Second Trimester!

Those are two words I wasn't sure I'd ever be writing in regard to myself. Yet, here we are.

I know some people count 12 weeks as the 2nd trimester, and others count 13. The peri counts it at 14, and for some reason I felt compelled to follow that - maybe because I wanted to be able to say it without any doubt about whether we really had reached the milestone.

To celebrate, R and I went out to dinner at my favorite Mexican restaurant.

The ultrasound was pretty uneventful. The techs aren't measuring the length every time anymore, just doing a really quick check of the heart rate. It was in the 150s today, which is where it's been for the last few weeks, so nothing new there. This time, Kiddo was facing in a way that was difficult to see much, so the tech couldn't get a shot that she felt was worthy of printing.

She casually mentioned that normally at this time, with most of their patients, they might not do another ultrasound for a month. I just laughed. Then she suggested that maybe I could try to stretch it out to two weeks.

I told her I could be okay with that as long as we could hear the heartbeat with a doppler at the appointment during the weeks that didn't include an ultrasound. She said we're just at the cusp of being able to hear the heartbeat that way and that she knew I'd freak out if they had problems finding it. So ultrasounds it is, at least for a few more weeks.

Given our rather tense conversation on Saturday, I thought it might be a kind of uncomfortable appointment with the peri, but she was actually very nice. She is trying hard to do anything she can think of to ease my fears (other than monitoring my progesterone levels). She mentioned the AFP (alpha fetal protein? - I haven't looked it up yet) test, which is a blood test that checks for spinal issues in the baby. It's supposed to be done between weeks 15-18, and she said "Why don't we just go ahead and do all of your tests at the beginning of the testing windows? The sooner you have results showing everything is okay, the better you'll feel." So we'll also be doing the big 18- to 20-week scan at 18 weeks.

She also said she has another patient (further along than me) who is from the same RE and has had a very similar history to me. She said she thought it might be helpful for me to talk with someone else who is now progressing after so many losses, so she offered to ask that patient if she'd be willing to call me. I said that was fine and gave her my cell number to pass along.

I also reminded her that it was another friend of mine who is also the RE's patient who referred me to her, and she said "Yeah, but that's not the same. Her history is different than yours, so for her, the pregnancy experience wasn't the same as it is for someone with your history." I'm glad she gets that, and understands that someone with as many losses as we've had is going to be so much more nervous than even the typical high-risk patient.

About the progesterone...I'll write more on that in the next couple of days. It's late, and I'm finding myself yawning and struggling to keep my eyes open as I type this post, so it would probably be a rather incoherent update. For now, suffice it to say that I'm still taking the suppositories...

I'm Making Progess, But Not *That* Much Progress

Unrelated to the topic of this particular post, I've noticed people writing on other blogs that they're also having the same problem commenting on blogs that I am experiencing. Today I was able to post comments on two Blogger blogs, so I thought everything was resolved, but then the next ones that I tried to comment on, no such luck. So if I haven't commented on your blog lately, please know that's why.

* * * * * On to the post...

An envelope arrived in the mail the other day. It was bright pink, and addressed to me in handwriting I didn't recognize, from an address I didn't recognize. I had no clue what was inside.

It's the baby shower invitation for one of my former co-workers, who also struggled with infertility but didn't pursue any treatments and had resigned herself to living childfree. She confided her pregnancy to me this summer, right before we left town to do our transfer.

I honestly can't remember the last time I received a baby shower invite. Some of our friends are single, some are older and finished the child-bearing phase of their lives a while back. Of those who have had kids in recent years, I think a lot of them just decided it was best not to send an invitation, especially our IF friends.

Opening the envelope and seeing that pink and brown bottle wasn't nearly as difficult as it would have been if I was not also pregnant.

I still don't think I'm going to go, though.

If I do, I will cry. I don't think I will be able to hold it together. I will stand there and look at all of that baby stuff and see the cute baby cake and (heaven forbid) have to play the guess-the-flavor-of-this-baby-food game, and the whole time I will be thinking "Will I really get to have this kind of a day someday soon, or is this going to end in disaster and heartbreak, too?" Like I said, tears. And that would be bad form for a party guest.

So I will have another co-worker help me shop - I still need moral support and hand-holding to walk into a store like that - and then I will make a plan to meet up with her and give her the gift before the shower. * * * * * In other pregnancy-related news, it seems morning sickness is kicking into gear more in the second trimester than the first. For the most part, it's been more low-grade. Then again, I'm wearing the acupuncture wrist bands I had R buy last month pretty much constantly, so I don't notice it too much unless I take them off for an extended period of time.

