Still growing

I had my 8w3d check-in last week.  Baby is still good—growing on target.  (20mm.*)  Although it’s early, her little head looks round.  (Fingers crossed.)  The gestational sac is also measuring well.  (29mm.)  That damn yolk sac continues to be a source of stress.  Only 2.7mm.  It should be growing at about 1mm a day and be at 4mm by now.  BUT at least it’s not shrinking!  So that’s good.  And it’s above that 2mm “danger zone” I wrote about the other day.  (I did not write down my measurements at the appointment, so I had to call back later and ask.  The nurse was like, “I know who you are.  If I give these to you, are you going to get on the internet and freak out?”  What, me, worry?)

The yolk sac starts to shrink rather quickly starting at around the end of the 10^th week, so let’s hope it can hold on until it’s no longer needed….  And that she can keep growing in the meantime!  I’ve read anecdotally that some women drink a lot of water in an attempt to increase the size of their yolk sac.  (No harm in trying, she thought, as she took a pee break for the third time that morning….)

Here are the stats from that article I discussed the other day for a woman at 8w3d (or 59 gestation days)http://www.fetalmedicine.com/synced/fmf/2010_27.pdf:

Gestation days	Crown to rump length, mm			Embryonic heart rate, bpm			Gestational sac diameter, mm			Yolk sac diameter, mm
	50th	5th	95th	50th	5th	95th	50th	5th	95th	50th	5th	95th
59	18.1	14.2	22.5	167	148	188	31.3	23.4	40.4	4.5	3.5	5.5

Right in the middle for crown to rump length and gestational sac diameter.  (Pregnancy—the one time it feels the best just to be average!)  Still struggling on that puny yolk sac.

The hematoma is still there but “drying out.”  It’s about 2cm x 2cm, so not too big.  There was also possibly another one, not connected to the first one, longer and thinner.  But they were not 100% sure.  As my placenta grows we do not want any hematomas getting any bigger, so I’m still on super reduced activity.  Work is okay but no exercise, sex, lifting things, doing chores or errands, etc.  Just sitting and walking super slowly and lightly.  (My doctor literally demonstrated how I should be walking.  “Like this,” he said, walking like he had a book on his head.)

During the ultrasound, the tech and doctor commented that my uterus is “very vascular.”  (That is, there are a lot of blood vessels in there.)  Note that the pregnant uterus is already very vascular, so it’s a little unnerving to be at the top of an already large heap.  Of course I was not surprised; they told me the same thing when I was pregnant with my son. 

I found out the other day that a good friend is also 8 weeks pregnant.  She also had bleeding at 5 weeks and went in for a transvaginal ultrasound.  She was freaking out that it might’ve harmed the pregnancy.  I was like, dude, I get one every week.  It better not be a problem!  (Then I started Googling risks from transvaginal ultrasounds….  I stopped pretty quickly because (a) it looks like the answer is no risk, and I know my clinic would hesitate to use them if there were, (b) how could it be any worse than sex?, and (c) not much I’m going to do about it now!)