Praise God for a Healthy Baby!

On Thursday, December 2, we had our second ultrasound, but the first 'major' one where Maternal Fetal Medicine performed the ultrasound and screened for abnormalities in the pregnancy. I must admit that I begged Shawn to pray at least a hundred times weeks, days, hours and minutes leading up to this ultrasound. I was really worried, and he kept telling me that everything would be fine. While I know that we can't even add an hour to our life by worrying (Luke 12:25), I couldn't seem to stop. So, I prayed. And prayed. And prayed. And God is faithful!

And even though I know that worrying is silly, I did have my reasons. For one, I had went to the OBGYN on November 17, and the doctor couldn't find the baby's heartbeat. She gave me the option of going in for a STAT ultrasound or waiting for this one, saying that a problem would show up in either case. Since I had Joshua's preschool program, I opted to wait. I thought it was a good decision that day, but then it kept coming to my mind. Next, she told me that the positioning of my uterus would cause me "more pain than the average woman experiences during pregnancy." Unfortunately, I didn't think to even ask what she meant because I was so focused on the missing heartbeat. But, I have had some cramping and pain, and I was concerned that meant there was a problem with the baby. Also, I've been violently sick on some days. This has lead to missed vitamins (which are critical for the baby's development) and I wondered if my sickness was a sign of problems. I was sick with Joshua, and he had a lung issue. I was healthy with Caleb and he was completely healthy. So, I continued to pray, and I'll ask that if you're reading this, please take a moment to stop and pray for our baby!

Grandma arrived before 8 am on December 2 to help watch the boys and get Joshua to preschool so Daddy & I could go to the ultrasound. When we got to Women's & Babies' Hospital, we went to the new office of Maternal Fetal Medicine and I registered, letting the receptionist know that we prefer to see Dr. Bayliss since he was so key in our first son's life. We only saw Dr. Boley once, and he couldn't tell us the CVR for Joshua (or ratio of the lung mass to the size of the baby's head, which is a huge indicator of survival for the malformation Joshua had). He ended up going to get Dr. Bayliss to finish our appointment, and I never saw him again thereafter, with any of our children. The receptionist told me that they don't allow patients to pick their doctors, but she would tell the nurses and allow them to decide. We waited quite awhile to be seen, but thankfully it was Dr. Bayliss' ultrasound tech who came for us. I think we waited because Dr. Bayliss was busy that morning (we saw him with other patients), but he did in fact see us. I was thrilled - this was a major answer to prayer for us!

The tech asked us how Joshua was doing. She genuinely smiled and said she was glad to hear the good report, adding that she often hears the opposite (meaning not all children are so lucky or blessed). What she said really impacted me - God has been so faithful to us even in the fact that Joshua is alive and thriving! Again, I was thankful for His answer to our prayers. Then she put the wand on my belly, and at first I didn't see the heart beating. My heart began to pound. Then she zoomed in and showed me the heart beating away. I was thrilled! Shawn all but rolled his eyes at me. Haaa!!! He told me the entire time that everything was fine and I shouldn't worry, but he continued to pray when I would ask him to. :)

Then the ultrasound tech began to take measurements as well as pictures of the baby for us. She answered a question I had from my last ultrasound about the location of one of my ovaries, and I was glad for the information. But, as she continued I began to stress about how many times she took pictures of the neck fluid thickness; I know this is a major indication of down syndrome and other genetic diseases. She also asked me some questions afterward about if any of these diseases or spina bifida runs in either family. I didn't remember these questions from before, which I told Shawn. They may have asked them, though, and I just didn't remember. As we waited what felt like an eternity for Dr. Bayliss to come in (he wasn't terribly long, but when you're worrying, every minute feels like hours!), I continued to pray for the health of our little one.

Now let me stop here and say if anyone reading this has a child with a developmental issue, I realize that there are worse things in this world. That said, I think all parents want the absolute best for their children, including the best health and chances at an abundant life. That's what I was praying for. I think Shawn was just praying that it wouldn't be multiples. Haaa!!!

