All is well and it's a....

SURPRISE!

First, we had our level 2 ultrasound yesterday, and as I suspected, baby #2 is looking normal so our risks of downs syndrome have gone back down to that which is normal for someone my age. The doctor went on to say that the ultra sound, like ours with Kaua, was "boring" meaning all looked normal, which is what we love to hear.

Second, the exciting news about this ultrasound is that we stuck by our decision to keep the gender of the baby a surprise for birth. I'm uber proud of myself and my resolve to keep the gender a surprise because I sooooo want to find out now and it would make naming the baby so much easier. And my DH wanted to find out the gender but was willing to defer to my choice to keep the gender a surprise. Because this may be our last child (I'm really thinking two children will be enough for us, b/c they are a handful and they are expensive!!) so I want to experience the excitement and surprise of finding out a baby's gender at birth.

During the ultrasound we told the technician that we wanted to keep the gender a surprise for birth, so she had us look away when she viewed "the goods." But she did confirm that the gender was readily apparent to her. In my head, I've construed that to mean that the baby is a boy, but my husband pointed out that it could just mean that she's experienced in these matters and can easily tell at this point (19 weeks 3 days) the difference between a girl and a boy on ultrasound. Of course, I'm hoping that DH is correct, because I am sooooo hoping for a girl.

But of course, any gender will be a blessing as long as the child is healthy. Which based upon the ultra sound is looking to be the case.

The other interesting piece of news that we learned from this ultra sound is that i have an anterior placenta. I asked about this because I haven't really been feeling the baby consistently like I did with Kaua at this point in the pregnancy. The technician confirmed that I indeed had anterior placenta which explains why the baby's movements haven't been as pronounced. I have only just very recently felt the baby and been sure that it was the baby.

So now that we've passed another hurdle of angst, the next dilemma - naming the baby and deciding where to give birth- here without the guarantee of receiving an epidural, or in the city (which will include with it tremendous expense and inconvenience, but will mean receiving an epidural for sure).

Thank you God for the great news!

20 week ultrasound

Yesterday's ultrasound went fantastic! Baby boy's heart is perfect. His anatomy is still perfect. Everything is going just smoothly. Based on such a good review, our risks for a baby with Ds decreased further by 50-70%. I'm not so good with numbers, but my quad screen risk assessment was 1 in 77 which is about 1.2% risk. If that decreases by another 50-70%, that means what, my risk is down to 0.03-0.05% risk? Those odds sound pretty darn good to me. =)

Yesterday I also learned that the length of my cervix is perfect, or as the doctor described it "beautiful" so no risk of preterm labor there. Interestingly, I also have anterior placenta, which just means that your placenta is growing towards the front of my uterus (rather than positioned closer to my back side), meaning that there's an extra cushion (the placenta) between baby and my belly muscles. The position of the placenta doesn't really affect your baby at all, but it could muffle my baby's movements and cause me to feel baby's movements later than others. Doc said this isn't always the case with someone with anterior placenta, and I'm not sure if its a factor in my baby movement feelings. Right now, I do feel baby boy, and have been since about 15 weeks, but perhaps those feelings could be a lot stronger than what they are. If that's the case, I'm kinda grateful, b/c that means maybe he'll be waking me up a lot less at night and have less kicks that are somewhat painful because I've got some extra padding to soften his blows. Eh, who knows. Not a big deal to me.

I also found out baby boy already weighs 1 lb! That's cool, because according to most websites and the WTE book, babies generally measure about 10 oz, so that means he's a smidge bigger than the average. Doc said that baby boy's measurements are right on schedule for how far along I am and so far my due date is still the same.

Baby boy is currently positioned head down (towards my cervix) and facing sunny side up (towards my tummy).

Let's see, what else did I learn. Oh yeah, this will be my last ultrasound with the perinatologist (unless there are other complications), so that's a good thing and bad thing. Good b/c who wants complications, not me! But bad b/c that may be the last I see of the firecracker till birth.

Ok, now for the cool stuff. the pictures! Baby boy was moving around a lot, as usual, so the profile pictures aren't the greatest, but nevertheless, I'm still a proud mommy.

Here's a couple profile pics. (with his legs cut off, hope that means he's long/tall).
In the first photo, you can see his umbilical cord just above his body:




Here's a profile picture with him waving and saying "Hi Mommy & Daddy!"


