Yesterday I got a phone call from our OB's office saying they would like to move up our appointment to today or next week (which didn't work for us as we will be in Vancouver). So we took the appointment for today. I was suspicious as to why we got bumped up; I suspected it had something to do with our NT results from last week, and it turns out I was right.
The nuchal measurement on our baby's neck was normal, but my hcg levels were higher than normal, and this put our risk of Down Syndrome to 1/149. The normal risk level for my age is somewhere around 1/1000. While the risk is definitely higher, this assessment is only a screening, and doesn't consider a lot of other factors. Really, it means we have a 99.3% chance of having a healthy, normal baby, and those are excellent odds. Because of this, and because we would never terminate for Downs, we decided not to get an amnio and will wait for further information after our 18 week ultrasound.
I won't lie; for a few hours today we were feeling a bit stressed about it. But Nate and I talked it through at length (I love my husband!), did some research, and we feel a lot better. We are not going to stress. We will love this baby no matter what, and truly believe our baby is going to be fine.
The upside to our appointment was that we finally got to meet our OB, who we already love after just the first visit. She is incredibly knowledgeable and has an amazing bedside manner. She also knows Nate's mom, who works with her in L&D at the Royal Alex. She brought out the doppler to take a listen to the heartbeat, and every time she found it, baby would squirm away before she could get an accurate reading. So, she brought in the portable u/s machine, and we got to take another look at our little one. He/she is quite the mover; I could see him/her flopping around and at one point the baby even waved! Well it looked like it waved, it was very cute. And the best part was a nice strong heartbeat of 170.
My next OB appointment is in 4 weeks on June 17; the same day as our 18 week u/s. This works out well because it's in the same building. So our appointment is at 9:05, and we will have our ultrasound at 10:45. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and praying everything will be fine, but if anyone is out there reading, please send positive thoughts our way.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
2nd Prenatal Visit
Not too much to report. Unfortunately my doc's doppler wasn't working so we didn't get to hear the heartbeat. However, my doctor's assistant said she's going to try and get it working and then call me in for a quick visit just so I can hear it.
My blood pressure was perfect, and I was very excited that I only gained 5 lbs! I ate so frequently in the early first trimester to try and curb the nausea that I was dreading stepping on the scale.
When it came time to measure my fundal height, I could tell he was prodding pretty high, and he was like "Oh you're measuring about 20 weeks" and I was like "Whaaaat??" But then I showed him where I think "I" can feel it (I can tell because as soon as it's less sensitive, that's where my uterus ends) and he was like, "Oh yes, that's it." I swear what he felt was an ab muscle not my fundus! Hahaha! Only a few more weeks and then I will be transferred to my OB.
I also got the requisition for my 18-20 week ultrasound, which reminds me, I need to go book that right now!
My blood pressure was perfect, and I was very excited that I only gained 5 lbs! I ate so frequently in the early first trimester to try and curb the nausea that I was dreading stepping on the scale.
When it came time to measure my fundal height, I could tell he was prodding pretty high, and he was like "Oh you're measuring about 20 weeks" and I was like "Whaaaat??" But then I showed him where I think "I" can feel it (I can tell because as soon as it's less sensitive, that's where my uterus ends) and he was like, "Oh yes, that's it." I swear what he felt was an ab muscle not my fundus! Hahaha! Only a few more weeks and then I will be transferred to my OB.
I also got the requisition for my 18-20 week ultrasound, which reminds me, I need to go book that right now!
Sunday, May 15, 2011
I just watch this over and over...
.. all day long!!! I bawled like a baby when Nate first showed this to me. Our friend who works for the place we had the ultrasound done was kind enough to get this for us.
You can see so much detail when the baby is moving... his left hand is up by his ear, and he moves his right hand to suck on his little thumb. Awww!!! So precious. I will treasure this forever, and can't wait to show our child this when he/she is older.
You can see so much detail when the baby is moving... his left hand is up by his ear, and he moves his right hand to suck on his little thumb. Awww!!! So precious. I will treasure this forever, and can't wait to show our child this when he/she is older.
Friday, May 13, 2011
There's an actual baby in there!!!
Yesterday was our NT scan and blood work. Nate and I were both sooo excited and nervous! My mom had planned to come as well, but she wasn't feeling good so it was just the two of us.
The thing I was most nervous about was waiting to hear if the baby was okay... last time the tech didn't say ANYTHING to me and the wait was torture, but yesterday as soon as the tech put the camera on my belly, she was like "Oh this is going to be a difficult baby. He's all curled up and moving around like crazy!" It was such a huge relief to hear that! Also, all that movement coincided with the weird vibrations/bubbles I feel. So I think it really is baby I am feeling! I forgot to ask about where the placenta is located, so I will have to ask my doctor.
