And the baby is a.....

Before I tell you what the baby IS, let me tell you (or rant to you) about our ultrasound.

We went to our US today at 5pm. The US tech performed the US, and she took all kinds of measurements on the baby. She explained that all the measurements gave a due date, and that she would average the due dates and then give us a more accurate, specific due date. Then, all of the sudden, the tech tells us "ok, let me go get your doctor"....

Well naturally at 5pm our doctor has gone home for the day. The tech proceeds to tell us that there seems to be a problem with the heart. She explained that she believes one side of the heart (the right) is smaller than the left side. But the heart is working fine, all the parts and pieces are there, she just thought the size was wrong. So Chris asked her what that means. Then she proceeds to tell us that it could mean any number of things, but what jumps out to her is Down's Syndrome. (Now, a former professor of mine would probably have jumped down her throat about her diagnosing ANYTHING because her job is not diagnosis...it is far out of her 'scope of practice' so technically she should have never said what she did. She should have just told us about the abnormality and that she would schedule us for a specialist).

She THEN proceeds to tell me that there was a test that they could have had done earlier that would have shown us for sure, but that I had turned it down because my insurance wouldn't pay for it. I almost slapped the lady. OF COURSE I didn't pay for it...because I don't CARE if the baby has Down's, we are going to keep the baby! AND THEN I explained to her that I DID pay for another test (quad 4 screen) that gives the same results although it is slightly less accurate (it is like 75-80% accurate) and that THOSE results came back normal. THEN she acted like she hadn't even looked in my chart to see that I had that particular test done OR what the outcome was.

She then started wiping the gel up and turning off the machine......without telling us the sex. So I promptly asked, and the baby is quite obviously a BOY!!!

But, this US tech didn't stop upsetting us the rest of the visit....she forgot to give us photos until the VERY last second, when she ripped the last three photos off and handed them to us...and they were probably the worst three of the whole set. One of them I'm not even going to scan into the computer because it looks like NOTHING although she said it was feet. AND THEN she didn't even give us that more specific due date she had talked about.

So all in all we are happy about the boy, but made about the US in general. We aren't mad about the results regarding the heart...we are mad at the US tech for being so unprofessional and pretty much ruining our idea of how ultrasounds are supposed to go. We could care less about the heart situation. We are going to love this little boy no matter what is wrong.

After all of that, we finally got to tell our parents the sex. For both sides of the family, we called our little sisters first (remember them, the ones that found out dead last that we were pregnant?). Well we told each of them first, and then told the rest of our family...so I guess we are all even now!

Look for another update soon...hopefully we will talk to our specialist very soon! Until then, just say a prayer and be happy like we are that we have a little boy to look forward to! Enjoy the US photos!! The first is of the face and belly (you can actually see the two dark circles under the face are the uneven heart spaces that the lady was talking about) The second is the money shot...if you will....

~Kathy

New US Date!

So Chris realized that he couldn't attend the ultrasound if it was on the 14th of August because he has a mandatory meeting for work in Birmingham. I was worried they would push the date back even more when I asked them to reschedule, but THANK GOD they found a date earlier...well, its only three days earlier but we'll take it. So now we will find out what we have on August 11!

~Kathy

The wait continues...

I went to the doctor yesterday for my monthly check-up. It took all of 5 minutes. We drew blood for more routine tests and we listened to the heart beat. It took her a while to find the heart beat which scared the mess out of me, but it turns out the baby was moving all over the place and she couldn't pin point it long enough to get a rate! You could actually hear the sound of swooshing as the baby moved away from the Doppler sound head. She did finally track it down and it was at 152 beat per minute which is great.

I've been feeling the baby more which is pretty alien. Chris THINKS he may have felt it the other day but it is still hard for him to feel. The doctor was surprised I felt it as early as I did but I think when you are really aware of what you should be feeling you probably notice it earlier.

The one big disappointment from the doctors appointment was that they forgot to schedule my 20 week ultrasound. This is the big ultrasound where they take measurements of all the limbs and organs and figure out if its a boy or girl. Apparently they forgot to set mine up and so they had to scramble to get me an appointment soon. There is a time frame of a couple weeks to get these particular measurements before the baby gets too big and crowded in for them to be accurate. So they got me the earliest date they could...AUGUST 14!!! Ugh. I thought I just had a few days let to wait, not a few weeks!! And so we will continue to wait and continue to hold off planning a room, etc. until AUGUST....

But other than that no complaints. Other than the number on the scale at the MDs is bigger than I ever thought I would see in my life....still on track with healthy weight gaining...it just sucks to see that number on the screen!!

~Kathy

Kicking

I started to feel kicking a few weeks ago, but now I know for sure that is what I am feeling. At first it's hard to decide if it's anything at all because it's so light and so infrequent. Now I feel something almost every day. Chris says he still can't feel it but I figure in a couple of weeks that will change.

We have a week and a half until the next MD appointment. Hopefully the 20 week ultrasound will be the week after that. Up to this point pregnancy has been rather dull for us...which isn't a bad thing at all. But I'm ready to find out what we are having and to start moving forward with plans for a baby room and things of that nature!

Heartbeat

I just got back from the MD. It was a much faster appointment than the last one. I was in there for about 5 minutes total! All we did was listen to the heartbeat, which sounded great...147 beats a minute. It was so freakin' loud, it actually shocked the MD a little! My next appointment is July 23. I'll be 18-19 weeks then, and we will schedule the 20 week US at that point.

According to the scale, I have gained 5 lbs since day one (the goal is to only gain 25ish). And I am relatively sure it all came on in the last week. I bought my first pair of 'pregger' pants...the ones with the big soft waist band...they are the greatest! Chris was a little bothered by them...he said they are 'mom jean training pants.' I'm hoping that starting work next week (now that I have passed the board exam and have a license) will keep me gaining just what I need to and nothing more!! I'm so tired of sitting around this house and doing nothing!!!

I tried to get Chris to write an entry for the blog. He said he'll write one when it's 'man time'....when the nursery gets painted and the furniture gets put together!

~Kathy

New Diagnosis

One of the first things my doctor did was a full panel blood screen for all kinds of crazy stuff. I thought it was just to look for pregnancy related issues. But I got a call from her saying that they found that I have a form of Hypothyroidism. TOTALLY unrelated to pregnancy, apparently hypothyroidism is a condition of low thyroid hormone that causes low metabolism and low organ function. She put me on a pill that will level out that issue. She said it is something that I have probably had since I was a kid and would have the rest of my life. Joy. But obviously I was doing fine not knowing I had it in the first place. I know I won't notice this now, since I will be gaining weight steadily regardless thanks to baby, but I am curious if these pills will actually increase my metabolism. We shall see.

She did tell me everything else checked out fine on the blood screen. Apparently these new screens are sensitive enough to pick up warning signs of things like the trisomy conditions and cystic fibrosis. So we can at least be relatively sure we won't have to deal with those now!

~Kathy

Cancelled Tests

I cancelled the elective tests that my doctor suggested to me. She is really young and obviously really into the technology out there and for some people I'm sure these tests are very important. They are meant to detect Down Syndrome and a number of other trisomy conditions, as well as neural tube defects. But in all honesty it doesn't matter to us what they find or don't find on the tests. We would continue with the pregnancy either way. I guess if someone felt differently then it might be worth doing them. On top of that, it is likely not covered by my insurance, as it is an elective procedure, and I would rather spend $600 on baby stuff rather than a few extra ultrasounds!

~Kathy