Half way there!

::doing a little happy pregnancy dance:: I just cannot believe that I am 20 weeks through this pregnancy already. Wasn't it just yesterday that I announced? I assure you we are not half way ready for a baby! Guess I'll have to work on that. My last day at work will be Wednesday, May 26. Should have plenty of time after that.

Baby Gaston - all is well!

Well, as much as they can tell, which is pretty well. We were in the ultrasound room for about an hour. The tech did a very detailed analysis to determine fetal age. She put my due date about 5 days earlier than the one that my doctor gave me, but she did say that it's a numbers game and some babies are just bigger than others (i.e. don't get my heart set on an earlier date, LOL). Oh, and it's *definitely* a boy. Both she and the doctor said so, and I have the picture to prove it (I really will get the scanner hooked up this week). The doctor even laughed and said that, although dad's don't like to hear this, sometimes their little, er, parts are not big enough to be seen at this point, "but that's not a problem for your little guy." :-p

Anyway, after doing her analysis, the doctor came in to have her own look around inside. I like her a lot, she was very very nice, and very careful to explain everything she was doing and seeing (something I like in a doctor, but I know some people don't). She asked if this was our first, and when we said yes, she said "oh, so they got you all freaked out about this for probably no reason." She said that the absolute number one most common reason that AFP tests come back high is "just because they do, with nothing to ever explain why." She went over a few other "normal" reasons, including twins ("we'd definitely know if that were the case by now") and fetal demise ("clearly not a problem with your little wiggle worm here"). She also said that my readings were not that high. A reading of 2.5 is considered normal, and mine was 2.87.

Then she went over the defects that could cause it. Missing the top of the skull: everything is perfectly intact as it should be, the brain is developing well. Intestines developing on the outside of the body or the lower abdominal cavity not completely covered in skin: no evidence of that, and it is very easy to detect via ultrasound. Lack of skin covering the spine: she did a "cross section" view of the spine all the way down for as much of it as she could see, and there is skin covering all of it. She did say that it is hard to detect if the very ends of the spine are exposed. The very bottom portion is hard to see because it curls into the "butt crack" (her words), but she seemed unconcerned about that one. The very top portion, where it joins the brain, is also hard to check directly via ultrasound, but if that is the case, it usually causes a clearly visible problem in the cerebellum, and she found no evidence of any such problem. So, as best we can tell, all is well.

Ultrasounds are not 100%, of course. The only way to be absolutely sure is to do an amnio. Then she said almost the same words, verbatim, that I said to my mother last night. Having seen no evidence of a defect of any kind (including a cleft lip, which doesn't show up on the AFP test, but since I was there they decided to check), the likelyhood of him having an undetected defect after four ultrasounds, two in the past two weeks that have been looked at by three people, including a perinatologist, is so much less than the chance of miscarriage due to an amnio, they really discourage the test unless the parents are practically hysterical and absolutely demand to have difinitive proof. The worst possible outcome would be to do an amnio, have it come back perfectly normal, and then to miscarry a perfectly healthy baby. I was in absolute agreement, so we will just assume all is well, since we are as sure as we can be at this point. She also said that unless something else shows up strange at my regular doctor, she has no reason to see me back. Yay!

And the list narrows

Well, we now have an actual "short list" for baby names. It's down to six (from 43): Brian, Evan, Kevin, Luke, Ryan, and Shane. (Yes, I am perfectly aware that two pairs of those rhyme.) We do alreadly have a favorite, but we're not telling. Actually, the list may not even get any shorter. We won't make a decision until he actually arrives, so there's no point in agonizing over it right now. Oh, middle name will be Warren, my maiden name.

In other news, one of my blood tests came back slightly off from the expected value, so I have to go in for a more in-depth test on Tuesday, May 18. If you could spare come good thoughts for all three of us that day, it would be much appreciated. My doctor doesn't seem overly concerned, and since the in-depth test is an ultrasound (completely non-invasive and risk-free), there's no reason not to double-check, just in case. I'll let you know the results as soon as I have them.

