It's (probably) a boy!

Everything continues to go well for the most part. I'll be 15 weeks exactly tomorrow and I'm definitely starting to look it. I took advantage of the President's Day sales this past weekend and purchased a bunch of maternity clothes as my regular clothes are starting to get tight. I was a bit nervous buying clothes without knowing for sure that everything was still okay!

I'm also doing great in the weight department. I'm still down 1 pound from my pre-pregnancy weight, which is perfect since I'm only supposed to gain 15 - 20 pounds total. I think this week's return of morning sickness has helped. Now please go away already as I'm really sick of saltines for breakfast.

I had a little more brown spotting this past weekend, but it seems to have stopped. Dr. P. didn't see any obvious cause for it. The SCH seems to be gone now as well! So, there's no reason I can't go to Seattle this weekend. Yay!

Here are today's stats:
Crown to Rump Length: 9.25 cm
Fruit size comparison: Navel Orange
Heart Rate: 158 bmp
Gender: Boy (80% accuracy)
Food Cravings: Sushi, especially albacore tuna sushi (mmmm...)
Food Aversions: Chicken and eggs and gingerbread cookies (?!)

Pictures are pretty blurry, unfortunately.

Alien Brain!

I'm finally starting to relax and enjoy this pregnancy now that everything continues to look normal. I didn't get nearly as anxious before the ultrasound today as I have in the past (and my blood pressure was the lowest it's every been at that office). I still get a slight ripple of fear at the beginning of the ultrasound while we wait to see if it's moving and has a heartbeat...

I go back next tuesday for the second trimester screening test that checks for spina bifada and downs. We should get both those results and Chad's genetic testing results around the end of next week. Crossing my fingers those come back okay!

First trimester screening results

I spoke to Lynn, the very nice nurse at my OB's office today. As we pretty much expected, the results from my first trimester screening blood test are good as everything came back normal. So, my preliminary risk for trisomies is the following:

Down Syndrome - 1:340
Trisomy 18 - 1:17,000

The DS cutoff for being considered at high risk is 1:100, and my age-related risk was 1:300. Once I have the second trimester screening in two weeks, we will have the final risk assessment numbers and be able to decide whether or not we want to do an amnio.

In other news, everything is going fine. My belly is definitely pooching out more and I had to go up a notch on my belt. I still think I look like I ate too many doughnuts though as all of the growth is below my belly button. I'm still having spotting from time to time and lately it has turned pink after going #2, so I was told to take Colace and continue limiting my activity. I've been chowing down on prunes and dried apricots with little effect. It's very weird for me to actually be constipated -- I don't think that's happened since before I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis 16 years ago.

I will be officially in the second trimester after Saturday. Crazy!

12 weeks, 2 days: NT scan

This week I am officially in the second trimester if you go by development. At this point, all of the major organs are formed and just have to grow and mature. I'll be in the second trimester by gestation in another week and a few days.

We visited my OB for genetic counseling and the Nuchal Translucency scan. We met with the geneticist first to go over all of the possible conditions we could have passed on to our baby and determine what tests we want to do. Luckily neither of us is aware of any genetic issues within our families, and our ancestors come from different parts of the world, so that should lower our risk some. In going over my labs from PRC, we learned that I've already been tested for being a carrier of Cystic Fibrosis (negative) and had sufficient chromosome testing to rule out 90% of chromosome issues. We decided to just test me for Fragile X at the moment since that can cause high FSH.

Chad hasn't had any testing done yet, so in light of our history of recurrent pregnancy loss, we were advised to do chromosome testing on him since it could offer another explanation for all of the losses if something is detected.

After meeting with the geneticist, we moved to the ultrasound room for the NT scan. I was super anxious about this test since an abnormal results frequently points to birth defects... I tossed and turned all night last night and was really nauseous all morning. I hope someday I'll be able to accept that everything really is okay and I don't need to be nervous before ultrasounds... :-/

Anyway, all the worrying was for naught as the baby appears to be totally normal! First, Dr. P. showed us the baby's head and pointed out that the nasal bone is, indeed, present. Next, she checked the heartbeat, which was at 160 bpm. Then she got a couple of shots of the back of the neck where the pocket of nuchal fluid is located. That measured 1.35mm, which is great! Anything under 3mm is normal. It was a bit difficult to get a clear picture of the baby as a whole since I have a fibroid in the way and my uterus is tilted towards the back, Eventually, she switched to a transvaginal probe to look for the SCH. It's still hanging around, but down to 1.5cm from around 2.5cm last week.

