Wednesday, May 28, 2008

The Big U/S: And it's a...


...healthy baby!



I'm 18 weeks and 1 day today and so far the baby looks perfect. The u/s tech was a sweet heart. She started off by asking that if she got a good shot did we want to know the sex of the baby. We laughed and looked at each other. It's been an on going debate. Do we want to know? Would a complete surprise be better? Or would knowing so we can buy gender specific clothing and nursery items be better? If we find out, are we going to keep it a secret from friends and family? We told her that we did want to find out. We decided to try to keep it a secret from family and friends. I'm not sure if we can do that or not! Chris isn't very good with secrets. :)

So then the u/s tech asked Chris what he thought the baby was. Chris has been saying girl all along. I went with that at first but the past month or so I've really thought it was a boy. So one of us was bound to be correct! The tech asked if we had any bets riding on the sex of the baby. Chris is a little gun shy on bets right now after losing two in a row. (Ask him about the words to Hang on Sloopy and what color Charlie Brown's shirt is. One of those got me a vacation in the Keys and one a dinner and I movie!) The tech tried to goad him into taking a bet but he wouldn't budge. She said that she would save that and tell us at the end of the scan.

The baby was sitting on it's bottom in a breach position. We didn't see the baby moving around so I didn't relax until she dopplered the heart. That's aways a sweet sound no matter how many times you've heard it. 143 bpm. That's about what I get at home, usually around 149 or so.

She started first by measuring the baby's brain, upper lip, and heart. The heart took some work to get a view of all four chambers because one of the baby's arm was creating a shadow. According to the tech, the baby had it's hands together like it was praying. I had trouble seeing that but I'll take her word for it. She tried all kinds of different angles and finally jiggled my tummy. She said, "Come on, baby, this is war!" We all started laughing. But I felt bad for the baby! If it was sleeping, who were we to disturb it?

She then checked both arms and legs, measuring the bones. She also checked to make sure the feet were straight. I'm glad she told us what she was looking at because most of the time I didn't have a clue. But I did catch a peak at what looked to be between the baby's legs. It pays to look at other people's ultrasound pictures online! I didn't say anything though because Chris was enjoying the show.

She checked the baby's stomach, kidneys, and bladder. Blood flow looked good. The baby measured normally at 8 ounces.

She then said that she'd get us some profile shots and the gender. She put it on 3d a few times but wasn't happy with the views. The baby isn't really filled out yet so she said it would look better in a few weeks. Chris was happy with one of the
3d pics but she questioned him and then didn't print it for us.

She gave us what she called the baby's first porno shot. I wasn't thrilled with her calling it that. But actually when people say money shot, it's also a porn reference. Yech.

Here's the pics! Can you tell what the baby is?







IT'S A BABY BOY!!








So then the doctor came in and reviewed the ultrasound pictures and we got another mini scan. This time the baby had flipped head down. How come the baby will never move on the screen? I had even drank some orange juice on the way down to the doctor's office. The doctor said the baby looked perfect! He didn't see any soft markers for genetic problems. Since I'm 37, he spoke to us about having the amnio.

According to the NT scan and bloodwork my risk for the baby having downs syndrome is 1 in 890. So that's good considering for my age the risk is 1 in 140.

According to my age the risk for having a baby with other genetic problems is 1 in 89. That's scary but it's still not that high, 1.1% chance. For 89 babies, 88 will be healthy.

The risk of miscarriage for the amnio is 1 in 200. If we had seen something that was a soft marker for a genetic defect, then we might have proceeded with an amnio. At this time, I don't see any reason to risk a potentially healthy baby to a miscarriage from the amnio. We wouldn't terminate the pregnancy any way. So the doctor had me sign my refusal to the amnio. He wasn't intimidating about it, just matter of fact. He did stress that at this time the baby showed no signs of any problems. So we're going with that!

I do have another Level II ultrasound scheduled with this same specialist in 4 weeks. The baby will of course be bigger then so a more thorough scan can be done. At 18 weeks today, it was still on the early side for the anatomy scan. So I get another treat at 22 weeks.

7 comments:

AngelsAmid said...

Tracy I'm so happy for you! You're going to have the most beautiful little boy! =0) I can't wait to see what he looks like! I'm so happy for you and your husband! =')

Gena L said...

I am soooo happy for the two of you!!! Can't wait to meet the little guy (& U2)!!!

Kristin (kekis) said...

He showed you the money alright. What a good BOY!!! Oh, Tracy, I'm just thrilled for you & Chris.

Your little angel is making his marks on Earth now. You so deserve it. Lots of love!

Maria (MKC101103) said...

A BOY!!!!! How exciting!!!! Why didn't you text me sooner?!?!?! LOL.

Stephanie said...

Congratulations!! A baby boy! How exciting. :) I'm glad he cooperated so you could find out. Sounds like everything is going great, I'm so happy for you and Chris.

Amanda said...

Awe...your baby is adorable! Congratulations on your baby boy!

Stephanie said...

I have TAGGED you! See my blog to see what this means. :)