I learned I had a deep pelvis when I was pregnant with Willem and went to get the 20 week ultrasound. The technician had a difficult time capturing him because he was tucked so entirely in my pelvis. With his pregnancy, my torso did not ever get to the tell-tale this-woman-is-ready-to-birth size. At 38 weeks (when Willem was born), many people thought I looked closer to 7- 7 1/2 months pregnant.
So being 10 weeks with another pregnancy, I'm not surprised that I can't feel the fundus of my uterus above my pelvic bone yet. Its not strange that I can't feel it yet, even though it should be more likely since my uterus has already expanded in size before. Yesterday was our first appointment with my midwife and we hoped that we would hear the heartbeat.
It would have been a very exciting and happy way to end a difficult week for both me and my husband. I have been making the final revisions to my thesis and my husband had taken the written portion of his qualifying exams to become a Ph.D. candidate (4 days of intense testing). So hearing our babies heartbeat would be a comforting way to end the week.
Not surprising, we didn't hear the heartbeat using a doppler. I chalk it up to the deep pelvis of mine and being at the early cut-off for hearing a baby's heartbeat using a doppler. I thought I could handle that slight disappointment without needing proof of pregnancy. At an OB's office, I could have been very tempted to agree to a transvaginal ultrasound so I'm glad that temptation was removed. Instead, I got a few laughs when I asked for a pregnancy test from the midwife, just to see some indication that I am still pregnant.
I'm still laughing at myself for that. But yes, indeed, two lines appeared. I still feel pregnant and at least my urine is indicating that I am.
My readers may remember posting about a dream where I miscarried this pregnancy at 11 weeks. I'm still not there yet and I'm trying to remain optimistic that the dream was a product of my fears and not preparation for reality.
By way of other updates, my due date club of friends is growing. A friend from high school whose little boy is a little bit younger than Willem called to tell me that she is also pregnant again. Another friend local to me is also expecting. I'm glad to have at least one local friend who we can share our pregnancies together.
3 comments:
Yes, I never looked super pregnant either.
Even with Doppler, 10 weeks is usually too early to hear anything. My fundus all of a sudden appeared last Sunday. I was absentmindedly poking around my abdomen and I was like, "hey! there's my uterus!"
That's what I had thought, but there had been a number of women in my due date club that had been able to, and my doula and midwife had been optimistic. We tried, it didn't work. And I knew that could be the case.
I hate to sound ignorant, but I have been furiously researching transvaginal ultrasounds after reading your blog. Other than my mother being skeptical when they first came out decades ago, I had never heard (or read) anything bad about them. I have found a midwife who only does 2 ultrasounds during pregnancy because I was concerned about unknown risks, but one of those u/s includes a transvaginal one that I already received at 9 weeks!!
I am 12 weeks now, and wondering why I am not showing. I Googled a large pelvis because my midwife had mentioned that at my last appointment, but now I am much more worried about this u/s I received.
IS there anything you can tell me that will inform me without totally freaking me out?
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