3rd scan: Alien life exists on Earth!

Look! Aliens! Well, actually it's Little Monkey, can you see her arms? I had my third scan today, was so delighted to see her. Her head's the blob on the right. The doctor also showed me her legs but he didn't print that shot because it wasn't so clear.

She is 3cm long now, her little heart is beating as strongly as ever and I am just ecstatic that she's doing fine. According to the calendar, I'm 9 weeks pregnant but the computer calculated that I'm 10 weeks along judging by her size.

I told the doctor I had no more spotting, nothing at all since the day I'd arrived in a panic at his clinic but the scan showed up a spot that he said was the old blood clot. Since he's the cautious sort (and because I plan to travel next week), he gave me a progesterone shot just in case. And ouch!!! - my bum is still stinging from the shot, more than 12 hours later. I don't know what he used, a hydraulic pump maybe to give me the shot. Ow.

He also gave me more progesterone pills and advised me to continue taking them till 12 weeks. I'm taking them faithfully, not taking any chances with our little one! I also had my blood drawn for various tests - hemoglobin, rubella, Hep B, HIV, syphilis, thalassemia, iron, folic acid, blood sugar. I'm no good with needles, the sight of one makes me faint. So I had to look away while he was drawing my blood and I could barely stand to look at the tubes of blood later but I had to because I had to ensure my blood was correctly tagged with my name.

The next time I come in for another visit, they'll check the ratio of her neck thickness to her length. This gives an indication of Down's Syndrome and if the ratio isn't right, then the doctor will do an amniocentesis test. The doctor explained he wanted to do the ratio measurement first as a sort of screening test because the amniocentesis test carries a very slight risk of miscarriage and he wanted to avoid it as much as possible.

When I saw her arms and legs, I was just thrilled. It makes her more of a person now that she's actually got proper arms and legs... her arms are bent at the elbows too! So cute. As I told a friend today, I still can't quite believe there's a Mini-Me inside of me. I guess it's because I'm not showing yet so it's very hard to sort of visualise it.

I talk to Little Monkey every day, usually when I'm rubbing cream on my tummy or when I've just woken up and I don't know why I don't feel silly talking to a little blob. Hehe.

I'm so in love with our Little Monkey. :))) But this might change when she's four yo and throwing a tantrum in the supermarket because we won't buy her sweets... but that's what boarding schools are for! ;))