For the whole ultrasound, baby proved to be stubborn and uncooperative. Hmm, kind of sounds like his mom maybe?? ;-) At one point, I had to press on my belly to see if I could get him to move, and when I did, he scooted right down to where he needed to be and stretched out. The tech said it was really funny because it looked like I startled him into behaving. Awww!!!
After she got the right measurements, I waited on the table for a good 10 minutes while she showed the doctor. Finally, she brought Nate in, who looked really nervous. I think he was worried because it took so long. He told me after he was scared they forgot about him and wouldn't let him see... I told him there's no way I would have let that happen!
To get the best "take home" picture, the tech used the good old cooter cam. By this time, baby was tired out from all his acrobatics, so he just lay there squirming a bit. It was so neat to see! He looks like an actual little baby! The tech couldn't get a good "potty" shot to see if there was an indication of gender, but since I think it's a boy, I'm calling our baby a he until we find out. We will be so thrilled either way!
Baby was measuring 6.5 cm from crown to rump, with a good heart rate of 161. The length put me at 12 weeks 6 days (I was 12 week 4 days according to the last ultrasound), which means I am now 13 weeks today! The NT measurement was 1.6 which is well within the normal range.
And now, for baby's first real picture. You can see he has his arm up over his head, and you can even see his little fingers. So cute! We are in love.
After the ultrasound we had to go downstairs for my blood work, which took forever. All we wanted to do was go home and look at our picture (they gave it to us on CD) and finally announce on Facebook that we were pregnant!
The thing I was most nervous about was waiting to hear if the baby was okay... last time the tech didn't say ANYTHING to me and the wait was torture, but yesterday as soon as the tech put the camera on my belly, she was like "Oh this is going to be a difficult baby. He's all curled up and moving around like crazy!" It was such a huge relief to hear that! Also, all that movement coincided with the weird vibrations/bubbles I feel. So I think it really is baby I am feeling! I forgot to ask about where the placenta is located, so I will have to ask my doctor.
For the whole ultrasound, baby proved to be stubborn and uncooperative. Hmm, kind of sounds like his mom maybe?? ;-) At one point, I had to press on my belly to see if I could get him to move, and when I did, he scooted right down to where he needed to be and stretched out. The tech said it was really funny because it looked like I startled him into behaving. Awww!!!
After she got the right measurements, I waited on the table for a good 10 minutes while she showed the doctor. Finally, she brought Nate in, who looked really nervous. I think he was worried because it took so long. He told me after he was scared they forgot about him and wouldn't let him see... I told him there's no way I would have let that happen!
To get the best "take home" picture, the tech used the good old cooter cam. By this time, baby was tired out from all his acrobatics, so he just lay there squirming a bit. It was so neat to see! He looks like an actual little baby! The tech couldn't get a good "potty" shot to see if there was an indication of gender, but since I think it's a boy, I'm calling our baby a he until we find out. We will be so thrilled either way!
Baby was measuring 6.5 cm from crown to rump, with a good heart rate of 161. The length put me at 12 weeks 6 days (I was 12 week 4 days according to the last ultrasound), which means I am now 13 weeks today! The NT measurement was 1.6 which is well within the normal range.
And now, for baby's first real picture. You can see he has his arm up over his head, and you can even see his little fingers. So cute! We are in love.
After the ultrasound we had to go downstairs for my blood work, which took forever. All we wanted to do was go home and look at our picture (they gave it to us on CD) and finally announce on Facebook that we were pregnant!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
12 weeks!!!
This has been a pretty eventful week so far. Last Friday, I noticed my nausea was nowhere to be found when I woke up (woohoo!) but after I ate, I was extremely nauseous and actually threw up everything I ate. That was weird for me, considering I'd only puked twice in the entire 12 weeks up until that point, and eating always made me feel better not worse. The next day, same thing. I ate, felt awful, then threw up. Sunday, yet again... Happy Mothers (To Be) Day to me! Monday, I woke up ravenous and ate a pretty big lunch. Big mistake. When the nausea kicked in I was terrified to throw up that much food, so I took a Gravol and fought it off by basically sleeping all day. I phoned my doctor for a Diclectin prescription, but it wasn't going to be ready until today. This morning I ate really lightly, and STILL felt extremely sick (though I managed not to barf). After work, Nate picked up my prescription and I took one right away. Then I ate a decent sized meal and FINALLY managed to feel good afterwards and keep it down. Diclectin is officially a miracle drug in my eyes!
