Sprout is OK!

I hope by the title of this post you can see we had good news today at both doctor's appointments. I feel like this day has lasted an entire week, but I will try to break it down for you as best I can remember it.

I had an appointment this morning to get blood work done to test my hormone levels. We came home and waited about an hour and finally got a call from Dr. Ridens. My levels are still rising, but they aren't rising exponentially as we would expect. HOwever, just the tone of my doctor's voice made me feel so much relief. Before, she sounded very cautious about reassuring me, but today she said as long as the levels were rising, things were progressing forward and that's what she wanted to see. She bid me farewell until later in the day. She said I would have a "great afternoon" once I came in for the ultrasound, which made me feel all the more confident for good news!

So, I go back to school with this good news, praising the Lord with every step I take, literally! At school, I run to the bathroom, only to find I have spotted again. I am not devastated, but definitely not happy. So, I wait through another class period and then tell our secretary I am not returning after lunch and to please get me a sub. I came home, and crashed with the dogs on the couch.

3:30 we head over to the hospital. We only have to wait 20 minutes this time! After I get all set up and my doctor and the ultrasound tech both come in the room, they get to work. It takes LITERALLY a full minute, at least, but the tech finds the baby's heartbeat! Oh, what sweet JOY! Tears of relief roll down my cheeks. It was the most amazing sight I've ever seen! I have two heartbeats inside of me, mine and Sprout's! We could see Sprout had attached correctly, and that his or her heartbeat was beating 123 bpm! From his measurements, there are two possibilities; he is small or the original date of conception was off. We think the latter is more likely, and so my new due date is the 21st of October instead of the 14th!

Praise my loving heavenly Father for this miracle! Richard and I were talking about how we will never know what all God did so that we could see that heartbeat today and what he is doing right now to ensure Sprout is healthy and develops normally...oh, how unworthy we are of His majesty. I honestly don't know how people get through times in their lives such as these, without His Peace.

So, our news is good. If our news had not turned out well, would I still praise God's name for his work? Yes. Yes, I would. It would be hard, but I would do it, because this isn't the first time I have suffered, and I know it will not be the last. Through this suffering, I am becoming more like the Jesus I love so much and what an honor to have Him as a role model!

Also, I asked Dr. Ridens about what the hormone levels mean and why she thought they might be low. Her answer is what we have suspected all along...it's just ME! One thing I have learned well in the last 2 weeks ...no two pregnancies are alike and moreover, different women's pregnancies in many ways are more different than they are similar. I imagine I will continue to have routine blood work just to make sure things are still trucking along, at least in the first trimester. Dr. Ridens doesn't want me to worry about my hormones because things looked so good on the ultrasound today...music to my ears (and heart)!

Thank you to every one of you who has kept us in your prayers! We could feel them and they comforted us. We will still need lots of prayers as this baby continues to form and develop!

So, last but DEFINITELY not least...here's our little Sprout! The circle inside the bigger circle is the yolk sac (where he gets his nutrients right now) and the long vertical mass to the left of the yolk sac is Sprout!