Bad news...

We had our first prenatal appointment with our OB last Monday and she did an ultrasound and found that there was not an embryo in the egg sac. The placenta was there and functioning, but no baby. The placenta was letting out pregnancy hormones which gave us the positive pregnancy test, pregnancy syptoms, made my uterus grow, and so on. Our doctor wanted to make sure so we did a series of blood tests to see what my HCG (pregnancy hormone) levels were doing. The hormone levels dropped in a 48 hour period, which is not good news. Today we had a second ultrasound which confirmed that there was no embryo. We have decided to wait and see if I miscarry naturally. If after a week and a half we do not miscarry naturally I will probably have a D & C (dilation and curettage) done. Before we do that, Justin and I feel strongly that we need to have one more ultrasound to make sure that the pregnancy is not viable. We want to really be sure we are doing the right thing before doing such a final procedure. We have had over a week to come to grips with this and so far are doing okay. It was devastating at first, especially since we had been trying to get pregnant since last fall, but know everything happens for a reason. We both feel if something was really wrong with the baby, it was probably for the best. Thank you to everyone for all your thoughts and prayers. Love to all: Justin, Barbara, and Carter.