Here's a couple photos of his "man parts" and yup, he's quite clearly a boy!!!


The Doc zoomed in for this one, and I made the following comment (which caused him to chuckle and put it on the picture:)


And last but not least, here's a couple profile pictures with baby boy moving his body a bit. Notice in the second one, the doc pointed out that we can see his little peepee (look for the arrow):






That's all for today. Overall, it was an excellent 20 week and 1 day photo session for the firecracker! DH and I are overjoyed to have a healthy little boy. Thank you God for our miracle. =)

Spotting scare(s)

As if yesterday's news wasn't enough, I also started spotting (again). However, it was bright bright red blood last night and boy did that freak me out. It was after hours when it started, so I called the advice nurse line for after hours and they instructed me to go straight to the hospital, L&D. When I got there, there was a slight mix up, b/c apparently, L&D only takes moms beyond 20 weeks, and I'm only 15.5 weeks. They were wonderful though, and took me anyway. (It may have helped that when they started asking me about my MC history, I started bawling...bc it's really difficult to talk about when you think you're going through another one). Luckily, PRAISE GOD, baby is completely fine! He was just kicking away on the screen and his heartbeat still sounded strong and regular. The doc was informed of my big u/s appointment being pushed up to next week b/c of my abnormal quad results, but she reassured me that based on what she could see, baby looked completely normal and healthy. She was very reassuring about my spotting and explained that sometimes, some women just bleed. (She called it a "friable cervix" and compared it to people that easily have nose bleeds.) She also mentioned that sometimes, when a placenta is low and covers the cervix, this could be a cause for concern, but noted that my placenta, while a little low, did not appear to be covering the cervix. She said that the doctor I'll be seeing next week tuesday is a specialist at these kinds of things and that I'd find out more from him then.

I was discharged home shortly with the instructions to take it easy till the appointment, which includes not going into work today or Monday and Tuesday. Now, with my occupation, that's not always easily do-able, but I'm going to try. The health of this little one depends on it. The bleeding stopped as soon as it came last night, and no more till this morning. However, the spotting was much lighter and dark brown. Kinda like that slight scare I had a couple weeks ago. I'm feeling a little crampy down there, but I'm not sure if its the normal off and on crampy that I've been feeling throughout the pregnancy which we all attribute to my uterus growing or something else. I'm not sure what's going on with me.

I'm reminded very much of my fellow bloggy friend (who interstingly enough, also had a septate uterus and surgery to correct it after a two losses) who was also "a bleeder". She's getting ready to give birth to her healthy baby boy any second. =) Hi Meg!! Her story has always been an inspiration from me, even before I found out I had a SU and for some reason I've always been drawn to her blog. Now that I find out that our stories our soooo similar, I've been finding myself perusing her blog to see how she felt and dealt with things when she was as far along as I was. I find it very helpful and reassuring. God works wonders doesn't he?

I'm continuing to pray and put my anxiety and trust on and in the Lord. Nothing is impossible for Him and I know He answers prayers. He's already answered my prayers, and I know I will have a beautiful, healthy, normal, baby come December 2009. That's all I need to know. Believe and Receive.

Here's baby....

Here's baby at 13weeks 3 days...


I pointed out some of the different body parts for my IRL friends and family who I sent the U/S picture too. (yup, I finally made the announcement to everyone via email yesterday after the appt). According to WTE, he's about the size of a peach right now.

Big change from 7 weeks ago at 6weeks 2days and he was the size of a blueberry or raspberry:



And you may be able to tell, the quality of u/s machines varied greatly. Yesterday's u/s was on some machine they wheeled into the exam room. My other u/s have always been in a special room designated specifically for u/s. That machine is supposed to be way better. i bet if we were on that machine we would have found out the gender! but I'm glad we didn't. I want to wait till we do our 20 week u/s and get a confirmation and then have a gender reveal party!

For now, I'm soo looking forward to seeing more of this baby! I'm so ecstatic that this baby is still alive! Basic things make me happy, things like a heartbeat and life....

everything is perfect

everything is perfect, just like i thought..yeah, mmhhmm, not a doubt in my mind.....ever. lol. (*laughs sheepishly*)

Baby is still there and his heart is beating away. We got an ultrasound picture too. Again, I'll have to repost tomorrow with the picture so I can take a picture of the picture and upload that. Unless anyone knows how to upload a pdf. document onto this post.....