Pictures are pretty fuzzy this week. It looked way cuter in person!

We asked if she could tell anything about the gender this week. Of course the little guy was being shy and had its umbilical cord hiding the goods! One shot might have looked like a penis, but it could just have easily been the umbilicus. The baby was sleeping initially, so Dr. P. knocked on my belly a bunch of times to wake it up! Pretty funny since after that it started moving all around (but not enough to move the umbilical cord out of the way). Maybe we'll have better luck at my next appointment in 2 weeks.

We should get the bloodwork results back in 1 - 2 weeks. At that point we will also get a risk assessment for the likelihood of Down's and Trisomy 18. At the moment, our thinking is that if the risk is around the same as the risk for miscarriage from an amnio (around 1:300), then we will go ahead and plan to do an amnio. My age related risk is around the same, so we'll see how much that changes based on today's tests.

In other news, since my SCH is shrinking, Dr. P. said most likely I'll be able to fly to Seattle in a few weeks!

First OB visit

I was originally supposed to first see my OB next week for the NT scan, but instead I saw her today due to Monday's incident.

As it turns out, I have a small subchorionic hematoma that was visible on the ultrasound today. It's around 1 inch across but doesn't appear to be causing a problem at the moment. The baby was very active with a heart rate of 167 bpm. It's measuring a little ahead at 11 weeks, 5 days.


Of course I had a ton of questions for her:

Q: Why did this happen? Was it due to the Lovenox?
A: We don't know why. Sometimes these things just happen. The lovenox didn't cause it and it probably would have happened even if I wasn't on blood thinners. There is an increased risk of miscarriage until it resolves, but right now the baby looks great and is developing right on track.

Q: How long should I stay on Lovenox and baby aspirin?
A: For the entire pregnancy. Since we don't know 100% why I've lost so many pregnancies but I have moderately high anticardiolipin antibodies, it's best to just keep treating me as if that's the sole cause. I will switch to heparin around 34 weeks and we will schedule an induction about 10 days before my due date so we can take me off the blood thinners before hand. If I got into labor while on blood thinners, I won't be able to have an epidural! So, if all goes well, I will have the baby in the first week of August.

Q: How often will I be monitored?
A: Every other week until 32 weeks, then every week. Being high risk means lots of scans!

Q: How long do I have to stay on bed rest?
A: Through the weekend. I can go back to work on Monday assuming there is no more heavy bleeding.

Q: How long do I have to stay on pelvic rest?
A: At least 3 weeks, probably longer. This means no exercise beyond walking and no sex.

Q: Will I be able to fly to Seattle at the end of February?
A: Maybe. She will check me a couple of days beforehand and make a decision then.


Also, I lost 5 pounds in the last month! I'm elated since I've tried REALLY hard to not gain any weight yet. Since I'm starting out overweight, I need to keep my total weight gain between 15 and 25 pounds. I figured this would be difficult since I haven't been allowed to go to the gym in, like, 3 months. I guess nausea does have some benefits!

Best part for last; here are the latest pics of our little alien baby:

The SCH is the black spot on the left.

What a nice, alien-looking brain you have!

11 weeks! Also bed rest, day 2

I'm 11 weeks today! This is exciting because out of 6 pregnancies, it's the farthest I've ever made it. I'd prefer if it was complication free, but hey -- you can't have everything.

I spent yesterday mostly lounging on the couch with the puppy. We watched some really fascinating tv shows like House Hunters and House Hunters International. If we ever decide to move to Norway, now I have a grasp on the local real estate market!

Anyway, the bleeding seemed to be over. Now I just have to contend with a lot of really gross brown discharge mucking things up. My uterus still felt pretty irritated and I had twinges anytime I stood up for more than a couple of minutes.

Today, I feel a lot more normal. I'm still laying low, but standing doesn't seem to be a problem anymore. I'm relaxing in bed with my iPad and a memoir about a man who taught school in the marshall islands for a year. Which I actually read a couple of months ago. Any suggestions on good reading material? :)

My big excitement for the day is going to be taking a shower! I'm still a bit blood stained in certain areas, so it will be wonderful to feel clean again.