The Result of the 6th and 7th Beta

We graduated from our clinic. Finally.

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On the 7th week of pregnancy my husband texted me, “I don’t think I can go to the clinic,” which set off a small fight. We were supposed to meet there. Eventually he changed his mind and said he would go.

This meant the appointment had to be bumped back by fifty minutes.

My expression he arrived may have been like this:

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“How kind of you to join.“

Once we saw our baby on the ultrasound monitor all my anger melted away. Who could stay angry seeing that on the screen? We were all smiles as we watched the baby’s heart beating strong. The doctor commented that it has a very beautiful shape and is growing perfect, hitting just a bit above all the predicted marks. It already looked like a very healthy child.

Then came the bad news: my cervix measured short. Very short. Under 2.5 cm.

It was closed, but he recommended a cerlage (the cervical stitch). A preventive cerlage, or shiroka in Japanese, can fix the problem in 90% of the cases, but it needs to be done between 10-14 weeks. After that it becomes an emergent cerlage which is far less effective (40%-60%).

Right now the cervix is completely closed with no signs of funneling. The baby isn’t heavy enough to put pressure on it… yet.

Since I’ll definitely have to go on bedrest I’m getting ready for the next few months. We’re going to empty the room that’ll be the baby room if we succeed (while I can still help).

I need to shop for maternity clothes in advance. We’re going to by a table I can use in bed and supportive pillow for me to rest in bed against while using my computer.

I’m also going to buy a microphone and clearer speakers for my computer because I’ll be teaching my private students by video chat after January AND because I’ll be taking Japanese classes online. I felt these would be productive ways to pass the time since I’ll mainly be on bedrest throughout the second trimester. I need better audio for that.

I intend to work on video editing for my You Tube channel which has been neglected since I found out about our November Surprise. By February I should be putting out more content with hopefully much better audio.

Back to the baby, the bad news gets worse. I now have a fibroid (or maybe an adenomyoma?) the size of a tennis ball in the lower right portion of my uterus. The doctor says it’s growth should taper off towards the end of the first trimester. We worry if it’ll interfere with the baby’s blood supply and great more pressure on the cervix. The baby implanted in the middle of my uterus and rests above the fibroma, not under it thankfully. I hope it’ll actually work to push the baby away from the cervix.

Because of the fibroma my pregnancy is already visible. I also had to pull out my old maternity pants. Goodbye my other jeans. Hopefully I’ll wear you again one day.

The Final BETA

On the eight week of pregnancy we returned for our final visit to the infertility clinic I’ve felt trapped in for over two years. This was our final visit. Before every visit I steeled myself for the worst.

This time they did a urine test as well as a blood test.

The baby was still going strong with a head now as big as the body. It’s brain is preparing to grow. It measured perfect and its heartbeat pounded strong.

The good news this time was my cervix was 3.5 cm (improvement!). The bad news was that my urine test was positive for a high number of proteins and cystitis (a mild infection of the bladder). They recommended I drink lots and lots of liquids. If it doesn’t improve I’ll need to go on antibiotics.

The doctor said it’ll looked strong enough that he didn’t think we needed a 9th week visit which, due to the clinic closing next week for winter vacation, would have to be a tenth week visit. He gave us our letter of recommendation for the OB, copies of our medical information, wished us well, and gave both of us a hardy handshake.

And that was it. We were free.

Now it’s onward to 2019 that could be quite a year for us. Here’s to a Happy New Year.