AH HAH! I knew there was a catch.

Well, we can’t just do this whole pregnancy thing the easy way with NO problematic test results, now can we?! The good news? The bad news doesn’t seem like a cause to panic. At least not yet. And maybe not at all. Here’s the deal:

My bloodwork came back today from Thursday’s wonderful appointment. The risk of Downs and Trisomy are really low. That’s good. There is another marker that they check for if you have the 12 week scan done. (If you don’t have the 12 week scan, it’s never checked.) It’s called PAPP-A protein. They want your number to fall in the average range, or around 50%. So, for example, 30-70% would all be considered normal, because its rare to be EXACTLY average. Well, wouldn’t you just know it. I don’t settle for average. I shoot for the stars. My number is lower than 97.5% of women who have the test done…and since this isn’t golf, its not so good to have a low number. So. What does this mean? Hopefully NOT A DARN THING. But don’t Google it. I beg of you. Because the list of things that could go wrong is long and quite mean. I asked the computer to no longer speak to me that way.

All the things that could go wrong are third trimester bad things all having to do with the placenta and the baby’s ability to grow and thrive that late in pregnancy. Is this a way of getting me to think past 18 weeks?

So what are they going to do? Right now, nothing. We’re going to wait and cross all of our fingers and toes. Then we’ll have the BIG ultrasound done between 20-22 weeks, just like all those average folks. The difference is that after that, I’m going to need to have another BIG ultrasound done later on in my pregnancy, just to check. This will mean I get to be declared high risk (there’s a joke there…but I can’t quite find it right now…) and I become a real fun “new patient” in GA when we move. I’ll need to find a regular OB and a high risk OB in GA. I guess it’s a good way to get people to know my name quickly in a new place.

I love our OB here. She’s wonderful. So today I looked at her and said, “You’d tell me if I should panic or really get started worrying, right?” She said she would. “And this is NOT the time to panic, right?” She said it wasn’t. So we’re NOT panicking. We’re going to get to see the baby a few more times before he/she is born, and that’s a good thing. And ultimately the sentence, “We won’t really worry about it until the baby is viable.” was said today. And somehow, to us, that was strangely comforting.

If you’re the praying kind, we could use prayers that there is no reason to worry about baby’s development and ability to stay comfortable until he/she is full term and also that his/her mommy and daddy are able to stay calm  less worried until doctors can confirm that everything is a-okay.

12 Week Ultrasound :-)

I can take a deep breath. And I have definitely smiled. I might have even relaxed a little. Everything looks good. They could definitely rule out anencephaly. This baby has a lovely little noggin’. There are no signs of Downs Syndrome from the ultrasound, though of course we’re still waiting on blood work, because of my age they didn’t seem too concerned at this point. Blood work should be back on Monday. Now then, the reason ultrasounds are fun: PICTURES!

  Baby E was just relaxing today. That’s the head to the left, and you can even see the brain developing.

Here’s another one of true relaxation.

  This has to be my favorite (apart from the beautifully developed head, of course) That arrow is pointing to a cute little foot sticking up in the air.

More relaxation techniques, but this time with a leg up and resting too.

 

Now then, I think I’ll spend the rest of my evening being thankful. It’s the way we roll on Thursday’s, you know.

Week 11

Well, I hit 11 weeks on Friday and the baby, who is now the size of a lime, must have hit a growth spurt. I hope that’s what it is anyway, because the other option is that the baby became very angry with me, and I’m not sure what I did to deserve it. I have been battling with food all weekend and the early part of this week. I tell you all that to tell you this…

I’m thankful. And I don’t want to ever, ever forget it. Grow baby, grow and be healthy and I’ll deal with your anger/growth the best I can…which admittedly is not always with as much grace as I’d like. 

My mom is coming up to visit tomorrow so that she can go with me to my 12 week ultrasound. This is the extra scan that’s being done to check for any genetic problems that the baby may have, so I’m super thankful she’s going to come with me. I’m hoping and praying and crossing my fingers and toes that it’s just another chance to see a beautiful healthy baby growing like a little…lime?

