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.

Crying and Laughing...

Tuesday I went in for the second blood draw for the integrated screening. Basically this combines the results of a first trimester blood draw, the NT scan, and another blood draw in the second trimester to provide the risks of several genetic defects. It's a screening, not a diagnostic test. It has a much lower false positive rate than just the blood draws separately. I felt this was a good initial step for us to take because at my "advanced maternal age" many go straight for the amnio. The amnio carries a risk of miscarriage (perhaps 1 in 200) which was something I would rather avoid after having lost two babies due to miscarriage.

After the blood draw, the nurse said she would be calling me with the results in 3-5 days. That made me nervous and excited all at once. Originally I was led to believe that I wouldn't get the final results until my big ultrasound and genetic counseling on 5/28. I worried that if I got the results early and they were bad, I would have to another 12 days of torture for my actual appointment and ultrasound. On the other hand, if the results were good I would have a little more peace of mind the next two weeks.

This morning was the third day after the blood draw. I was downstairs listening to the baby's heartbeat on the doppler.

I thought I heard my phone ringing upstairs over the whooshing of the baby's heartbeat. I RAN upstairs. I missed the call but it was just from my dermatologist. As I was listening to the voicemail, the phone rang again. This time it was from the perinatal center. Thank God I got the first call so the phone was in my hot little hands already. That was one phone call I wanted to take live and in person.


I'm crying and laughing and thanking God all at the same time!

The perinatal center had the integrated screening results. The baby is screening negative!



The risk for down's syndrome is 1 in 890.
For my age (37) the standard risk is 1 in 140 so we beat those odds!

For trisomy 18, the risk is 1 in 10,000.

For neural tube defect, the risk is 1 in 3,000.

I know it's not a guarantee but those are all good numbers for my age!!
They consider 1 in 300 a "positive" screen.

Woohoo! Thank God.

Now we'll see how the baby looks at the big anatomy scan on 5/28. I'm praying that there are no soft markers or other problems and we can be reassured that the baby is healthy.

2 out of 3...

2 out of 3 ultrasounds completed. I had my second ultrasound today and everything was great. One more ultrasound to go and I graduate from the RE's office to my OB's care.

I'm officially 7 weeks and 6 days. The baby measured 7 weeks and 5 days. That's pretty close. I'm trying to reassure myself that this wasn't NASA measuring the baby or a team of surveyors. This is just one doctor picking a spot on the crown and another spot on the rump to measure. Hopefully the baby will keep growing at a good rate.

The heart looked absolutely huge today. It measured 157 beats per minute.

The first picture shows the doctor measuring the heartbeat. The second and third show a profile of the baby.



The baby's head is still a little pointy but that's normal for this stage. It will start looking more like a baby soon!
Pregnancy Week by Week: Week 7
Pregnancy Week by Week: Week 8

I asked the RE about continuing the estrogen patches. I was thinking she would tell me to continue them until 12 weeks just like the progesterone supplements.
She said that my level was high enough and I could discontinue their use. Great. This is after I just refilled another month's supply of them last week after her nurse told me to continue all medicines based on my estrogen and progesterone blood tests.
I think I'll continue them until Sunday as a compromise to my sanity just in case the baby needs a little more help. The doctor said they noticed an increased rate of miscarriage when the estrogen level was under 250 during week 4-6. I questioned her about remaining on it until 12 weeks and she said that was really only for IVF where everything is artificially controlled.
My level was only 97 before the supplements. After being on the supplements for 2 days, the level was 237. Last week it was 817. So it has definitely gone up someon its own. I would feel better if it was over a 1000. But she's the doctor with the degree. All I have is google and it's difficult to get a clear answer.


This rest is just cutesy stuff. Don't read it if you're not up to it.

After we got home, I told Chris it looked like a shrimp. He said, "Don't call my child a shrimp!"
A few days earlier, I asked Chris what we should call the baby. You know, instead of "the baby" all the time. He came up with Patches in honor of the estrogen patches that are glued to my tummy. LOL Silly, I know!
We never named the previous pregnancies. I'm thinking we have a little more hope this time around.

Pregnancy: Take 3, Scene 4: Ultrasound

We had our first ultrasound this morning. I was so nervous and scared I could hardly relax enough to empty my bladder prior to the ultrasound.
The doctor came in for the ultrasound and asked how I was doing. All I could do was shrug and try not to cry. She asked me what was wrong so I told her that I was concerned about the egg quality because of the crazy cycle. She told me not to worry about things that are out of my control. How easy for her to say, right?

In went the dildo cam:



She started off by showing us the pregnancy. It's the blog thing on the left side. In the top photo you can barely see two white plus signs that mark the crown to rump measurements.) I'm looking for a flicker, where's the baby's heartbeat? She then points out the sac and the yolk. (Do I see a flicker? Could it be, could it be?) Then she points to the fetal pole and then finally to the flickering heart beat!

We have a baby with a heart beat! Thank God, thank God, thank God!
It was absolutely awesome. The baby measures perfectly at exactly 6 weeks and 6 days. She turned up the sound and we got to hear the baby's heart beat. It was 120 beats per minute.

Chris had the biggest smile on his face. I was pretty much dumbfounded. I had gone in expecting the worst because my symptoms had been pretty minor and I'd had spotting over the weekend. What a turn around.

Because of my history of miscarriages, I'll have ultrasounds on the next two Mondays. If God forbid something goes wrong, the doctor said she wanted to know right away. After those two u/s we'll be released to my OB's care and the risk of miscarriage will go down significantly.

I can't wait!