For the most part, this pregnancy have given me all of the typical symptoms...lack of energy, nausea, breast tenderness and hormonal craziness. Well yesterday we got to add a new one...scary spotting. I woke up in the morning, went to pee as usual, and found blood. Not tons, and not bright red, more like brownish, but enough, mixed with some mucous to scare me. Of course, yesterday was a holiday, which meant the nurse wasn't on duty at the doctor's office. I pulled out a couple of books, and when I saw that the spotting was the only symptom (no cramping, no fever, etc.), I took the advice of my books and laid down with my feet up, and with plans in full to call the doctor first thing in the morning. There were traces of old, brown blood nearly every time I went to the bathroom yesterday, but never so much that it was more than one or two little spots, and not so much that I needed a pad. I felt ok, just a little nervous, and figured I'd see what the next day brought.
This morning I wake up, go to the bathroom, and still a little bit of blood. 2 days of this immediately had me grabbing the phone - 1st to call work and let them know that I didn't know if I'd be in today. Then I decided to just go to the doctor's office to see if they had an opening. They didn't, but I talked to an AWESOME nurse named Mary who told me that things sounded ok - nothing to worry too much about, but that I still should go home, rest and she'd call me if the doctor thought I should do anything else.
About an hour after I got home, the phone rang. It was Mary, letting me know that the doctor wasn't overly concerned, but since I'm still so early into the pregnancy, decided I needed an ultrasound to just to be on the safe side. They had no openings at the office, so it was off to the hospital radiology department.
I get to the hospital shortly before 2:00, bladder full and just wanting to get on the table to check on things. Partly because I couldn't wait to pee, and also because I just wanted some reassurance. Ken, the u/s tech was very nice - gave me some idea of what I'm looking at ("that big spot there? that's your full bladder"). Then he found the uterus, and within a couple seconds, I realized I was looking at our baby. Shortly after finding the baby, Ken focused in some more, and I saw this one little spot, moving in a very distinct, beat like motion. The baby's heartbeat was going strong, 160 BPM. A tear or two slipped down my cheek, I was just so relieved to see that the baby looked good. I'm measuring at 11wks, 4 days. I was able to see the eyes, the mouth and the fingers. At one point, the baby was wiggling around and I could see it's arms moving around it. It was amazing. Absolutely amazing.
I should be ok to go back to work tomorrow, I just need to remind myself that I have to take it easy. I really pushed myself too hard getting ready for our party on Monday. It was a blast, but next time I'm taking the day off before having 30 people swing by for a BBQ!
So that's the latest from here...here's hoping for less scares over the next few months!
