Ultrasound

Fred and I had both taken off the day since my mom was here visiting. We decided that it would be good to have the first ultrasound that day so we could have proof to tell our parents over Christmas. So we lied to my mom and told her we were working.

The tech was really nice and chatty. I told her who I was and what I did. I was really, really nervous (is the embryo in the uterus, does it have a heartbeat, is it twins). I was a bit shaky. I held Fred’s hand really, really tightly. 
Midwife note: A pregnancy outside of the uterus is called ectopic pregnancy. This is most commonly found in the fallopian tube. It can be very dangerous if not diagnosed early.

First we saw the gestational sac. I said “thank god”. The we saw the embryo and then the heartbeat. She even played it a little for us. And just one embryo in there. Phew.
I watched pretty intently. I noticed I had an ovarian cyst and I said “is that a cyst?”. I was really chatty and kind of distracted her, I think. She actually forgot to get the heart rate reading and had to do it again. Luckily the uterus is tilted up and she could do this abdominally.
Midwife note: At early gestations, the ultrasound will likely need to be done transvaginally. This is because the uterus and embryo are still small and it is hard to visualize abdominally.

We asked her for the extra pictures and she happily printed them for us.
The ultrasound showed my EDD to be two days earlier than I calculated. I requested that the estimated due date reflect my measured results from ovulation tracking.  They did this for me and I was happy about that. Two extra days makes a difference!
Midwife note: A later EDD is usually preferred because of the common occurrence of going "late" or past your due date. A few extra days can make a difference at the late stages of pregnancy.

It was so great to see the heartbeat and just confirm. I have no idea how people wait until 12 weeks or don’t do scans at all. I definitely understand why someone would want to go for an early ultrasound!