1st sono pic: 1-23-12 (9 wks)
1. In case you haven't heard, we found out on March 23 that we will be adding a little GIRL to our family! Chris & I were both shocked, as we were pretty sure it would be "my three sons" for us. The boys only wanted a sister, so they were very excited! Carter was with us at the sonogram and he was grinning ear to ear.
2. We had our sonogram, then had about 10 minutes in the waiting room to celebrate all things pink and frilly, then we got called back in for our regular OB appointment. Our dr. walked in the room, and I knew immediately that something was not right. Our normal, jovial dr. got right down to business and told us that they'd found some abnormalities on the baby's brain, and that while it may be nothing, he suggested we see a specialist in Wichita for another, more in-depth sonogram. Life pretty much froze for me at that point...the brief moments of joy over a baby GIRL quickly turned in to lots of tears, worry and prayers. I didn't hear much of anything he said, which made me even more frustrated after the fact, because I didn't have any "facts" to go off of. All I could remember was that there were some growths on the baby's head/brain that were measuring larger than normal. He said they were symmetrical growths, and that was a good sign, but these growths have been indicated as a possible marker for genetic abnormalities--a.k.a. Down's Syndrome and a host of other possibilities.
3. The nurse tried to call the specialist in Wichita to get us an appt. right away, but it was Friday afternoon and they were closed. So, after 3 1/2 agonizing days of waiting, we finally got our appt. set and Chris & I headed to Wichita on March 29. Leading up to the appt. with the specialist, Chris (and our families) immediately turned to the internet for answers. I, on the other hand refused to look at anything, because I didn't want to make things worse in my head. We told our immediate families and a handful of close friends, but I asked everyone to please keep it on the down low for two reasons: 1) I knew I would start bawling every time anyone brought it up to me, and 2) We had very few details yet and I really didn't know WHAT to tell people if they asked.
4. I had psched myself up for nearly a week to be "tough" and not cry at this appt., and to listen attentively to every.single.detail that the sono tech and dr. gave us this time. Yeah...I was bawling in the waiting room before we even went in. So emotional--not a fun trait. Anyways, we went in and the sono tech explained a little more to us about what was seen on the first sonogram--they had found cysts on the choroid plexis of the brain. She warned us immediately that we should expect to see them still there (it had only been six days since the last sono, after all). Sure enough, now that we knew what we were looking at, we saw them plain as day. Two white little circles on either side of our girl's brain. The tech took lots of measurements and looked at the baby's whole body and kept us very informed throughout the whole thing what she was looking at and how it "should" look for a healthy baby. Other than seeing the cysts, everything else looked wonderful. Two other very prominent features that indicate genetic abnormalities include clenched fists and rocker bottom feet. Our baby's hands were wide open the whole time and the feet looked completely normal. She assured us that everything looked good, gave us a few more pictures of our girl, and back to the waiting room we went for our consult with the specialist, Dr. Auth.
5. Dr. Auth threw out a bunch of statistics to us and throughout the consult we learned that Trisomy 18 was our real concern, and comparitively speaking, is much more severe than Downs Syndrome. The dr. told us that babies born with Trisomy 18 have days to weeks to months to live--if they are even born alive. However, she did reassure us that OUR sono looked excellent and that everything that came out of the appt. that day was good news. She gave us the option to have an amniocentesis, which would give us a definite answer whether or not there are any abnormalities, but that test carries some additional risk with it and Chris was not in favor of the test. I was maybe slightly relieved after this appointment, but mostly still pretty upset/worried. Chris was feeling a lot better after that day.
Sono pic from Wichita: 3-29-12 (18 wks)
6. We did elect to have a quad screen blood test done the next day in Salina, which basically screens my blood and compares it to several factors (my age, ethnicity, etc.) and then predicts the likelihood that I would deliver a baby with Downs, Trisomy 18 or Spina Bifida. That test was pretty routine, and by the next week (almost 19 weeks) we got more good news. All of my risk factors came back very low, so all we could do now was try to relax and pray.
7. At my next routine dr. appt. I asked if we could schedule another sonogram to "check in" on the progress of baby. My dr. was very supportive of this and got us scheduled right away. We were very realistic going in to the sono, fully expecting to see the cysts still present, as we've heard that they don't go away until the mid 3rd trimester, and we were only at 26 weeks. We were hoping to see no growth in them, however. It seemed like that sono took FOR.EV.ER. Of course they save the brain for the last area to scan, so we waited (somewhat) patiently and thoroughly examined the rest of our sweet baby--and yep, she's definitely still a GIRL. When they finally got to the brain area, the tech remained pretty quiet and took several measurements. Then she spoke the words that were music to our ears, "The cysts are completely gone."
Most recent sono: 5-21-12 (26 wks)
8. So, here we sit, just a little over eight weeks from delivery, and we are so very thankful for all the thoughts and prayers sent our way. Our c-section is planned for Friday, Aug. 17...Carter will start Kindergarten and Asher will start pre-school Aug. 16...hello, hormonal momma.
9. We finished transitioning the bedroom downstairs to a "big boy room" and Carter has been sleeping down there for over a month now. Asher moved in to Carter's room and the nursery has been repainted. We still have a few more finishing touches to make, but we're making headway! The countdown is on...I'll get pictures up as soon as everything is complet.
10. I just found out that I failed my first glucose test for gestational diabetes last week, so now I have to go back for a 3-hr. test tomorrow--MAJOR BUMMER! In the grand scheme of things however, I realize this is very minor and just a small bump in the road to meeting our new baby girl!
11. (Bonus!) Everyone keeps asking us if we've decided on a name yet. We do have a couple that we agree on (shocker!)--Chris is ready to fill out the birth certificate and seal the deal, I prefer to keep our options open until we see her. A few months ago, Chris sent me a list of names ending in "-er"...and boy were there some doozies! Here are just a few to give you an idea of what I'm working with: Banner, Beecher, Clever, Clover, September, October, November, December, Forever, Gwenifer, Sequester and...wait for it...Hummer. Yep, those were some of his "suggestions." Oh, my. ;)
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