Last week, I did have my first-ever experience with tossing my cookies during pregnancy, but I'm not sure it was morning sickness so much as it was that I had gone too long without eating. It's been years since I've gotten sick in that way, and the next day, my upper abdominal muscles were sore from all the heaving involved, which just goes to show how truly out of shape I am.

And speaking of shape, I'm beginning to notice changes in mine. I think my tilted uterus may finally be all the way in the correct position, because things seem to be pushing up a bit - I now have a natural muffin top even when I'm not wearing anything. I've only gained a 3 or 4 pounds so far, so I don't think that's what's causing it.

But whatever the reason is, I'm fine with it. Excited about it, actually, because it means maybe things are still on track.

What To Do?

First of all - Libby, please know I'm thinking of you and hoping the transfer results in a positive outcome. I've tried to post a comment on your blog about a dozen times, but it just clears the comment without posting it after I submit it. Not sure what's wrong, because I've been able to comment on other blogs. For those of you who don't know Libby, please go wish her success with her recent transfer.

* * * * * I'm still unsure with regard to what to do about the progesterone situation.

The score: 4 doctors think my level is fine and doesn't require additional support, 1 suggests additional support for a week, and 1 potentially suggests additional support until 20 weeks. You would think that having 2/3rds of them solidly on one page would put my mind at ease, but no.

The 4 who think things are fine: Both of the perinatologists in the practice I go to, my RE, my RI.

The peri who isn't the one I see was the first to respond to my call over the weekend. She doesn't think I need additional progesterone support but said it would be fine for me to take 2 suppositories a day until Friday if it would make me feel better. My peri called about 5 minutes later. It was clear she was annoyed that I was calling her about something we've already discussed and was very blunt in saying she absolutely would not order progesterone for me nor would she order any tests to monitor my levels. (To her credit, she also did her very best to try to reassure me that everything looks perfect and that she doesn't see any reason for me to worry.)

I haven't had a chance to ask the nurse why my RE is fine with my level being below 20, because it came in a voicemail.

And really surprisingly, the RI's office says anything above 10 is fine at the end of the first trimester/start of the second, even though their website says immune patients should continue progesterone support until 16 weeks. 10? Seriously??

The 1 suggesting additional support for a week: The RE who was on-call for the clinic this weekend.

The surprise of this one is that the nurse had told me on Friday that there was no point in asking him what his recommendation was, because that particular RE requires all his patients to be off all progesterone support by 12 weeks, regardless of their levels, no exceptions. But then she decided to go ahead and ask him anyway on Saturday since my RE hadn't responded yet. And the one who never recommends supplementation past 12 weeks told her to have me continue taking a suppository until this Friday, which will be 14 weeks.

The 1 potentially suggesting additional support until 20 weeks: Another RI who I had consulted with last fall but decided not to work with because the additional treatment he recommends for some tough RPL cases is a drug I won't take. One of the risks of it is an increase in the likelihood of developing leukemia, and with my dad's and grandfather's history, I'm not going there.

But he has a forum on his website where you can post questions. And while he didn't directly answer my question about what he likes the level to be at the end of the first trimester or directly comment on my particular level, he did say that for women who have had low progesterone levels and a history of losses, he keeps them on supplementation until half way through.

If I was already his patient and he was already involved in managing some aspect of this pregnancy, I'd just go with his recommendation. But I'm not actually his patient (we only did a brief consult about a year ago), and I think it could potentially create an uncomfortable relationship with the peri if I bring in another doctor who will do what I want because she won't.

If she was an average ob at a typical practice, I would shrug off that concern and find another ob if need be. But this is a fantastic practice in every other respect - they get what we've been through, they let me come in as often as I need to put my mind at ease, and I know I will get really careful and frequent monitoring. (Most likely weekly until 32 or 36 weeks, then twice a week at that point.) My friend who recommended this peri can't say enough great things about her c-section experience.

I'm supposed to get my levels re-checked again on Friday, and I see the peri that day as well. I guess we'll see how it goes.

This Is Why I Don't Trust My Body

The ultrasound went well today. Test results, not so much.

Kiddo is still measuring on track - 6.7cm (about 2.5 inches) at 13w0d. I was thinking that measuring on track is a good indication of the health of the pregnancy, but the ultrasound tech dispelled that notion today. Apparently, because the size is so small at this point, the chance of being off on the measurement is too high to be a good indicator of the pregnancy's health.

