That arrow was pointing the baby.  Now look to the left of the baby.  See that dark squash looking thing?  It actually went up and over the baby.  Pretty much surrounding the sac.  That’s called “fluid.”  It’s called fluid because, well, we’re not sure what kind of fluid it is.  The main thought is that it’s a clot like last time.  So, with that and a progesterone level, we were sent home for three weeks of “restricted activity.”  This time I was a bit more prepared.  Especially when I saw her doing the ultrasound and the big blob beside the baby.  I knew it shouldn’t be there.  Dr. J. even showed me how it went all the way around the sac.

My progesterone levels were taken that day too.  And they came back at 6.8.  That’s low folks.  That’s really low.  So, on progesterone supplements I go.  We’ve been this route before.

Fast forward to yesterday, and my now nine week appointment.  We praise God for seeing this:

Although it looks like a kidney bean with skinny legs, it’s a baby.  We also saw the baby kick his/her legs and when she went to him, and then back to him, he was in a different position so he/she is floating around nicely in there.

The fluid/clot…well, it’s still there too.  But a ton smaller.  Even the tech commented on how small it was.  I think she was a bit overjoyed to see that I was not having any problems either.  And I haven’t had a single problem…unless you count extreme hunger, extreme nasuea, and extreme exhaustion.

So, we were ready for questions for Dr. J when we sat down with him.  Why is this happening again?  Why the low progesterone?  Is there anything we can do about it?  What’s causing it?  Etc.   He was very good and patient answering the questions.  Here’s the answers:

Turns out it’s kind of just hit and miss about this happening.  It’s not because I’ve had a bunch of babies in a short amount of time or because I’m not eating right or any of that.  Mainly it boils down to two things…the blood vessels in that area are pretty  sensitive and if there was a bit of trauma to the area (a strain or something) then they could burst and cause a clot.  Also, it could be a clotting disorder…nothing serious…just something that could cause these hematomas.  Now, we could go through testing and pay a bunch of money to see if it’s the clotting disorder, but it still wouldn’t change the outcome.  It’d still be there and we’d still have to watch for a clot and if it was there then we’d still have to treat it the way we were, etc.  Mark and I agreed that testing just wasn’t really necessary.

The progesterone, turns out, can be low for two reasons.  The obvious one:  the baby is not healthy and will die in utero causing a miscarriage.  The placenta doesn’t kick in etc  In that instance, you could pump as much progesterone as you would like into someone and they would still not have a “successful” pregnancy.  We were in that boat with our second pregnancy and understand that plain as day.  Or two:  the clot can interfere with the levels causing the placenta and such to not be able to put out the progesterone needed for my body.  In which case, if you give progesterone supplements, it helps stabilize the pregnancy and keeps the clot from messing with the baby!

The second one, of course, makes the most sense since we’ve seen a healthy, right-on-schedule baby, and there was a big clot in the first ultrasound and a smaller one in the second and I’ve had zero problems.

It was nice to have those questions answered and to understand that there is nothing I could have or can really do to change what we have to do for this first trimester.

Dr. J is fully confident (and given my history, we are too) that after the first trimester, everything will stabilize and I’m back on track for a fun, healthy pregnancy…because having a baby in the spring is awesome!  Feeling good through holidays and not being hot and big!  I love it!

So, two more weeks of progesterone.  Three more weeks of “restricted activity” and we’re set!  I pray!

We’ve been blessed by people in our church and dear friends who have been providing meals, child watching services, and compaionship during these weeks.  It has been really nice to have some loads taken off of us.