fetal echocardiogram

I had a fetal echocardiogram (picture of the baby's heart) at 23 1/2 weeks (December 3). She wasn't always cooperate but they got a good look at everything. Multiple times she was flipping the wrong way and putting her hands across her chest. The tech did some initial pictures and then the pediatric cardiologist (who I work with) came in to look. He said everything so far looks good. Any of the defects I had with my heart didn't seem to show on her heart...and any other defects weren't apparent. He said that little defects may not be picked up on the echo and she will just have to be evaluated for murmurs when she gets to the 4-6 month mark by the pediatrician. I am just happy to know that nothing big was detected.

Ordered her baby furniture today!

Today we went to Behr's furniture store today. We had gotten a few recommendations to go there. I had gotten a postcard in the mail a few weeks back that they were gonna have some booths set up with chances to win a few prices, so we figured that would be a good time to go. I did a few raffles like free baby picture package, free baby cleaning products, gift card to the furniture store. Rich's mom was nice enough to go so she also put her name in to give us another chance to win.

Then we ordered our furniture. We are buying a convertible crib (converts to toddler bed and full size bed), toddler bed rails, conversion set to make it a full size bed, one long dresser, one tall dresser, nightstand, and glider. It's a lot of money but a good investment since the it is good quality furniture. We decided on the Munire Savannah collection. Here is the link if anyone wants to see it...we are going to get it in the cherry wood. Love the white, but the cherry goes with our bedding for her better... http://www.munirefurniture.com/savannah_01.htm

And here is the bedding we are going to have for her: http://www.cocalo.com/item.asp?id=66&brand=1&g=1&coll=&cat=1

I can't wait to see the final product!

20 week appointment

Wednesday was my 20 week appointment. I can't believe it's the halfway point. Seems like time is flying by. It was a pretty uneventful appointment. Weight check, urine sample, blood pressure check. They also checked the heart rate with the doppler...and it was easier to find this time. Then spoke with my OB. He still was encouraging the amniocentesis, but if the specialist doesn't think it's necessary, I am gonna pass on it. He feels to be safe though, he's gonna do an ultrasound once a month to watch the baby's growth and make sure everything stays ok. He says everythings looks on track though.

I have the following appointments now scheduled for the near future. Next week I have an appointment with my cardiologist. I haven't seen him since I got pregnant, and ever before struggling to get pregnant. Hopefully things with my heart looks the same. The at 23 weeks I have a fetal echocardiogram scheduled, so we can make sure our baby girl's heart is ok. Then I go back to see my OB at 34 weeks. That's when I have to do the glucose tolerance test...where they see if I am gonna have gestational diabetes.

Level II sono

So today was supposed to be the day we had our level II ultrasound but it was actually done 1 and 1/2 weeks ago. The couple weeks before were very emotional for us. The bloodwork I had done at my 16 week appointment for different disorders came back with an elevated AFP level. I had a repeated a week or so later and again found out it was elevated. Elevated AFP levels can show a risk for spina bifida, small or no brain, abdominal wall defects, kidney problems, and a few other things. My OB called me when he got the results of the repeat bloodwork. He explained that he wanted me to move the ultrasound up sooner and that I had to consider doing an amniocentesis. The idea of amnio never crossed my mind ever...and I was concerned about doing one...there are risks of miscarriage and infection with having one. So my OB told me to think about it and he made me an appointment for my ultrasound that day. I was very upset of the possibility of something being wrong with our child. Rich was really great through this whole thing. He took the day off of work for the sonogram to hold my hand. He told me that if we need to do the amnio then we have to do it. So we went in with the intention that if the high risk specialist felt we needed to have one, we would do it. So luckily, all with baby Luckman is great! They were able to visualize everything that would have indicated a problem, and all those things looked fine...even with the baby wiggling like crazy...our baby is very active! The specialist felt that an amniocentesis would not give us anymore data that the ultrasound had given us. That was such a relief. And the best part of it all was that we were able to find out what were are having....it's a GIRL!!!!!!!! I am so excited...but I had the feeling we were having a girl since the beginning. Rich is a little overwhelmed and keeps asking me "what do u do with a girl?", but I know he's gonna be fine. He is starting to warm up to the idea. The day after the ultrasound, I went to NH to visit my family. He ended up sending me beautiful tulips with a teddy bear and card that read "for my girls. love, daddy" And the other day we picked out some pink mets clothing. He is gonna be a great dad and I'm lucky to have him in my life.

So I figured I'd finally break down and take a picture of my growing belly. So here it is.