She said they don't start to use measurements for that until about halfway through. Still, we've had consistent growth, and I'm hoping that's at least a good sign.

But test results are proving to be the bane of my existence.

We got the official results of the NK scan today. Risk of Down's is 1 in 6,600, and risk of Trisomy 13/18 is 1 in 6,800, so both of those are very good. We saw the nurse practitioner today, and she went over that table of results with us.

I didn't look at the results of the 3 individual tests that make up the results until we were in the car. The NT itself was 1.3, which we already knew was normal, and it was in the 50th percentile for results. PAPP-A was 0.90 mlU/ml and was in the 60th percentile.

Then there was the free beta HCG, which was 20.88 ng/ml, in the 5th percentile.

I know beta levels drop as the second trimester approaches, and free beta is much lower than the quant beta measured at the beginning of pregnancy. The one reference I was able to find for the difference between the two said that the free beta is generally about 1/2 of 1% of the quant beta, which would put my quant somewhere around 4,000.

The 4,000 is pretty low for this point, but I've been focusing more on the free beta results. From what I have found online (I know, shame on me for Googling), free beta results that are in the 5th percentile or lower on the NT screening have 2-3 times the risk for delivery before 37 weeks and the baby being in less than the 10th percentile for growth, and about 5 times the risk of fetal loss before 24 weeks.

So, I don't see myself relaxing much before 30 weeks.

Then after that, I got this morning's progesterone results. I'd been off of everything for 2 days. It was 17.45.

It was the optimistic nurse who called, and even she seemed rather concerned. I asked her if this happens often, and she said pretty much everyone is off of everything by 12 weeks and has a level above 20 at that point. I'm a week further along, and still not there.

She is checking with RE to see what he recommends. I may not hear back until Monday, but she explained that either way, it would just be a recommendation. Since I'm at 13 weeks, they won't continue my care, so the peri would have to be the one to prescribe it if he recommends I stay on it. She also wouldn't tell me what I should do over the weekend, but she asked me what I thought I might do, and I told her I was going to immediately restart the suppositories.

I was going to wait until Monday to call the peri, but my friend who referred me to her said to just call the peri now rather than stress all weekend, so I'm going to call her tomorrow morning. I'm going to insist on continuing the progesterone and regularly checking the levels for the duration of the pregnancy. We've approached our whole infertility experience - and this cycle in particular - with a "no regrets" attitude. I realize progesterone won't stop something bad from happening if there's something else that is a problem, but if something does go wrong and I'm not on it/don't have good levels, I know with 100% certainty that I would always have regrets about that. If she isn't willing to prescribe it, I think the RI would, so I'll go that route if need be.

From everything I've read and been told, there's no risk or adverse outcome associated with being on it in the 2nd and 3rd trimesters, Given that, it doesn' t make sense to me to not treat it and have me worry about it the whole way through. And let's face it, I would worry, big time.

No Ultrasound Today

I decided to be brave and canceled today's appointment.

So far, I haven't been too freaked out. I felt lots of round ligament pains yesterday, which always makes me feel better. I told R that Kiddo must be going through a growth spurt. I've had hardly any today, but they seem to occur a lot one day, then ease up for the next few days, so I'm not panicked about it.

Also, I'm still having the fatigue. I slept 9-10 hours both days over the weekend, and I still needed two naps on Saturday and one on Sunday. I know the fatigue is supposed to ease up around this time, but I'll be fine with it if it sticks around.

The last PIO shot was on Sunday. My backside is rejoicing. Tomorrow is the next blood test to check the levels - hopefully it will be good news. My chest seems less sore, but it's grown about an inch during the last three or four days according to the tape measure, so hopefully that's another good sign.

66 hours to go until the next ultrasound. Not that I'm counting or anything...

More on the NT Scan

Of all the things I've been freaked out about so far with this pregnancy, ironically the NT scan wasn't one of them. I think it's probably because we had already done chromosomal testing on the embryos, so we know the chances of Kiddo being normal (in that respect, anyway) are 90%.

Both of the things that the tech looks for during the scan - the nasal bone and the nuchal fold thickness - looked good. The bone was visible, which is a good sign. And the fold measured 1.3 at 12 weeks; anything below 2.18 is normal at that point based on what I could find online. Both the tech and the peri said everything is looking exactly as they would expect it to look at this point.

