 2 days update

We forgot one of my many medications from Tues and since DH was sick as a puppy, we made a trip to the hospital again on saturday to pick up the medicine and also to get DH to see a dr.  Of all things, he wasn’t getting any better and I was worried about getting sick. 

I briefly mentioned that I had some stretching pains on my lower left belly to the nurse at Dr. N’s  and the next thing I knew, I was in line waiting to get a quick scan. 

Just in case.  Umm — I really didn’t think the stretching pain was a big deal but ok, I guess. 

Well, the wait and the cost of the consult/scan was well worth it since everything looked good (phew!) and our gummy bear grew to 25.7mm — 1/3 more than just 4 days ago.  And the most amazing part was that our little gummy was moving!  It looked like it was playing the harmonica from the front and from the side, it looked like it was kicking its legs out.  It made everything look more real and it was amazing the differences 4 days make!

Also, the scan helped me mentally prepare for some bleeding that should come in a few days.  We saw that the 2nd sac (the empty one) being pushed out by the 1st sac and was likely to cause close to period like bleeding with some clots.  I can’t promise that I won’t freak out seeing blood again but at the same time, at least I’m aware that it can happen anytime. 

2 days on — still waiting for the bleeding.

In the meantime, the little gummy’s shot.

Side-way shot at 9week and 2 days

And my grand list of medications:  proluton shots 2x weekly (stopped pregnyl now — my butt is so happy), progynova 3x daily, utrogeston 3x daily, cyclogest 2x daily, gavastron advance, and folic acid.  From week 11.5 onwards, I will add calcium and iron supplements everyday.