Heartbeat!

We have a heartbeat! I went in this morning - jury duty ended earlier than planned - and saw my little baby’s heartbeat. I’m at 6 weeks, 3 days today, and the embryo measured right on target, and the heartbeat was 121 beats per minute, which is on target based on how far along I am. The blood work looked good too – the progesterone in oil increased my progesterone to over 20, so that’s good.

That was the good news – here is the bad: I have a subchorionic hematoma. Right alongside the gestational sac is this long black area, and the nurse said that is blood. She said it is very common, especially in IVF patients, and it may cause some spotting, but shouldn’t cause any problems. I looked online, and saw that it increases miscarriage rate by up to 5%. The nurse said I’m supposed to stay off my feet as much as possible, other than working, don’t exercise, no sex (although I’m still on the pelvic rest from the IVF procedure), drink lots of fluids, and perhaps expect spotting. Sometimes it resolves on its own, and sometimes it doesn’t.

I’m trying to not be too concerned, as I have heard of this happening in the blog world, but what does it mean? Am I going to be on these restrictions for a long time, like the whole pregnancy? I’ve been taking Lovenox for the MTHFR, and I noticed that sometimes doctors prescribe Lovenox to break up the clot of the hematoma, but I’m already taking it. I need to spend some time Googling to try to understand it a little, but again, I’m trying to not freak out too much, so I’ve generally been trying to stay away from the internet.

Yet another thing to worry about – I have a feeling this pregnancy will not be easy. But as long as I get to the end of it with a healthy baby, I can live through hell for the next 7 ½ months. We met a big milestone today – a heartbeat. I have another ultrasound next Thursday, so hopefully that one will go well too. The next few weeks are going to be hard. I feel like I’m on a familiar path – made it through the heartbeat, now I wait for the next step. Last pregnancy, the heart stopped beating at around 8 weeks, and I had an ultrasound at 8 ½ weeks when we discovered it. I keep telling myself that this is a different pregnancy, and it doesn’t have to be the same result. I’m taking aspirin, Folgard and Lovenox that I didn’t have before. This is a new pregnancy, and I really hope I get a baby out of it. I also hope this hematoma thing doesn’t turn into anything big. I guess I’m just hoping – a lot!