Blood was drawn for the other part of the screening, and we should get those results back in a couple of weeks.

The rest of the appointment went fine, too. Not surprisingly, the peri isn't concerned about my progesterone level - she never measures it in her patients, so she said to just do whatever RE recommends. The current plan is for tonight to be the last PIO injection, continue the endometrin once a day, and recheck levels again on Wednesday.

I told R that I will see how I feel tomorrow, and if I think I can make it until Friday's appointment, I will cancel the Tuesday appointment. I know at some point I have to stop going twice a week...

On an unrelated note, to answer Libby's question on my last post: we downloaded I.Q.. It's a romantic comedy from the early 1990s, starring Meg Ryan and Tim Robbins. I'm very basic when it comes to movies - I like romantic comedies, or, occasionally, a regular comedy, and it better not have a sad ending. (I don't care if the ending is predictable, I just want to be entertained for a couple of hours, and I certainly don't want to wind up depressed at the end of it...)

We hadn't seen this particular movie before, and it was cute, at least the part of it that I saw. Meg Ryan was her perky romantic-comedy self, so however you felt about her in You've Got Mail, you'd probably feel the same in this movie. I fell asleep halfway through, not because it was boring, but because the fatigue that eased up for a few weeks has returned again. But R watched the whole thing, and he said it was my kind of movie. That's about as much of an endorsement that can be expected from a guy forced to sit through a chick flick...

12 Weeks: NT Scan

More to come tomorrow, because I've promised R that I will watch a movie with him and not spend the evening on the computer, but just a quick note to say there's still a heartbeat, and the scan went well.

Kiddo was sleeping, so it took a really long time to get the correct positioning for the scan, but we certainly didn't mind all the time we got to spend watching him/her.

And my progesterone went up ever so slightly, to 21.6. Who knows, it could just be a time-of-day fluctuation and still virtually identical to Wednesday's levels. But for the moment, I'm enjoying the fact that the scan went well and not freaking out about the progesterone.

Weaning: Progesterone Dropped Like a Rock

My next post was going to be about how I am enjoying this pregnancy (a lot, honestly, I promise!) despite my worries. But then I got the call from RE's office about the latest P4/E2 results, so enjoyment is once again taking a back seat to concern.

The weaning had been going well. For some reason, I haven't ever been nervous about the E2, only the P4. They've been weaning me very slowly. I was on 3 progesterone suppositories per day and 1cc of PIO per day. We started by going to 2 suppositories a day, still doing the 1cc every day. Tested a few days later, P4 was at 35. Then went to 2 supps and 1/2 cc every day. After a few days, P4 was at 39. I was excited - I thought this meant my placenta was taking over.

Then we dropped down to 1 supp a day and 1/2 cc every day. P4 went back to 35, but the nurse assured me that it fluctuates, so I still didn't worry about it. (That was Friday.) Then we went to 1 supp a day and 1/2 cc every other day.

Today's test result showed P4 at 19.7.

The nurse said RE wants to see it above 20, but from what I'm reading online, the typical P4 level at 12 weeks (today is 11w5d) is around 33. And my P4 would be even lower than 19.7 if I wasn't on the supp and 1/2 cc.

For some reason, I've just always been nervous about my body's ability to produce an adequate amount of progesterone without supplementation, so I asked the peri about it during our first appointment. I've read a lot of information online about supplementation during the 2nd and 3rd trimesters being necessary for some women and that it's totally safe. However, it also sounds like there are a lot of OBs/peri's who don't believe in it.

I think my peri falls into the second camp - she basically said she doesn't use it after the first trimester and that if the placenta isn't producing an adequate amount, that's a sign of a bigger problem with the placenta that would likely jeopardize the pregnancy. But it seems like there are a lot of women out there who had second trimester losses, and then when they were on progesterone in subsequent pregnancies (including during the second and third trimester), they went on to have healthy babies. So obviously their placenta didn't completely fail them...

The plan is to continue with the 1 supp and 1/2 cc every other day for now, and then re-test P4 on Friday to see if it's increasing. If not, I'm going to insist on going back up to a higher dosage. I asked the nurse what happens if it stays low, and she said she'd have to talk with RE.

On the other hand, it seems my E2 is perfectly fine. I'm down to 2 patches every other day and no estrace at all, and my level was just under 1,200 today. The nurse said that level was totally normal, and it's up slightly from just under 1,100 when I first started weaning. I couldn't find much info online regarding what normal E2 levels should be at this point, but the couple of charts I did see seemed to indicate it should be closer to 2,000 at 12 weeks. So not sure what to think on that one either.

