37 Weeks

That's right-- 3 weeks from today (more or less) we'll have a new baby to show off at Good Intent. I've had some drama related to my pregnancy lately that i'll try to encapsulate here quickly (short version is everything is fine). I met with a midwife that i had not previously seen on Friday and she turned out to be a little high-strung.

You could also describe her as gruff, aggressive and having ruffled my feathers. She wanted me to see "Maternal Fetal Medicine" ASAP to have them review the thyroid care I've received from my regular Dr. during the pregnancy. She freaked me out because the consequences of an unmanaged thyroid are dire-- severe physical deformities and mental retardation. She just sprung this on me and then got defensive when I tried to ask why she wanted me to see these people now (let alone who they were or what they did). The vibe I got was that it was almost more of a liability thing-- she wanted their experts to review what my Dr (who's through another hospital system) had done.

I had the appointment with MFM today and everything went fine. They did an ultrasound and again showed the baby was formed correctly-- still no indication of pyloric stenosis and growth looks right on-- they estimated his current weight as 6 lbs. 10 oz. The Dr. then reviewed my thyroid labs and care and said it all looked appropriate and they didn't have any qualms with it.

The Dr. does want me to start getting non-stress tests twice a week, instead of just once, to make sure the baby is doing okay. He also told me that with a thyroid condition you have an increased risk of developing pre-eclampsia so he went over the warning signs to watch for. The other thing you have to be careful of is placental failure at the end of the pregnancy. This is why i'm getting the NSTs twice a week now and am supposed to do "kick-counts" every day to make sure the baby is still active and responsive and getting the nutrients he needs. They won't let me go more than a few days past my due date, so we'll just hope for another timely baby.

Henry is doing great. I installed the infant seat in the back seat of the car and we've been talking about how Silas will be riding back there and all the things Henry will get to teach Silas. He seems most interested in that line of discussion but i'm just so curious to see how he responds to his new little brother once the time comes.

I'm hosting a shower for a friend of mine that is due at the end of April this week. It's a small "afternoon tea" shower we're having at our house and i think it will be really nice. After that i'm pretty much in the clear for being done with major commitments and work.

20 Weeks

I had the big 20-week ultrasound this morning and confirmed a sneaking suspicion that we're going to wind up the family that just keeps having kids hoping for a girl. By that i mean of course that we're thrilled we're having a little boy and truly i wasn't surprised, but we did hold out a little hope that a girl was in the cards.

Of course the important thing is that he looks great, everything was the right size and in the right place. Also, now we can essentially use everything for the new baby that we bought for Henry as they're both going to be spring babies, so even the clothes should work out right. There are just a few things that we need for the new one, so i've updated the "registry" link on the right-hand side of the page if you're interested.

Now we just have to get Henry to clue into the fact that he's going to be a big brother. The Ped. recommended getting some books and babies and being a big brother and just trying to talk it up. She said he wouldn't ever really get it (until it's too late) but that you can get him excited and comfortable with the words, even if he doesn't really grasp their meaning.

11 Weeks, 2 Days!

I guess the squeaky wheel gets the karmic oil, or something like that. Henry's therapy appointment went quite well yesterday. He was shy for a few minutes when we first got there, but he warmed up pretty quickly and started taking steps and standing and just being himself. His therapist was really impressed because he was actually doing the things she asked him to. I think she's getting better at reading him and he's more comfortable with the stuff she wants him to do. Whatever the reason it was a much more pleasant session for me as well.

But, of course the big news-- the date at the top isn't a mistake-- it's how old our new babykins is! We've obviously known for a little while, but today i had an ultrasound and we had a chance to confirm the little guy is in there and has a beating heart and is growing like he should. I even had my favorite ultrasound tech from my last pregnancy and she remembered me which was really nice. This ultrasound was actually part of a first-trimester test to screen for down-syndrome and 2 other chromosomal abnormalities.

We'll have to wait until next week for the full results, but the ultrasound showed that everything looks normal which is obviously nice to hear. I even got a few pictures, so you can re-join me in trying to decode these dark pictures.

Surprise!

32 Week Ultrasound

As i mentioned, i had an ultrasound this morning. The technician was not my usual tech and wound up forgetting to tell me the things i like to find out-- heartbeat, estimated weight, etc, but she verified it's a boy and he's doing fine. She took this picture of the baby's face for us.

I've zoomed in a bit so that you might be able to make it out. You're looking at the face spot-on. You might be able to make out an eye on the left, the nose and his lips below. The blobby thing below his chin is his hand.

I think it looks a little like finding the Virgin Mary's face emblazened on a piece of toast. JT's reaction was that he looked ghoulish-- i was just happy he looks kind of chubby. I guess we'll just have to bide our time to see what he'll really look like. 

26 Week Ultrasound

Here is the 26-week ultrasound. I have to say i think it's the least clear of the bunch, but to explain, it's a side profile with his head on the right. The technician said he looked great and was weighing about 2 lbs 2 oz. He had his mouth open for much of the exam. We've got another appt in two weeks with the Doctor but it may be our last ultrasound.  

20 week ultrasound

For those of you not used to interpreting grainy ultrasound pictures, what you have here is a front view of the face of our baby (looking a wee bit like an alien i have to say) with the fingers of it's right hand kinda resting on it's belly. It's mid-section is the perfectly round circle that looks like a snowman's middle. It's definitely a boy and everything looked fine. The baby is measuring 20 weeks 3 days. 

16 Week Ultrasound

Compared to the 8 week ultrasound, this 16 week one shows the baby looking more like the baby. The picture is blurry, but the experience was wonderful because you could see the spine and the heart beating, and the lungs working-- all important details. Although the technician said she didn't like to call anything before 20 weeks, that she was pretty confident she saw something else that wasn't the umbilical cord, and that we're having a boy. She did say not to rush out and buy all blue clothing because they could confirm at my 20-week ultrasound. But, we're probably having a boy, and he looks just fine right now.

Here's the baby blob at 8 weeks. An 11-week doppler reading showed a strong heartbeat of 164 bpm. By the beginning of November we should have a 16-week ultrasound and perhaps a good estimate on the sex of the baby.