Ultrasound

We had our midway ultrasound this past Monday! It was the big one, where you find out the sex of the baby (if you want to) and they check out all the organs to make sure everything is ok.

We did find out that our little peapod is a girl, and we couldn't be more excited! I'd been joking that I wouldn't be able to resist ruffle butt leggings this time, regardless of the sex, but I'm so excited to raise a little girl too, and I know G will be a great big brother.

I got my first "glowing" comment when I dropped G off at daycare. Probably had a great deal to do with the fact that I'd showered, put on makeup and was wearing something other than sweats. ;) We do have a name for her, but like before we're not sharing it til she gets here. It took longer than with G to pick a name, but I think we did a pretty good job.


They checked out all her organs, and everything is looking good! We got to see her swallow amniotic fluid, which was neat (never saw G do that), heard her heartbeat again and saw lots of organs: heart, stomach, diaphragm, kidneys, etc. She has five fingers on each hand and was moving around like crazy! Even the tech said she was really busy, and it took a while to figure out the sex because she wouldn't hold still! Something tells me my energy levels will be pretty low between two rambunctious bundles of movement in the coming years.

There was one thing that they said. The doctor told us that they noticed I had a two vessel cord, or a single umbilical artery (SUA). Usually the cord is made up of one vein that delivers blood from the placenta to the baby, and two arteries that carry it away again. Sometimes, (in about 1% of all pregnancies) there's only one artery, and that's what's happened here. No one knows why it happens, and the doctor was thoroughly unconcerned. He told us that I'd get an extra ultrasound to check growth because sometimes it can result in a smaller baby, though nothing else should be affected. In fact, she's perfectly on track, weighing in at about 8 oz and measuring 6 inches long.

However, I had to go and google it. I was banned from google last time because the internet is alarmist, and I thought I'd been pretty good this time, but I really should've stayed away. There are other things that a SUA can be related to, including heart and kidney problems as well as chromosomal defects. Considering that the doctor told us we didn't need any special genetic testing and that everything so far was looking good and he wasn't worried, I know I shouldn't worry, but of course I do. I got so panicked the next morning that James and my mom convinced me to call the doctor, and the nurse was very nice and reassuring, telling me that they see this quite frequently and there aren't usually any problems, especially since the doctor said everything else looks good.

Ultimately, there's nothing to be done til the next ultrasound at 28 weeks, and really nothing to do til she's born. So until then, I'll be praying that she stays healthy and safe and I'll keep looking at the pictures they sent us home with:

Toes!

There she is! They got really good profile shots this time!

I think that's part of her leg. She was lying at an odd angle for the tech

Not quite sucking her thumb, but hands up to her face.
See how fuzzy she is? She was a little ball of movement!

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She has ten fingers, five on each hand!

They'll check the cord again in the next ultrasound, as well as looking more closely at her face to check for a cleft palette.