Tuesday, August 28, 2012

13th Week.. MY NT SCAN

12 weeks 6 days

My NT scan and blood work was complete at the end of this appointment. Apparently before the scan based on my age alone we had a 1/400 chance of Downs Syndrome. After the exam our chances dropped to 1/8000. Fantastic!

It started a few weeks ago with some finger pricks and then an additional blood test. Then on this day we had an hour long ultrasound. According to the sonographer, some times it can be quick and other times ... well I was one of the other times. In defense of my little one, I had a fantastic sonographer who likes text book pictures for analysis. My little was sooooo active! She joked that we should call the baby flipper. So for purposes of this post, she will be flipper. "Flipper" was flutter kicking (very gracefully; maybe due to watching the olympic swimmers?) and waving at us. When Flipper wasn't waving, tossing turning, and "posing" (think of a model and the subtle changes they do when they pose). That was our little one! Comments we kept hearing were: "you have a very pretty baby" and "your baby is very active for such an early age." All great things I loved hearing! Here are some of the pictures...
 In the one above, you can see the outline of the face and the little one has a hand in front of the mouth but not sucking thumb.
 Ok in this one, "flipper" is waving hi! and preventing a nice view of the face apparently.
 Not sure why this one is on a weird angle (thank you iphone; I took pictures of my US pix with my iphone instead of taking the time to use my scanner); similar photo the one up top but that's when our little one flipped sides.

We received 6 photos in total. One of which was of the heartbeat (164 bpm.) Then we were ushered into the waiting room to wait for the doctor to be ready to see us. First the nurse weighed me (192, down 2lbs from the appointment three weeks before.) Next, the nurse took my blood pressure (a little up for me at 119/82) and then more waiting. This was a new doctor to me.

We discussed my weight loss but that my baby is VERY healthy (she emphasized that) and that the baby was developing beautifully. She asked if I was still sick. I said yes but it was becoming less routine (ie sometimes horrible and other times fine but not on a schedule.) She said based on my weight she would like me to maintain (different from the last three doctors but ok.) She then went on to say she wants me to exercise at least 20 minutes a day. Now this part annoyed me. Not so much that she said it but how she said it. Ok maybe it's hormones but I got the impression she thought I didn't do anything. She doesn't know me and has never met me before so I didn't really take it personally but it made me wonder. The other doctors know I had been doing long distance runs and that I was still running (ok way less now and much shorter since the heat and sickness.) They also knew that I have an active job. I wonder if that made a difference in their recommendations. Overall I have no clue what to expect. If I gain will I get a doctor who cares?

She said if I was of ideal body weight I would absolutely be showing. Since I'm not I probably won't show until 20 weeks according to her. My wonderful husband said no you are definitely showing (but he waited until we left to say this.) After she said that, she added that my placenta is on the outside. This is not a problem, it just means I wont feel my baby when others do and she didn't want me to worry. It will be more like 23 weeks she said. Bummer.

After the appointment, it was lunch time! yay! Off to Chilis!I of course couldn't eat much (not that I wasn't hungry, I jut get full quick.) Well the moment we left the office Steve was ecstatic! He immediately said it was a girl. I was so surprised!!!! First there is no physical evidence yet. Second he was the one adamant that it was a boy but either way we shouldn't say what we think because based on his family it will probably be a boy.
Look how excited he is!

Ok to sum up the 13th week: 
* Morning sickness worse than ever
* keeping up running 3x/week (ok a 15-16 min pace but I'm out there!)
* Weight: 192.1 (down 6lbs from start)
* Fetal HB: 164bpm

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