Another Quick Ultrasound

Today I am 20 weeks and 4 days and I saw both of my doctors. My first was my Perinatologist for my cervix check, quick baby check ultrasound, and P17 shot.

Our girl is looking as beautiful as ever :'). Dylan thinks that she has my chin just like her sister did, and I think that this time she has her dad's full lips. We'll see who she takes after soon enough!

Before the ultrasound tech. looked at my stitch I got to have a quick ultrasound to check on Emily. Her heartbeat is 142 BPM. I was flabbergasted when we were watching the screen and suddenly she opened her mouth BIG and wide for a long yawn! It was the sweetest moment!

My cervix check went very well. No shortening, but with some pressure on my belly the part that is closest to the baby opens VERY, very slightly. It's not concerning my specialist right now, but the cerclage is there for a good reason! I will have another check in three weeks to follow up, and after that I may start tapering off those ultrasounds. After a certain point it will naturally have some changes and as long as I am having no troubles with the stitch all should be good.

After the ultrasounds I talked to my specialist about my E.R. visit and what could cause that. He said without a doubt it was pregnancy related and it is very common, but I did the right thing getting looked at if I was having unexpected pains. If it starts happening a lot and is bothering me though(which it only happened that one time) then he would have me monitored. The best news though was that he said drinking decaf coffee would have no connection to it, so Dylan agreed with him and took my coffee can out of hiding lol! I also got my test results back for Down Syndrome today and my numbers are now 1:10,000. I am very grateful that Emily is doing so well.

I then went to my regular OB's office for heartbeat check, all still looked good, and he measured my belly from top to bottom. I'm right on track :). I have just two more visits with him and then they will go from every 4 weeks to every 2 weeks, it's all happening so fast!

5 Months! And Yet Another E.R. Trip

This Sunday marks 20 weeks, exactly half way to my due date (although I'll be delivering before then).

My belly is getting more round each week, and I am getting a LOT of kicks and rolls from Emily! This passed week I have felt kicks, thumps, what felt like a knee, rolls, stretches, and her curling up into a ball on more than one occasion. Yesterday I felt really low down on my belly a hard spot and I tried to rule out what it was, I thought maybe it was my bladder (like I had to "go") or maybe some Braxton Hicks contractions. After a few minutes I decided to press a little on the hard spot, and surprisingly it was Emily's little body there. She kicked and stretched out against my hand and then seemed to squirm back up into my belly haha! I felt bad for disturbing her where she was, but it was a little uncomfortable having her so low hehe so I was thankful that she moved.

Another incident happened yesterday. Right after my husband and I woke up I had my morning cup of decaf coffee and a bowl of cereal. Right in the middle of my breakfast I had these terrible sharp chest pains and nothing I did made them go away. I tried stretching my chest and arms out and rubbing the area (my left side) and it just hurt all over. I had Dylan listen to my heartbeat and he said it was thumping really hard and fast, and I could feel it pumping out of my chest. It was pretty scary! So we decided to run down to the quickcare and get me checked out.

As it turns out, the pain went away while I was in the waiting room and I was literally about to walk out the door when my name was called. It's a good thing I stayed because they checked my heartbeat and it was all over at 91-113 beats per minute. It would go fast and then slow down and then fast again. My usual resting BPM is in the 70s so that was probably why I could feel it so strongly. They gave me an EKG and some oxygen and then transferred me by ambulance to their E.R. for more testing. I had some blood taken (yet again!) and a chest x-ray, as well as an ultrasound to check on the baby. All looked good but my blood work showed that I was a little low on my potassium and calcium. So after my heart rate got back to normal (and the pains were gone for a few hours) they discharged me.

Dylan was pretty worried about me so he wants me to stay away from coffee/caffeine (since this happened as I was drinking my morning cup), even the little bit that's in decaf. I can do that even though I have a serious love affair with coffee and will miss it hehe. I certainly don't want to have any more issues with my heart rate! I will be asking my specialist this Thursday if it is common to have palpitations during pregnancy and if there is anything I can do to help, other than eat lots of bananas and drink more milk!

