Week 6

Well, my sixth week was one I'd rather forget! On March 24th (Thursday night), Jason and I had been out to dinner with a friend in the city, and as I was getting ready for bed that night, I noticed a little red spotting when I went to the bathroom. I was pretty alarmed, but it seemed to go away as quickly as it came, so that was encouraging. I called the doctor's office in the morning, and the nurse told me to see if I could get in for my 1st ultrasound that day (it was originally scheduled for the following Friday). I got an appointment, and Jason and I went in and saw our little Baby Batts for the first time. It was so early that it was hard to make out much of anything, but we did see the sac and little blob (for lack of a better word) that was the beginning of Baby Batts. The technician pointed out a little fluttering movement which was the start of little Batts' heartbeat, but it was too early to actually measure. Still, we were relieved that everything looked to be on track and normal. The rest of Friday was uneventful, but Saturday morning I woke up to a significant amount of blood in the toilet...now I was definitely alarmed (OK, borderline hysterical) as I felt certain that something was not right. I called the doctor on call, and she was sorry to inform us that it sounded like it could well be the start of a miscarriage, but that we would basically just have to wait to see what happened next, and come in Monday to confirm one way or the other. We were scared, devastated, and everything in between, and I spent most of the day in bed. While the blood continued, it did seem to be lightening up and was never as heavy as the first episode. Sunday was more of the same...worry, fear...but maybe a little bit of hope, as the bleeding didn't seem to be as scary or intense as the stories of miscarriage I read, and it did seem to be at least slowing down, if not stopping completely. I never had any cramps, and all of my other pregnancy symptoms were still there. The waiting and not knowing was torture. I called the doctor on Monday and made an appointment for that afternoon (ugh...the earliest they could get us in was 3:00!). We went in and told the doctor the whole story again (the same doctor I had spoken to on the phone). She said she couldn't know for sure until we did the blood tests and another ultrasound, but from the story, she was pretty sure it had been a miscarriage. They took some blood and tried to get us in for an ultrasound, but no one could take us that day. At this point, I was crying again, feeling that my shred of hope had been squashed. Jason was scheduled to leave town the next morning for a big business meeting in Atlanta (actually he was supposed to go on Monday and had already cancelled his first flight)...which meant he wouldn't be able to be with me for the ultrasound the next day. We were trying to figure out what to do...and because we felt we just couldn't wait any longer, we decided to go to the emergency room. After waiting for a while, more blood tests, etc...we were finally taken to radiology. A young student was performing my ultrasound. She wasn't saying anything at first, and so I asked if she could see anything. She said, "yes"...I asked if there was anything there, and she said "yes, I can see the fetal heartbeat"!! The regular technician came back in the room and confirmed that everything looked good (after congratulating the student for finding the heartbeat), and then turned up the sound so that I could hear the heart beating. It was probably one of the most overwhelming, emotional moments I can remember. To hear that whirring, little heartbeat inside me after being convinced that our baby was gone...more tears. We were overjoyed, relieved, thankful, and exhausted. Like I said, it was a week I'd rather not relive ever again!! We were so happy (and shocked!) that our little Baby Batts was OK!! Thank you, Jesus!!

Our first Baby pic!