And here are the three pictures I got of our baby girl from our ultrasound. They aren't the greatest pictures cuz she is a wiggly worm...they apologized and said they would try to get better ones when I go for the fetal echocardiogram (picture of her heart).

16 week appointment

Yesterday was my 16 week appointment. I can't believe I'm already on my 16th week. It's just flying by so fast. Rich's mom came along with me. She had the day off and Rich wasn't gonna be home yet from work so I invited her along. It was a pretty quick appointment...urine check, Blood pressure check, weight check, blood work, and baby's heartbeat check. I only gained around 2 more pounds since the last appointment. The blood work they did was the second part of the genetic screening. The challenging part was finding the heartbeat. It kinda made me nervous because it took so long to find it. I thought I'd heart one beat but then it would disappear. Finally we found it and it was strong. The problem was that the baby was moving all over, which is a good thing! Then my OB came in to examine me and he said he's happy how everything is progressing and I am right on track. So my next appointment with him is at 20 weeks...I scheduled it two days after my 20 week ultrasound so hopefully he'll have my results by then. He also wants me to schedule a fetal echocardiogram, which is a sonogram of the baby's heart. It relieved me that he suggested it, with my history of congenital heart defects. So I will schedule that around 22 weeks.

I still have been feeling pretty good overall. I have a cold right now but it seems to be getting better today. I am still pretty tired overall; I am hoping that will go away soon.

12 week appointment

Rich and I went to the 12 week appointment yesterday after he got out of work. It was a pretty quick appointment. Did the standard pee in a cup, weight check, and Blood pressure check. The nurses also checked the heartbeat with a doppler. They said to not worry if we didn't hear it cuz I am still early and then they would have did an ultrasound to check. It took a little while, which made me nervous (I am always nervous going to appointments). But the nurse finally found it. It is really cool how they can put the doppler up to my stomach now and hear the baby's heartbeat. They asked us both if we heard it and we both said yes. But of course, when the nurses walked out of the room Rich told me he actually didn't hear it. I was so upset at him. I told him he should have spoke up. They would have helped him hear it. That's why I brought him to the appointment....to hear the heartbeat on the doppler. The doctor then came in and told us the NT scan we had a week ago showed low risk for Down's and that all my bloodwork and urine has been good so far. He said I've only gained two pounds so far, which is right on track. He also said that the ovarian cyst is no longer a concern anymore, even if it's there. I no longer have restrictions, which is a relief. I plan on seeing him in 4 weeks. He also gave me the information about where to schedule my level II ultrasound. I called today so that we could get the time of our choosing...it is scheduled for November 10 at 9:30am. So hopefully if this little one behaves, we will be able to find out then if we are having a boy or girl! Rich will be taking the day off so we can go there and then celebrate by going to lunch and starting our registry. We can't wait!

NT scan

On Saturday, we had our NT scan. NT means Nuchal translucency screening. According to babycenter.com this scan can help your healthcare practitioner assess your baby's risk of having Down syndrome (DS) and some other chromosomal abnormalities as well as major congenital heart problems.The NT test uses ultrasound to measure the clear (translucent) space in the tissue at the back of your developing baby's neck. Babies with abnormalities tend to accumulate more fluid at the back of their neck during the first trimester, causing this clear space to be larger than average.The NT scan must be done when you're between 11 and 14 weeks pregnant. It's usually offered along with a blood test in what's known as first-trimester combined screening. I was so happy that they scheduled it for a Saturday so Rich was able to see the baby himself, since he hasn't been able to make any appointments yet. I guess I was still expecting them to do an internal ultrasound, but was happy they were able to do it abdominally. I can't believe how big our baby has gotten and how much our baby has changed since the 8 1/2 week appointment. Although Rich denies that he said this, he did say "wow it actually looks like a baby". I saw the mouth and hands moving. It was wild! So they measured the back of the neck and the measurement was .77...and i think anything below 2 is good. They also did a finger prick for the genetic screening test. I will get the results next week when I go back to see my OB. The tech also checked on my left ovary where I had the three cysts. I thought a week or so ago, I may have burst one of them...and I think I was right cuz there is only one cyst left...hopefully that will go away soon. Here are two pictures they gave us from the ultrasound.

I have been feeling pretty good still. I am a little less tired than I have been but it's still there. Haven't had any morning sickness. Yesterday, however, I woke up with stomach hurting..I ended up vomitting three times. I couldn't hold anything down. I thought that maybe it was related to pregnancy but was a little confused that it would wait til 11 weeks ago. Later on in the day though it ended up going the other way. So I must have had a stomach bug. I feel a little better today. I am able to keep food down. And no more stomach issues since early this morning. So don't know where this stomach bug came from but happy I am feeling better.