19 Weeks

I'm getting so big each week now, it's happening so fast! This was taken the day before 19 weeks:

And this was taken the next day:

I'm officially about half way to my c-section! This week has been very easy going. No real aches or pains, just slightly out of breath when I'm moving around too much. I've been able to catch up on cleaning the house and laundry. My maternity clothes are beginning to fit better as my belly grows.

Emily has also been moving around! I don't feel her regularly but at least every other day now I feel a few little jabs or rolls from her. On Monday night I felt her start kicking and had Daddy lay his head on my belly, and to our surprise he actually felt her kick his head a few times! It meant so much to me that he could experience that right now <3. I feel her move the most late at night and early in the morning. At 5:00am this morning I felt her feet kick one side of my belly and her hands punch the other side, like she did a jumping jack in there. I can't believe how much I've missed this feeling.

Daddy and I also found this onesie at the store the other day and it was the only one they had in stock, so we had to buy it. We love our girls so very much <3.

Anatomy Scan!

I would like to formally introduce our perfectly healthy baby girl, Emily Claire <3.

Our anatomy ultrasound looked her over from top to bottom. They looked at her heart, kidneys, brain, bones, umbilical cord, placenta, etc. She was in perfect health in every area, which I am beyond grateful for! Our little Emily weighs in at 9 ounces and is roughly 9 inches long from head to toe, with a heartbeat of 150 BPM. It was very hard to get a good profile picture because she was head down and right next to my hip bone hehe, the poor lady had to really push around it to get a good shot! Also my placenta is looking to be a bit away from my previous c-section scar which was a big concern of mine, so I am very happy to know that it has moved up and away from it.

This scan also helped reduce her odds of having Down Syndrome because they didn't see any issues in her organs (otherwise known as markers). So instead of 1:200 chance, I'm likely to be 1:400 now. I did have my blood taken anyway just to be sure. I should hear back from the lab in about 7-10 days. Whatever the results may be we absolutely love this girl, and are thankful that she is healthy in all areas!

My next real visit will be for another cervix check (it's still looking perfect!) in two weeks. But, if it hasn't changed at all still, I will be going every 3 weeks for checks instead. Eventually I will be tapered off of these checks if all looks good and my ultrasound visits will be less and less as time goes on. I will miss seeing her pretty face so often! I will have my cerclage removed in the office around 36-37 weeks and at that point we will see how soon thereafter will be my c-section date. I am starting to get really excited now!

Oh, back tracking a few days here, at 18 weeks and 2 days (Tuesday) I felt her really kick for the first time! Not once, but FIVE times in a row against my hand! I was a little startled by how strong they were, I didn't expect to feel them like that for a few more weeks! It was a lovely surprise. Soon Daddy will be able to feel her kick too, I hope!

18 Weeks

Sunday marked 4 1/2 months :).

 
I am getting noticeably bigger every week now, and my husband enjoys pointing that out lol! I can no longer fit into any of my jeans comfortably and I have a little bit of a waddle walk. This week has also brought me a LOT of energy, I actually was able to clean the whole kitchen from top to bottom for the first time in months, and it felt great! Baby is doing well and every now and then I get a good thump from her in my belly, but with having an anterior placenta (in the front instead of the usual place on top/in back of the uterus) it makes it much harder to feel movements right now unless they are very strong or out to the side, almost like there is a pillow between her and the outside world. She's gotten me pretty good a few times though so I can't complain <3.

On Thursday we will have our anatomy ultrasound as well as my blood test and third Progesterone shot. I can't wait to see her again!

More Blood Testing

Around my 12th week I had the NT scan and first trimester blood test done for chromosomal abnormalities. My numbers came back a week or so later showing that my chances of the baby having some serious conditions were about 1:5000 (so VERY unlikely), but baby's chances of having Down Syndrome was 1:200ish, which means that they estimate that 1 in every 200 babies COULD have DS. This blood test is kind of notorious for having false positives though so they sent me in for another test two weeks ago to rule out some other issues and check for DS again. The day before yesterday I got a phone call with my results and again, baby is VERY unlikely to have conditions such as Trisomy 13 and 18 and Spina Bifida, but the Down Syndrome numbers are still just under the limit to cause concern. They would like my ratio to be above 1:270, but it is just under at 1:200ish again. According to my blood test I am more in the range of that of a 36 year old woman's risk for DS.