I was chatting with two of my friends/co-workers this afternoon and the topic of my students noticing/not noticing my pregnancy came up. It’s funny how a child’s current life experience totally dictates what they notice. Last year, I had a student who’s mom was pregnant when I found out that I was pregnant. She took one look at my ginger-ale and not feeling well and needing to sit down more and she asked me flat out, “Are you pregnant? My mom only started doing that stuff when she was pregnant.” I was probably 8 weeks pregnant at the time, maybe 9 weeks. This time around even when I’m running out of the classroom to the bathroom, coming back with wet paper towels to try to keep the back of my neck cold, missing all kinds of school for doctor’s appointments and wearing maternity clothes, oh yeah and the real kicker- the other teachers talk to me about the pregnancy in the hallway in front of my class….NOT A SINGLE KID HAS ASKED! Crazy.

Happy Week 10 of Pregnancy!

I’m happy to report that as of Friday the baby becomes a fetus! As Brianne was super excited to inform me, the baby looks like a cute little teddy graham at this point, but with moving arms. I have to say that this afternoon I nearly cried (who’s shocked? not me.)over how thankful I am to have friends at school, not just coworkers. It makes the hard days so much more tolerable and the good days so much better.

Baby is about an inch long, or about the size of a prune. (Really, Bump.com?! You couldn’t find a better fruit/veggie?!)

As of this week I am not even attempting to get into my regular clothes. I have a little baby pooch and I see no reason to attempt to squeeze into my clothes when I have my maternity clothes back in my closet. (Thanks Shannon!)

After being informed that my afore mentioned “You know you’re pregnant when…” might not be a result of pregnancy due to a non-pregnant friend telling me I feel the need to add a new entry. You know you’re pregnant when at 6:00 you realize that if you don’t bake the pound cake soon, it won’t be done before bedtime…you know, 8pm.

9.5 Weeks

Here’s baby! Baby is upside down this time around. What an industrious baby to have turned a complete 180 without fully formed arms and legs! The head is down where one of those cursor marks is at the bottom and those are little hands sticking out the sides. I got to see the whole little body wiggle from head to toe a couple of times.

I was a wreck yesterday. I haven’t quite gotten to the point yet where I’m not expecting terrible news when I go to the doctor. I can’t wait until I can feel the baby kicking his/her reassurance to me. After all, if the baby loves wiggling at nearly 10 weeks along, surely the kicking will happen like mad a little down the road….right?

In more pregnancy news, I would like encourage all pregnant women add to my list of “You know you’re pregnant when….” Today I’d like to start with just one simple one. You know you’re pregnant when the Fancy Feast commercial makes you cry. You know the one with the little white cat with the “will you marry us” tag? And then the cat is at the wedding?! Oh yes, tears. And I’m really not all that into cats.

In other news, we’re rapidly progressing toward our summer move. It looks like we’ll be all moved out of this house by the end of June and we’ll be long-term visitors in Georgia. I must admit I called down to the base housing office in Ft. Benning today and was THRILLED to hear the southern accent on the voicemail recording. Ah, my people. However, I’ve never lived anywhere where I was from the “north.” That will be quite different.

Well, it’s 7:15…you know, nearly my bedtime….zzzzzz……

Happy Friday!

TGIF. For reals.

Today I am 9 weeks pregnant. Last week, I failed to inform you that the baby was the size of a raspberry. This week the baby is the size of an olive.  And good news, this week the baby starts to look more like a baby!

Another doctor’s appointment on Tuesday. This time it’s with my normal OB/GYN. Super excited for a friend with a BIG ultrasound the same day. Can’t wait to hear the results of both my appointment and hers!

A funny story for your day: Chestnut’s extra treats (and many of the “good ones”) are stored in a cabinet in our garage. This morning he was running over to me and then running to the garage door time and time again. I finally opened the door and let him out, at which point he treed the cabinet. Yeah, apparently the secret’s out. He knows where the good treats are and he’s decided he should have them when he pleases. Of course, I reinforced this behavior by handing him one. I mean, wouldn’t you?? I was too impressed not to!