8 Weeks Pregnant

Wow. We have our first ultrasound in a couple of days. If that goes well and there’s a heartbeat and a bub growing in the right spot, then we are through the worst of the woods! Down to a miscarriage risk of 1.5 – 2.4% (depending on the study). Very low, anyway!

At 8 weeks, the little one is about the size of a large raspberry. This week they transition from being called an embroyo to a fetus – this reflects the change in its growth. Embryos are figuring out all the different cell types they will need – brain, muscle, nerve and so on, and grouping them into what will become organs like the heart, lungs, liver, and forming arms and legs. The fetus has the building blocks in place now and is grow grow growing them.

This week they’re starting to grow fingers and toes, little webbed stubs. Eyelids have formed, and they will probably be taking their first little tastes of amniotic fluid. They’re growing fingerprints.

I am a huge pain to live with currently. Food aversions are driving me a bit crazy. I’ve been obsessed with salads until yesterday. Now I can’t stand them. Yoghurt is back on the eat list. Meat is off it, fruit is on it, potato salad I can’t even think about without getting queasy. Nuts are off but peanut butter is on. I’m driving myself crazy. I felt ill and off colour all day today. Rose woke up to me sobbing from nightmares and came home to me sobbing about a parking fine. I seem to have only two modes currently; ill and weepy, or ranty. Rose however is the one doing the throwing up, due to her fertility meds. We went out to a fringe show tonight and my poor love threw up in bins all the way back to the car and then in the garden when we got home. It’s hard to tell which of us is pregnant some days!

I’ve been reading about risks and options and stories from other mums about miscarriage. One thing really struck me – a woman saying that all this advice to not tell anyone until you’re through the first trimester meant that when she lost her baby she had no idea about it, no preparation, no knowledge of the options, no stories from friends she could draw upon. That’s in my head a lot at the moment, this idea of taboo and silence and secrecy and what it does to us. If you need any information, I recommend the Miscarriage Association they’ve got clear info and links to real experiences. The Heartfelt foundation are also screening a film here in Adelaide this Friday night about pregnancy loss.

Waiting for our scan. Holding my breath until we hear that heartbeat.