Nuchal Translucency Scan

12w5d

            Yesterday we went to our Nuchal Translucency Screening (the ultrasound to look for genetic abnormalities such as Down’s Syndrome, Trisomy 13, and Trisomy 17).  While the screen is just a predictor not an absolute, everything went really well!  They check for several things during an ultrasound (Nuchal fold, nasal bone, heartbeat rhythm, gestational size), and they also take some more blood from me to look at 2 hormone levels.  We won’t get the full results with the blood work until our next appointment, but everything from the ultrasound was great!  Baby had a Nuchal fold of 1mm (anything under 2.5mm is good), nasal bone was present, heartbeat was 160 bpm, and gestational size measured right on track (actually, one day bigger than their first projected due date, but I was charting my BBT, so I knew they had been one day off all along.)

            Now that we have all the official stuff out of the way… Baby was so cute during the ultrasound!  (For simplicity, I am going to refer to baby as a "he" today, but next time I will use "she" until we know which pronoun is correct.)  He would not cooperate with the u/s tech, so we got to watch him for a long time!  He liked to stretch and play with his hands.  In the profile shot, you can see his arms are up next to his face.  You can just barely see his other hand on the other side of his face.  He played with his foot and sucked his thumb for a while too.  So amazing to watch!!!! 

At this point, we are really close to being out of first trimester (YAHOO!!!), and my morning sickness has been calming down.  I still have difficulty swallowing pills and brushing my teeth, but not every time.   Hopefully it keeps improving!

This and That

11w4d

          Luckily my morning sickness has started to subside, sort of.. I’m still vomiting regularly, but I don’t feel sick all day anymore.  From weeks 6-10, I was pretty much nauseous throughout each day, almost everyday with vomiting intermingled.  Now, I am just sick at night.  My circadian rhythm has always been off, so it kind of makes sense that my “morning” sickness would be at night..  According to everything I’ve read, it is supposed to go away after the first trimester.  I’m telling myself I have less than a week and a half of it left! 

            Other than me feeling icky everyday- we have gotten some work done on the baby room!  Mom came over on Monday and helped me remove the 1970s wallpaper (that was under the OTHER wallpaper I had already removed!).  Underneath the second layer of wallpaper, we also had a bit of a surprise… The room was painted… PINK!  Is it a sign?? (Ben says “NO!”) We’ll find out in about 8 weeks!  Wow, typing 8 weeks gave me a bit of a jolt.  In my mind, the date we find out the gender has seemed like this super far away time that will just never really get here, but 8 weeks really isn’t that long!  Yay!

            Ben and I are still back and forth on our favorite (i.e.: tolerable to each other) boy names.  We have pretty much decided on a girl’s name (we are still determining the middle name, but we have 3 strong options).  If Ben could name our boy without my input, we would have a Santino (Sonny), Vitto, or Ceasar.. If I could name our boy without Ben’s input, we would have an Eli, Isaiah, or Everest..  There are a few names we have both agreed we could live with, but so far, nothing has really struck us both as a great male name.  We’re working on it..

Second Ultrasound!

9w2d

We went back to the doctor today.  We went over all of my many blood tests from our last visit(s).  I found out my blood type (O+).  The doctor said that when the baby is born, we will need to blood type him/her as well.  If Ben is anything other than O, the baby will have a higher chance at becoming jaundice, but the doctor didn’t seem worried about it.   As far as the rest of the blood tests, everything was good to go!

We also got to see our little one and hear the heartbeat again!! Wow, it is amazing the difference 3 weeks makes!  His/her heartbeat was 171 this time, which the doctor said was right on track for 9 weeks.  Also, baby now actually looks like a baby!  We were able to see a clear head and body and cute little arm and leg buds!  It was absolutely remarkable! 

            We get to go back in 3 more weeks to do genetic testing, which will include another ultrasound!  I think I’m getting spoiled getting to have an ultrasound each time I go in.

Almost Summer!

9 weeks tomorrow

Morning sickness is the worst!  We have 1.5 more days of school with kids (then 2 professional development days).  I can’t wait to be able to sit on my couch reading a book with morning (all-day) sickness, rather than wrangling wild seven year olds!  I love my students, but the past week has been a huge hurdle. 

Also, I am quite sure one of my brightest students has figured me out, as she over heard me telling a close teacher friend I was, “really excited but couldn’t tell anybody”.  The student came over to me and asked what my big news was.  I told her I couldn’t tell quite yet.  Her response was, “Ok, but I couldn’t help but notice, you’ve put on a little weight..”  HA!  This is not at all the type of student who would have made a weight comment if she weren’t fishing for a reaction to her question.  (And at this point, I haven’t put on enough weight to be noticeable by anyone other than Ben and I.)  When we get back to school, I think she will be the first student I tell.