May's prenatal appointment update, and a huge surprise

Dang, I haven't been here in, like, forever! I am so sorry. Life is just crazy right now, between training job replacements (glad they don't need my position anymore, but they do still think all of my work needs to get done) and my astoundingly busy social life of late. Most of this post is coming directly from the email newsletter I send out to family and friends, so if you already got that update, this is a repeat. (Newsletter recipients got some bits of extra info, though.) I hope to get back to posting here at least once a week in the very near future.

BTW, that little bar thing up there is my pregnancy counter. Shows how far along I am and how many days (theoretically) are left. But you figured that out already!

Everything continues to go completely normal and dull and boring, and I am not complaining at all. I feel great, I've only gained 4 pounds (which, given my starting weight, the doctor says is fine), my blood pressure is the lowest it has been in 6 years (118/70 as of yesterday). Must have something to do with only working one day a week now (soon to be none, as of May 28). I can definitely handle that. People keep coming up to me when I am in the office talking about how good I look. Yeah, it's amazing what happens when you don't have the stress of work and layoffs every 2-3 months hanging over you anymore (it's not like they can lay me off again). It's also amazing what getting 8-10 hours of sleep a night will accomplish! I know, I know, enjoy it while I can, because it will be ending all too soon. Trust me, I'm taking full advantage now. LOL

But that's not really what you want to know, right? You want to hear about yesterday's appointment and ultrasound! We arrived exactly on time, but had to wait a bit, which is actually unusual for that office. Went to the ultrasound room first (again, unusual; I think my doctor was a little backed up). Now, the tech did ask us when we came in if we wanted to know the gender. We said no, she repeated that back to us, and then we started. "Did you bring a video tape?" No! They didn't tell us to. I'd meant to bring one just in case, but it completely slipped my mind that morning. I told her that I could bring her a replacement if she had one we could use. "Oh, we sell them, they're $5." Fine. I figured it was worth it to have it.

Of course, one point of the ultrasound is showing the parents things, but the main point is really a checklist of things to photograph and measure for the doctor. The first thing we saw when she put the wand on my belly was the spine. That's not really the best position for getting all the necessary info, but we figured the baby would turn eventually (nope). The key elements to measure for fetal development and age are the stomach and the femur (thigh bone). Both checked out perfectly for where they should be given our due date. Weight is 8 oz. Got to see all four chambers of the heart clearly. I didn't know they did this, but they also check for direction and flow rate of blood in the cord. (Had no idea you even *could* do that via ultrasound.) When she found a good angle on the cord so she could measure, the cord was in the bottom right corner of the screen. Clearly visible (so clear, we didn't need her to tell us what we were seeing) were two little legs sticking straight out, feet crossed at the ankles. Have I mentioned that this is DH's perpetual state when he is sitting anywhere? Even he recognized it and was a little embarrassed. It was so cute! (So were the crossed legs. ;)) Kid isn't even here yet, won't be for 5 more months, and already taking after Daddy.

I think she was just going along with her standard spiel, and since most people want to know the gender (plus she has to check the development of the, er, organs anyway (trying not to trip anyone's Net-Nanny)), it slipped out before she even realized she was saying it, and she didn't stop in time. So now we know.

Eh, what's that? I'm sorry, I can't here you! You're all yelling at your computers at once, I'm having trouble figuring out what you're saying. Oh, you want to know what we're having! :p Well, it's a....
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wait for it....
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is it killing you yet?
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ready?
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IT'S A BOY!

I was quite annoyed at first (that she told us, not that it's a boy!), and that's not exactly something you can just take back or forget. Though, if she really did need to zoom in and photograph it for the doctor, even we would have noticed! Perfect profile shot, hard to mistake it for anything else, particularly when we knew where the hands were (in front of the face, so we never did get a face shot). Unless our baby has a stray appendage growing on its extreme lower abdomen, it's *definitely* a boy. Between the hands always being near the head and the fact that he never turned (shy, clearly takes after Steve), it was virtually impossible to see his face. Oh well. Got some not bad profile shots, though, which I can't scan yet because our old computer died, and the scanner is not compatible with our new computer. (We did buy a new all-in-one last night, but I haven't hooked it up yet. Probably tonight.)

Anyway, long story short (too late), everything looks perfect, for me and baby. There is really nothing to say about my part of the appointment. Did get to hear the heartbeat on the hand unit this time. 150bpm, just as it should be. Everything for me shows absolutely normal and boring, just like we like it.