To top it all off, yesterday on and off and for most of today, I've had a resting heart rate of 100-120 bpm (tachycardia). It finally seems to be easing up this evening. I'm not sure it's pregnancy-related, though. That used to happen a lot when I was in a hyperthyroid state before my thyroidectomy, so I have assumed it was thyroid-related, especially because it didn't happen for quite a while after the surgery.

But then it started happening again last summer and really started to become annoying last fall, so I assumed my thyroid meds were too high and asked my family doc to lower my dosages. If you recall some of my posts from spring, that didn't work out well - I wound up in acute kidney failure (resolved by increasing my dosages back to what they were), and the tachycardia went away on its own.

Peri just checked my thyroid levels last week and free T3 and T4 were a little lower than mine normally are (but still within the normal range) and T4 was up to 4.45 (it had been 1.something a couple weeks before transfer), so she's increasing my Syn.throid from 125 to 138, but I haven't started the 138 yet.

It looks like we'll have lots to discuss during my appointment on Friday...

Trying to Reason With Worry

Once again, I was totally nervous about today's ultrasound. And once again, everything was fine. Kiddo is still in there, heart is still beating, body is still growing. Or at least, it looks like it to me - since these are just reassurance ultrasounds, the tech didn't measure length the last couple of times.

I had no real reason to think things wouldn't be fine. I'd had low-grade nausea for a couple days, and I still felt the round ligament pains, although not as much the last couple of days.

And still, I get really stressed beforehand each time.

R tried to reassure me. In the past, when he's said "It will be fine", I've told him not to say that for fear of jinxing it. This time, I didn't scold him, I just let it go. I guess that's progress, at least.

But I still can't let go of the tissue box. When we had the first ultrasound last month, when I climbed up onto the table, I had R hand me the tissue box that was sitting on the counter. I wanted easy access to it in case it was bad news, plus it gave me something to hold and focus on. I still make him give it to me every single time.

I tried reasoning with myself this afternoon, after the appointment. Realistically, I'm doing everything I can do to encourage this pregnancy to continue. If something's going to happen despite that, then it's going to happen. If I spend all this time worrying and everything turns out fine in the end, I will have tarnished an incredible experience with worry. And if I spend all this time worrying and it ends badly, all that worrying wouldn't reduce the grief. So I'm trying to let the worry go. Not necessarily very successfully, but I'm hoping I'll get better at it with practice.

Whatever will be, will be. Maybe I should tattoo that on my forehead.

Pictures

Here they are, pictures as promised.

The first one is the most clear one from Friday's ultrasound. The head is on the right side, and the white triangle is the nose. I think the ultrasound tech said the straight right line below that is the upper mandible, and the white area below that is the jaw. The left foot is on the far left side of the image, and the right foot is the light white blob above the short bright white line. I'm not sure what that white line is or what the bright white line running along the bottom is - maybe the spine?

This next photo is not the most attractive, so I can't quite believe I'm sharing it with you. But it is what it is. At least I don't have to show my face... :-)

And let me just say, not all of that bump is baby, not by a long shot. Even when I weigh 40 pounds less than I do now, with a BMI that is in the "Healthy" range (i.e. below 25), if I were to wear something form-fitting, I'd still have the kind of stomach that makes people look and think "Hmm, is she or isn't she?" About 90% of my body fat tends to congregate in my belly, something that no amount of sit-ups or cardio seems to be able to change.

From yesterday (11w1d):

Nose!

There's a nose! I'm almost as excited about the nose as I was the toes.

It's late, so I'll leave it at that for now and post more this weekend, maybe even an ultrasound pic and the first belly shot, if I get myself organized enough to scan in the first and take the second.

I should have posted sooner, so I'm sorry if I worried anyone. Our appointment was toward the end of the day, and when we got home I took a long nap and then did something I haven't done in a couple months - cooked dinner.

My Body Is...Functioning??

RE's office began weaning me off the meds last week, and we made the second change to the dosages over the weekend. I had blood drawn on Friday and again today. And even though we cut the PIO down to 1/2 a cc per day from 1 per day, my progesterone level rose a few points.

I've been worried that my placenta wouldn't kick in, but apparently, my body is functioning. Correctly.