On Sunday, for Mother's Day, we had Nate's family over and we celebrated with both our moms. We made burgers, hot dogs, my famous lemon dill baby potato salad, and had my SIL Megan's cherry cheesecake for dessert. The weather was beautiful so we spent most of the evening outside. This was the first Mother's Day I can remember in years where I didn't feel down about not being a mom yet. And my wonderful hubby bought me a beautiful card, yellow roses, and a Willow Tree ornament (the pregnant couple). I've wanted to add that one to my collection for so many years!
Only 2 more sleeps until our ultrasound and I am actually more excited than nervous. The heightened nausea/throwing up is reassuring, as is the "flutters" and "twitches" I've been feeling. I know some people don't believe you can feel movement this early (and I always thought those that said they did were craaaaazy), but there are plenty of women out there that swear they feel movement around 11 or 12 weeks. I KNOW it's not gas. It happens at certain times of the day, and it's a really obvious fluttery feeling and sometimes like tiny bubbles or when you have an eye twitch. It's also very very low, not in the stomach or bowel region, and as far as I know I don't think you can feel gas in your uterus lol! I'm anxious to see our little one moving on the ultrasound screen to see if it correlates at all to what I've been feeling. There is of course a chance I am just a crazy pregnant lady, but I'm enjoying whatever it is!
And now for my first belly picture. Please keep in mind I had extra padding to start with (so I obviously look larger than 12 weeks), my bathroom mirror is clearly dirty, and it was a bad hair day (aka ponytail day):
On Sunday, for Mother's Day, we had Nate's family over and we celebrated with both our moms. We made burgers, hot dogs, my famous lemon dill baby potato salad, and had my SIL Megan's cherry cheesecake for dessert. The weather was beautiful so we spent most of the evening outside. This was the first Mother's Day I can remember in years where I didn't feel down about not being a mom yet. And my wonderful hubby bought me a beautiful card, yellow roses, and a Willow Tree ornament (the pregnant couple). I've wanted to add that one to my collection for so many years!
Only 2 more sleeps until our ultrasound and I am actually more excited than nervous. The heightened nausea/throwing up is reassuring, as is the "flutters" and "twitches" I've been feeling. I know some people don't believe you can feel movement this early (and I always thought those that said they did were craaaaazy), but there are plenty of women out there that swear they feel movement around 11 or 12 weeks. I KNOW it's not gas. It happens at certain times of the day, and it's a really obvious fluttery feeling and sometimes like tiny bubbles or when you have an eye twitch. It's also very very low, not in the stomach or bowel region, and as far as I know I don't think you can feel gas in your uterus lol! I'm anxious to see our little one moving on the ultrasound screen to see if it correlates at all to what I've been feeling. There is of course a chance I am just a crazy pregnant lady, but I'm enjoying whatever it is!
And now for my first belly picture. Please keep in mind I had extra padding to start with (so I obviously look larger than 12 weeks), my bathroom mirror is clearly dirty, and it was a bad hair day (aka ponytail day):
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
11 weeks
So on Friday last week I had a teeny tiny scare... when I went pee there was the faintest amount of pink spotting when I wiped. This has been a spot free pregnancy so far (knock on wood), and even though I *know* faint pink isn't necessarily bad and that it was likely from coming off the Prometrium I still freaked out a bit. I called the Edmonton clinic, who was actually really great at getting back to me to let me know it was normal coming off the meds and that faint pink was just fine.
Thankfully it hasn't happened again! I'm still nauseous (some days worse than others) and all that fun stuff, so I'm hoping our little one is thriving.
Also, even though I know it's super early... I SWEAR I can feel some movement occasionally. It's not like gas, it's like tiny little bubbles popping, and way down low where I don't think you can get gas. I've read online that many women swear they felt movement this early so I really hope I'm not crazy and that it's just the baby saying hi.
Just over a week until our 12 week ultrasound! I can't wait!
Oh! And we finally have our first OB appointment. It's on June 24th, when I will be almost 19 weeks. I'm so excited!!
Thankfully it hasn't happened again! I'm still nauseous (some days worse than others) and all that fun stuff, so I'm hoping our little one is thriving.
Also, even though I know it's super early... I SWEAR I can feel some movement occasionally. It's not like gas, it's like tiny little bubbles popping, and way down low where I don't think you can get gas. I've read online that many women swear they felt movement this early so I really hope I'm not crazy and that it's just the baby saying hi.
Just over a week until our 12 week ultrasound! I can't wait!
Oh! And we finally have our first OB appointment. It's on June 24th, when I will be almost 19 weeks. I'm so excited!!
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