9 weeks 3 days - Second Appointment

Today I had my second OB appointment. Need I say again how much I love Dr. DiPiazza. She is around my age, has two children of her own and can relate to how pregnancy totally consumes all of your thoughts and actions. She discussed genetic testing with me and gave me all the pros and cons that go along with the testing. I had already pretty much decided against it since, regardless of my findings, I would not terminate the pregnancy. She said it was really not a matter of terminating the pregnancy but having all the cards laid out on the table to know what I was dealing with upon the baby's arrival. She did say that if the tests came back positive, I would have to be willing to do amniocentesis and if I was not willing to do that, then no need to proceed with the testing. I told her I would discuss it further with Shane and if we decided to proceed, we would let her know. We did discuss it this evening and decided we would not have the testing.

Since I had bleeding before the last ultrasound, she suggested that I have another ultrasound today. Of course, I agreed. Any opportunity to see the baby and hear its heart beat is exciting and reassuring for me. This time seemed so much more enjoyable since I was not petrified of the findings. The baby is growing right on cue and we were able to see the buds that are its arms and legs. They yolk sac is now gone and we were able to see the umbilical cord. This time the heart rate was 162, which made me feel much better. The only negative to it all was that Shane was not there with me to see our baby because I told him that he did not need to go to the appointment with me since nothing exciting would be happening. I guess that was a lesson learned!

How our baby is growing:

The fetus is nearly an inch long, about the size of a grape, and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. She's starting to look more and more human. Her essential body parts are accounted for, though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. The heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do her tiny teeth. The embryonic "tail" is completely gone. The baby's organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. The external sex organs are there but won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks. Her eyes are fully formed, but her eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. She has tiny earlobes, and her mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The placenta is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of producing hormones.