Fab scan :)

Today was the big day for our (early) 12 week scan. The focus of my nerves in the last few weeks has been gradually changing. After the last scan, my thoughts turned to the screening tests and all my worry-energy went on those and the possible outcomes. But as the days have gone by and the scan date approached, that same old concern reared it's head again... 'please, please, let the baby have a heartbeat - let the little one be there and be growing'.  I think I've done pretty well keeping that worry in perspective - well, if refusing to read any potentially negative outcome posts on my usual birth club forum counts as keeping things in perspective. I guess my reasoning for that is that I know what can go wrong - at this point, I need to remember how likely it is that things will go right.

Anyway, today all did go right! Our little one has certainly grown in 3 weeks :) He/she was mostly lying on his back chilling out, but waved his arms and legs and wriggled around from side to side a bit. He* also seemed to have an attack of the hiccups at one point (might have to Google if that's possible...)! We could see fingers and toes and the baby's profile - both my Bloke and I have larger than average noses, so we had a bit of a laugh about the size of his already :)

He's measuring a couple of days ahead and had a heart rate of 171 bpm! Wow, that's fast! We got to hear the heartbeat briefly which made me cry again - there's something about that sound that makes it so real for me :)

The NT measurement came in low which was reassuring. We have to wait 2 weeks now for the blood results - after being told it would take 1 week, that's a bit annoying and means the results might not come back before my Bloke goes to the UK. But there's nothing we can do about that, so I'm trying to relax.

And that's the weird thing, isn't it? If all goes smoothly, we won't have another scan for 9 weeks... That's a long time with no 'evidence' that baby is doing well. I guess a growing belly and then feeling movement are the next signs - can't wait for those to appear!

*You may have noticed that baby is usually referred to as a boy. No real reason for this, other than the fact that my good friend predicted that our IVF would be successful and that we would have a boy back in the midst of my cycle. Actually, the ultrasound tech said she thought she could see something between the little one's legs today when I asked about gender, but I know it's too early to tell :)