First Trimester Screening

After many calls back and forth with the doctor's office, I finally got my First Trimester Screening scheduled. And Andrew was able to come with me, for the first time!!!! Unfortunately, we had to drive all the way out to Owings Mills, because they were not in the Rockville office on the day when I could schedule the appointment. But it was a beautiful day, and the drive wasn't too bad! The appointment was right in the middle of the day, so I took the whole day off, and it was nice to sleep in on a school day!

First, they talked to us about exactly what they were testing for (Down's Syndrome and Trisomy 13 and 18). She also made a little family tree and we talked about any medical conditions other people in our families have. She asked about our family orgins, as certain genetic conditions are more common in people of certain races/from certain countries/areas. She asked if I wanted to be tested for the Cystic Fibrosis gene mutation, since it is most common in causasians. They were going to be drawing blood anyway, so it was just some extra testing, so I said why not!

Next, they drew my blood (which I'm never a fan of, but this was nothing compared to the ten vials they drew back at the beginning of February!) It was nice to have Andrew there, but I think he thought it was funny watching me wince before I was even in any pain!

Finally, we went into the ultrasound room. This was the first time I didn't have to get all the way undressed at an appointment, so it was much more comfortable! The ultrasound room has a HUGE screen mounted on the wall, and another mounted on the ceiling so I could see even when I was lying down! The baby was moving all over the place during this ultrasound, which was really exciting! They had a hard time getting a good position to measure the "nuchal translucency" (the fluid at the back of the baby's neck), but finally towards the end they got a perfect angle, and the measurement was very low (which is exactly what we wanted!) We also got to hear the heartbeat again (the first time for Andrew!) and it was once again very good (somewhere between 150-160 bpm - I don't exactly remember now that I'm finally writing this several weeks after the fact!)

Here are a few more pictures:

I left feeling very excited and loving this baby even more! They said they would call in a week or two with the results, although I had no reason to believe that they would be bad! I drove Andrew back to work, and then headed over to school (what happened to having the day off!) because I didn't want to miss Lindsay's baby shower! I was very glad I went to the shower, as it was a lot of fun, and I got even more ideas of things I want to register for - I can't wait!

12 Week Appointment

Today was the day I've been eagerly anticipating. I knew that if I could make it to the appointment today, and hear the heartbeat, and find out things were going well, then I could finally start to relax and believe that everything would be ok!

The appointment went great! I got to see the baby again on the sonnongram, and this time it actually looked like a baby, instead of just a little blob! I could see the head, body, and legs, and even a little hand, like the baby was waving hello!!!!! And then, I got to hear the heartbeat, which was absolutely amazing! Everything looked wonderful, so we finally we ready to tell the world, and it's been so nice to everyone's support. Plus, I haven't had to keep this big secret anymore! I'm not at all good at keeping secrets!

(Head is to the right, feet to the left, and the other bump to the left of the head is the baby's hand!!!!!!)

Sometime in the next week or so I'll have an appointment for my First Trimester Screening, which screens for Down syndrome, trisomy 18, and trisomy 13. (But mostly, I'm doing it to get another chance to see my baby on a great ultrasound machine!!!!!) Then, I have my next doctor's appointment on April 8th, and I have to schedule an ultrasound in the radiology department to find out the sex of the baby in about 8 weeks! Andrew and I can't wait to find out!!!!!!