Shrink. Shrank. Shrunk.

The news was almost all good yesterday at my afternoon appointment. The hematoma has not only shrunk significantly, but it has moved down lower near the cervix which is a much safer place for the baby.

The sac and the fetus are both measuring on time at 10 weeks and everything looked really good. At the beginning of the scan, the little bean was pretty active, but toward the end he/she had calmed down quite a bit.

The nurse was satisfied enough with the results to start weening me off the PIO injections, but continue the suppositories. I will now only be taking the PIO every other day.

Last week at Melrose, I requested to have the full "fifth beta" draw, which was really more like my tenth beta. Apparently during the last draw, they need several more vials and to check many other levels other than just beta, estradiol and progesterone.

I received a phone call on Monday with the beta and other hormone levels, but they shared the rest of the results with me yesterday at the appointment. Apparently my TSH (thyroid) level was around 3.3 and they like to see it under 2. So now I guess I am having some thyroid issues.

My nurse didn't seem overly concerned about the thyroid, however, and prescribed a simple oral medication (Synthroid) to regulate the levels. She claims that it may cause me to sleep better, lose less hair, lose weight and improve my skin, so I must admit, I am pretty OK with this diagnosis...

Anyway, I am really excited to be somewhat back to normal. I am still not lifting anything heavy or overexerting myself, but I am no longer on complete bed rest. I am so ready to just be pregnant and start sharing the news instead of living in fear of the darn hematoma!

Double Digits!!

There was a time when it felt like this pregnancy was crawling by at a snail's pace. I worried about my betas doubling, I spent an evening in the ER for bleeding and anxiously spent time on bed rest with an SCH. In the past two weeks, however, I can't believe how quickly the time has flown by and let me tell you, the fast-moving pregnancy is much more enjoyable than the anxious and fearful slow-paced one.

Today is the 10 week mark and we are officially in double digits! In just a few short weeks, we will officially be in the second trimester. It's just so hard to believe.

Last Friday, I had another monitoring appointment to check on the SCH. Luckily, C was able to come and stand in the u/s room. I hadn't realized until we were there, but this was the very first time he was seeing the baby. He was only present for one u/s before and it was just for placement of the sac. At that point, there was no visible embryo and no heartbeat.

As soon as the technician was able to see the little bean, she showed us the heartbeat and its little arms, legs and head. Then, as usual, she made her measurements for several minutes. At the end of the u/s, she said that she would refocus on the baby to get some pictures for us and then we would be all set.

When she refocused on the baby, however, even she was visibly excited by what we saw. The baby was moving all over, waving its arms and legs and shaking its head! Though the technician had originally planned to just snap a few pictures for us to take home, we all ended up just excitedly watching the little jellybean dance around and put on quite a show. We joked that maybe it was the Cheerios I had eaten before the appointment or maybe the music in the car, but C had no doubt that this baby was a headbanger!

I am so excited, not only that C finally got to see the baby, but that it was so active during the appointment.

This afternoon, I have yet another appointment at Cooper to check up on the hematoma. I will be skipping out of work a little early and riding with my mom all the way to the NJ office, hopefully for the last time. They have completely cut out my Estrace to shrink the hematoma and they have discussed weening off the PIO and suppositories even though I am still on the full dose today.

I also have my first OB appointment on Monday at 10w4d. As much as I love my pregnancy nurses at Cooper, I am really hoping to be graduated from the RE by Monday.

Oh, and here is the ticker...

9 weeks!

Yesterday was the official nine week mark and a few things have changed since my last post. First of all, a lot more people know about our little bean!

Last Friday, I had lunch during our dyslexia conference with another teacher. Given the private and secluded nature of our lunch spot, we ended up discussing my health and my hematoma. This teacher can be very blunt and she ended up asking me, point blank, whether or not I was pregnant. I really didn't know how to respond other than telling the truth. She promised not to tell anyone else at work, so right now she and my boss are the only ones who know.

On Saturday, C and I invited some relatives over to watch the Rumble debate between Jon Stewart and Bill O'Reilly. We ordered the pay-per-view livestream of the event and hooked up the laptop to the TV. Before the Rumble, however, C and I made a PowerPoint, under much urging from my mom, to finally reveal the news to those relatives. We wrote a little poem expressing how excited we are about my cousin's upcoming wedding, then the last slide said, "Is there room for one more?" As my aunts and cousin pieced it together, there were literally tears in their eyes. It felt really good for my closest family to finally know.

I have been taking it easy at work, but I also have gained some confidence about what I can and cannot do. I haven't had any bleeding, spotting or pain, so I have been doing a little bit more walking around the room and standing.

The nausea was really under control earlier this week, perhaps because I started taking my PNVs at bedtime. I didn't think they were making me nauseous, but apparently they were somewhat. In the past few days, I have had a few waves of nausea, but nothing I couldn't deal with.

Today is yet another weekly monitoring appointment and it is at the Melrose Park office again. Luckily, this one is at 7pm and C did not work today, so he can take me. Last week, I went back to the Jersey office and saw the nurse I like much better. Even though the hematoma was the same size, she was much kinder, more reassuring and less doom-and-gloom than the MP nurse.

Regardless, I am really hoping that the hematoma has either gotten smaller or is the same. The more I research SCHs, the more common it seems and the less risky. I hate to get overconfident, but I really can deal with a little more of this bed rest/taking it easy thing. I just need for that hematoma to not get any bigger! Fingers crossed!