Six Week Ultrasound!

"With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."  Matthew 19:26

Well, we got very good news at the ultrasound: we have a perfect, little bean growing.  We were all nervous, but I think we all knew that there would be one little guy in there with all the nausea Jenn's been having and all the positive pregnancy tests! The doctor didn't know these things, and all he had was our three low betas (9.8, 26.9, and 84.6).  He slipped the words "I'm shocked" (Jenn and Marc heard it!) when he found the baby on the ultrasound, and it did take him awhile to find it!  Here is our little bean:

It measures 5 weeks 6 days, give or take a couple of days, so it has caught up and is right on the mark as far as development.  Dr. Hickman measured the fetal pole (which really just shows it has a head and a tail).  The darker spot above the "bean" is the yolk sac.

So I needed more information about what the low beta numbers meant: did the blast attach late, did it attach on time and just develop slowly?  He said it attached when it should have, but didn't start making the placental cells as rapidly as others do, and there really wasn't an answer to why.  I asked him what the statistics were as far as such a slow-starter developing into a full-term baby... are we talking 1 in 10, 1 in 100?  He said that if this becomes a full-term pregnancy, we would be the first in HIVF history starting with a beta under 10 (he's had one survive at a beta of 10).  That is 1 in 24,000!  This is the information I felt was completely overwhelming!!!  If things go well with this baby, if we make it, this would truly be a miracle baby!!

Jenn had bloodwork done, everything looks good, and HcG is very good at 2,493!

As far as baby's development goes: Wow!  A lot has been happening in the weeks between three and four; some would say the most in the baby's entire development!  Now it is the size of a sweet pea.

It has developed leg buds and arm buds, a lower and upper jaw, and eye spot, nose spots, and a heart bulge.  It has a very primitive circulatory system and blood is pumping!  It still has a yolk sac that it is dependent on for nutrients, as the umbilical cord is not yet complete.

Here is a closer look:

Much cuter than last week!!

A friend shared with me this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fKyljukBE70

This is the most realistic depiction I have seen!

Here is a screen shot of a 32-day baby, three days away from today:

It looks like an alien, and not nearly as cute as the cartoonish pic above.  The two circles just below the headlike structure is the heart developing, and you can really see the upper and lower jaws.