I honestly don't know how to wrap my head around that. I've had, literally, 8 1/2 years of bad news about how my body doesn't function like it's supposed to, many of the malfunctions being fertility-related, others not. So this is new.

I think the best way to explain how I feel is to say "Hopeful, but not yet trusting." The analogy that keeps coming to mind is having a relative who has an addiction and decides to check himself into rehab. You're hopeful, because he's taking a positive step in the right direction, but that doesn't mean that the day he walks out of there, you're going to be 100% trusting that he'll stay on the wagon permanently without the wheels falling off at some point. Building trust takes time.

On the bright side, the ultrasound tech said that today I looked more calm than I have in the past. Apparently I've had a pretty wide-eyed, freaked out look up to this point. (Big surprise, I know!)

And I was feeling pretty calm, until we were on the way over there and I realized it's 10w4d, and the only other ultrasound we've had during the 10th week was the one at 10w2d when we found out that Baby #5's heart had stopped.

I had a few moments of panic where I thought maybe we should just skip the mid-week ultrasound this week - somehow 11w0d (Friday) sounded safer to me. (I didn't say logical, just safer...) But I kept those thoughts to myself and let R drive on.

This time, the tech was able to see Kiddo well enough through an abdominal ultrasound that she didn't need to follow it up with the transvag approach. Heart still beating, still in the 160's, legs and arms had grown and were waving around a lot.

Kiddo is measuring 2 days ahead of schedule. I just wish I could call my dad and tell him that. Today is the 4-month anniversary of his passing.

Venturing Out

We didn't wind up going to the movies this weekend, mostly because the two movies I was most interested in are no longer in the theaters. But I did have R take me out to run a few errands.

I think I overdid it a little bit, but everything still seems to be fine. I got out of breath walking from a parking lot to the back of a store, and then when we got to the grocery store, I had to sit at a table by the coffee kiosk, because I knew there was no way I was going to be able to make it around the store.

I'm glad we're doing the twice-a-week appointments, because I seem to hit a point of concern around mid-day on Mondays. Today, I was concerned because I hadn't been feeling any stretchy/pulling feelings, which I've had pretty much every day. But thankfully, they're back again this evening.

They've been feeling a little different the last couple of days - somewhat higher up than the groin area, and more sharp/pinchy than achey. So of course that makes me nervous, too. :-) But I've been telling myself that it's probably because my uterus is moving into a different position and it's (hopefully) starting to rise up a bit. Plus, this is a couple weeks further than it's ever stretched before, so the change to sharp/pinchy makes sense.

I'm curious what all of you think about renting a doppler? I would have expected myself to already have ordered one, but I haven't. I think I'm worried about how I would react if I couldn't find the heartbeat. R thinks it will just cause me extra worry and stress.

And one last question. I just switched over to the new Blogger interface before the last post, and even though I'm still entering two returns after the end of each paragraph, now I'm having to put in line break tags to prevent the posts from being one giant paragraph. I never had to do that with the old interface. Am I doing something wrong, or are any of you having the same issue?

Double Digits

I'm beginning to feel like a broken record, but in a good way.

There's still a heartbeat. It was down to 167 or 168 today (from 182 a week ago), but I know it usually peaks at about 9 weeks and then starts to slow back down again, so I'm trying not to worry. Both the u/s tech and the peri said it was fine.

We are finally into the double digits! Kiddo measured at 10w1d today, so 1 day ahead of schedule and almost exactly 1.5 inches in length. My retroverted uterus has also started to move into the correct position, although the tech guessed it'll probably take another couple weeks to get completely straightened out.

Today, Kiddo was on his/her stomach, the head slightly lower than the body. We could see an arm waving and the body moving a lot, but we couldn't really see the legs/feet today. No toe viewings. :- (

Since I haven't had any bleeding in 15 days, the peri said I can start to do light activity around the house. No exericsing, no heavy housework (ha! Even when I'm not pregnant, heavy housework is not likely to happen), no returning to work yet. She said we can discuss returning to the office during next Friday's appointment, depending on how the week goes. I did get permission to go to a movie, though, so I'm looking forward to an out-of-the-house adventure that does not involve lab work or an ultrasound wand...

The Tuesday ultrasound really helped with the stress factor - I was more calm going into this ultrasound than any of the prior ones. Of course, the fact that I had to go to the bathroom about 15 times yesterday (literally) and felt nauseous this morning also helped, too.

But I'm still only scheduling appointments one week at a time. I'm happy, I'm thankful, but I'm still taking this in very small increments.