So, even if this is all a false alarm and a slight cause of concern for my genetic counselor we do have a 99.5% chance of NOT having Down Syndrome. The good news is that when I went in for my Progesterone shot I had a long sit down discussion with the genetic counselor. My next blood test is relatively new and will replace the last two, less accurate tests within about a year or two because it is much more accurate. They will take my blood at my next visit on Thursday (along with a cheek swab from Dylan just in case they need it). Apparently, inside the womb, baby continuously sheds skin cells into the amniotic fluid, and the placenta sheds cells that have baby's DNA, which gets absorbed into my blood stream somehow during pregnancy. This blood test will look at my blood and separate my chromosomes from baby's and they will be able to look at all of her chromosomes and especially look at the 21st pair which is where Down Syndrome comes from. If all looks normal, I will get a call a week later saying that I have a less than 1:5000 chance, but if baby does have it, I will be told that there is a greater than 99% chance that she has Down Syndrome. There is no middle ground with this test so it is very accurate.

Dylan and I are not exactly worried about my past results because like I said there is only a 0.5% chance that there is even a problem. We will absolutely love this baby no matter what the result is, there is no question about that! There is a medical concern however if the results come back again positive because babies with DS have roughly a 50% chance for heart defects and may need extra medical attention before and after birth, so we would all like to be prepared if that were the case.

All I can really do in the mean time is continue to keep calm and know that I am in wonderful hands at my specialist's office. They are constantly there for me and have helped ease my worries while keeping us informed about every step we have taken to ensure baby will be born healthy. Hopefully the next test will completely ease our worries <3.

17 Weeks and Mother's Day

I turned 17 weeks on Mother's Day Sunday, and I cannot be more thankful for everything and everyone in my life. My round ligament pains have eased up quite a bit thanks to some walking around that I've been doing, and my belly seems to have really grown in just a week's time.

 
My husband made my day so special, it makes me happy knowing that my happiness makes him happy hehe. He gave me a nice back massage (which I desperately needed!) and then decided to take me out for the day. I indulged in a half-caffeinated coffee from my favorite place and that little bit was beyond tasty since I switched to decaf when I was around 12 weeks, and I'm a coffee freak. Then we picked up my sister in law and we went out to another favorite restaurant of mine for lunch, mmm pizza!

After we ate he took us shopping and had me try on a ton of different maternity clothes. The day before was my first time this pregnancy where my regular pants were just too tight that I needed to wear my maternity shorts, so I was in need of a wardrobe update. I also had a moment just like I did when I went shopping while Evelyn was in the hospital on Mother's Day (2012) and I saw a shirt that said  "Hot Mama" that I loved, and it was the only one of it's kind and happened to be in my size, then I found this shirt yesterday (again, only one they had):

So now I have a shirt for each of my girls to commemorate the special day <3.

Later on after we went shopping at two different stores we met up with my mother in law and showed her our ultrasound DVD since she wasn't able to be with us on Saturday. I didn't realize how sweet the DVD was, we picked out Rockabye Baby Beatle's music to go with it and it was just so perfect. The music brings happy tears to my eyes. After we watched the DVD and gave her our gift we took her out to eat and I had some more yummy food!

On our way home in the car Dylan and I were talking more about picking out a name. We told some family that we liked Kimberly, but I wasn't set on it. My reasoning is that I thought of this name before even getting pregnant, and I do like it but it doesn't seem right for this baby. He agreed though that as pretty as it is he wasn't sure on it either. Then be mentioned the other name that I LOVED that I never even told him, so I think we will be going in a different direction. I won't share, though, until we agree on both a first name and a middle name :).