On Monday, I went into Dr. Goncalves’ office expecting to see a baby on ultrasound. (Actually, with the abundance of early symptoms and my already-rounding tummy, I expected to see two babies on ultrasound!) Instead, the doctor found a sac that measured 5 weeks 2 days rather than the 6 weeks we estimated. Dr. G offered to schedule a better ultrasound at the hospital, but I declined. If the baby was OK, we’d see or hear it at the next appointment; if it wasn’t, there was nothing we could do anyway. I felt a little numb as I left the office.
Like any red-blooded worrywart mom who’s been offered an extra ultrasound, I naturally changed my mind within 5 minutes of leaving. I tried really hard to stick it out, but after a day and a half I caved. I called the doctor’s receptionist this morning to have her put in a requisition for an ultrasound and expected to have an appointment early next week.
Much to my surprise, the hospital ultrasound lab called me at 10:30, told me they had a cancellation and asked if I could come in at noon. I took the fastest shower humanly possible and we piled into the car and hightailed it to the hospital. But the news was the same. The sac measured 5 weeks 4 days and while a yolk sac was visible, a fetal pole wasn’t, nor was a heartbeat. Then again, a 5-week fetus isn’t as likely to have a heartbeat yet. So either I ovulated five days late, or the baby stopped growing five days ago. We’re hoping for the former and we’ll see on Feb. 27 at my next appointment.
It’s not the answer I was hoping to get, but it’s not the death knell, either. On my way out, another mom told me she had the same experience with her last pregnancy. A few months later, at her 18-week ultrasound, they found twins.