As I say, the beauty of of being in the fertility program at Northwestern (or anywhere) is the constant early monitoring. Only nine days after our first u/s, we had an appointment for another. This is partly due to the size of the embryo on the last u/s, which was 6w6d, farther along that the calendar age. Based on getting that size on December 2, December 11 was approximately at eight weeks. Eight weeks is around when a “normal” first u/s might occur so it was a natural second u/s for us.

By the way, I’ve been using the word “fetus” when I meant “embryo.” Apparently, “fetus” is not the proper word until the 12 week mark.

This was again a significant day because we saw the STRONG, STEADY heartbeat of the baby! When I asked about the beats-per-minute, Dr. Barnes stated he doesn’t worry about measuring it when it’s clearly that strong. This satisfied me, although my guess is a lot of hospitals tell you this just like they tell you the size without asking.

I was much less nervous this time and it was wonderful to see Elizabeth’s face light up when she was shown the hearbeat. Dr. Barnes said he could also see movement too, although to my untrained eye it was hard to pick out. I’ll take his word for it.

At 1.87 centimeters, the ultrasound registered an age of 8 weeks, 3 days. Dr. Barnes calculated a due date of July 21, although this is a bit earlier than predictors based on the first day of last period. My feeling is it will be something in between.

Ultrasound 2, 12-11-08, 8w3d, 1.87 cm.

Ultrasound 2, 12-11-08, 8w3d, 1.87 cm.