Dr. Bayliss finally came in, and can I tell you just how much we like him? :) :) :) He told us first that they look for fluid behind the neck, which I knew from before, as this measurement is an indication of developmental problems. A number of 2.5 or greater means 'high risk.' Ours was only 2.1, which I confirmed with him multiple times, meaning that our baby does not show any indication of risk (not that there can't be problems in the future, but we're not considered 'high risk'). Then he proceeded to tell us that neck fluid can also mean problems with the heart and lungs (with excess lymphatic fluid), etc. Now they also take blood work to screen for heart and lung problems (which would have tipped them off to Joshua's issues) and, even more impressive to me, they have a test now which will indicate the risk level for a woman to experience preeclampsia. Since I experienced it with my first pregnancy, I'm considered high risk for it, so they will do the test to see if there's any indication it will affect this pregnancy. Depending on the test results, I would have more doctor's appointments and ultrasounds and closer attention. I thought how amazing technology is these days! In just four years, so much has changed (really even in two years since we had Caleb!). Shawn also said how much he appreciates Dr. Bayliss' explanations for us - he lets us know exactly what's going on, why they look for certain things, and how it affects us.

The next thing he showed us was our baby's nose bridge bone. He noted that the absence of a bridge bone is another indicator of down syndrome (roughly 70% of all downs children lack the bone needed to hold up their glasses). Our baby has the bone already, another good indication. Finally, they look at other risk factors including age (and thankfully I'm not over 35 so that's in our favor), genetics and so forth to give us a risk factor of pregnancy problems. In his words, with all their tests, this pregnancy looks "in tact." That doesn't meant that there won't be problems, but there are no major signs of any at this time.

I could have cried at that moment - tears of joy, of course! God is sooo good to us! The baby looks healthy! Praise the Lord! I almost skipped out of the office. Before leaving, Dr. Bayliss also told us that he knows that we requested him. He also said that they can't guarantee on a busy day that we'll get to see him UNLESS we pick the one day that he's the only doctor seeing patients. Then we are guaranteed to have him, and he told us what day that was to schedule our appointments. We both could have kissed him! So, we went out to schedule our appointment and made sure to ask for the day he recommended. At that appointment in January, we'll determine the sex of our baby. [Dr. Bayliss said sometimes he can tell the baby's sex this early in the pregnancy, but our little one was not in a good position for them to see this time round.] We went down for the blood work and then left to get a chai and java chip lite to celebrate our good news on the way home and then Shawn quickly left for work.

These pictures are all from that appointment of course. I told the tech that our third child looks like its brothers, at least at this age! Haaa!!! Here are the last few weeks of development:

Week 11 Starting with this week, the baby is now called a fetus. The most critical part of the baby's development is over. This is a period of rapid growth, and the baby is about an inch or so in length at the beginning of the week and will be about 2 inches by the end of the week. The baby's head is about half its length. The eyelids will fuse shut, and the irises will begin to develop. Sometime during this week or the next week, blood will begin to circulate between the baby and uterus and the placenta starts to function. Week 12

By this point, nearly all of the organs and structures of the fetus are formed. They will continue to grow and develop until delivery. Fingers and toes have separated and hair and nails begin to grow. The genitals begin to take on their gender characteristics. Amniotic fluid begins to accumulate as the baby's kidneys begin to produce and excrete urine. The muscles in the intestinal walls begin to practice peristalsis - contractions within the intestines that digest food.

Around this week, your uterus will shift up and forward as it grows. The good news is it won't be pressing on your bladder so much and those bathroom visits will get less frequent. Enjoy this while you can because by the third trimester, the uterus will grow large enough to sit on your bladder once again. Morning sickness is usually getting better by this time, and you may be less tired. Headaches and light-headedness are common now thanks to the increased blood volume but be sure to discuss these symptoms with your care provider.

Week 13 
Welcome to the second trimester! This is the most comfortable and enjoyable stage of pregnancy. Most of the difficult early symptoms are over (or soon will be), and your tummy isn't getting in the way yet. If you're still feeling tired, listen to your body and REST. It's working hard right now!  
As your uterus stretches, you may feel some abdominal achiness. The ligaments that hold up your uterus stretch to accommodate your growing uterus. This is called "round ligament pain".

As our baby continues to develop, the vocal cords begin to form. The face is looking more and more human each day as the eyes begin to move closer together instead of being on the sides of the head and the ears move to a normal position. It would be possible now to determine the baby's sex by looking at the genitals if we could only get close enough. (We usually can't "guess" via ultrasound until around the 16th week.) The intestines move farther into the baby's body; the liver begins to secrete bile and the pancreas begins to produce insulin. A very busy week indeed!