But yup....we got our reassurance, and even alittle scare (in a good way). The doc I saw thought I was measuring big and asked if I didn't have two in there!!?? (are you crazy?!!) We checked, and yup, there's just one, but she thinks I'm further along than we think....we'll find out when I see my regular doctor, Dr. M in two weeks.

Whatever. I'm just glad we have a heartbeat. And he was so cute! When we first saw our little one he had his left hand up to his head, like he was thinking. Doc said it'd be going to Harvard and I said, yup, just like mommy. (Yeah, I'm referring to it as a boy.....but it could be a girl....but for now, it'll have a "he" gender reference.) We tried to get a picture of our little thinker, but no such luck, he put his hand back down before we were able to get the picture.

Stay tuned for more....in the adventures of a nervous mom...... lol. (btw: glad to know I'm in similar company with all of my preggo or previously preggo bloggy friends).

Without further adieu...

Introducing our little miracle and blessing from the Lord:






I've also put these two pics into my flickr on the side bar.

Thank you all so much for your well wishes and support. It means a very very lot to me. Now, on to focusing and praying that my next appointment - which is on May 19, just over 1 month away, goes just as smoothly. Grow little one grow! Beat little heart beat! The Lord has truly blessed us.

Praise God, we have a heartbeat!

I cried when the technician said that everything looks good. =) And she found baby ASAP with the vaginal ultrasound. I'll post pictures tonight.

Can you believe it? We have a living baby in mah belleh! Whew, talk about a sigh of relief, a shout of joy and endless praise to the Lord. You should have seen me, the whole drive to the appointment, I was praying over and over saying aloud various pieces of scriptures I had read and could remember by heart. I kept praying softly even in the doctor's office. I kept praying even just before the ultra sound. And of course, I praised God after the appointment was over.

So baby is measuring 6 weeks 2 days. I'm due December 6 and the heart beat was nice and strong for his or her age at 122BPM. DH and I got to see the flicker on the screen, and we got to listen to it, and boy was it music to my ears. It's AMAZING to imagine that there is a tiny little living thing inside me. Thank you thank you Lord, for you are truly good!

I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders.
I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
Psalm 9:1-2.

So, today, I believe I saw two signs from God that everything was ok. One was a rainbow as I drove into work. It appeared over the hill just as I was feeling a little anxiety come over me regarding the appointment. The second sign was today's daily devotional from KCM. It was about Genesis Chapter one and God's ability TO CREATE by stating His Word. Not sure if you remember, but for the new year I wrote a letter to God (as a part of a tradition where my friends write a letter to the universe every NYE and burn it as we watch the first sunrise of the new year) and my word for the year was "Creation" because I was planning to Create our litttle baby this year, in 2009. If you wanna refresh your memmory about what I said in that letter (you know, because you so aptly want to keep up with the daily nuances of my life), read this post here.

Ok, here's the kicker, I'm measuring 6weeks 2days, but according to FF, I should have been 6 weeks 6 days. Ugh....doesn't this motherhood stuff ever get easier? I mean c'mon, I completed one hurdle - I SAW MY BABY'S HEARTBEAT FOR THE FIRST TIME TODAY and now I have to worry if I'm measuring behind? The doc didn't seem to concerned, but unfortunately, he didn't spend much time with me. I didn't even get to whip out my pregnancy book with my questions. All I got to ask about was my upcoming trip. I'm thinking, maybe I should switch back to my old OB, you know the one who had great bedside manners, but couldn't handle all of my prior MC complications and surgeries? Now that I'm relegating myself (by faith) into normal pregnancy status, maybe I can go back to her? Ah, I guess its something to consider in another post. Anyways, guess I'm going to be updating my EDD and tickers to December 6.

And here's the other "kicker." Remember that long awaited trip DH and I had planned to fly to NYC, DC and Virginia in 2 weeks? Well doc recommends not to go. However, the only reason why he said he wouldn't recommend me going is because based on my history, he wouldn't want me to feel guilty if something happened. He did not say that he was worried about the traveling and its affect on my pregnancy. He just didn't want me to feel worried. Thank you very much doc, but I wasn't worried, but now that you're saying that, you're giving me reason to be worried. Am I going to call of the trip? Probably not. I know myself and my body and I know that this baby is going to do what it wants with or without the trip. Not to worry, I'm going to pray about it and make sure that what ever I decide is in my and this baby's best interest.