Half Way There

A little Bon Jovi anyone? "Ohhh we're half way there...." too much?
Well, it's very hard to believe that we've made it to 20 weeks. It feels like just a couple weeks ago we were sharing our news with the world and now we have reached the half way mark! Baby girl now weighs about 11 ounces. She's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel, about the length of a banana. (For the first 20 weeks, when a baby's legs are curled up against it's torso and hard to measure, measurements are taken from the top of it's head to it's bottom, the "crown to rump" measurement. After 20 weeks, they are measured from head to toe.) She is swallowing a lot these days, which is good practice for her digestive system.

I have been feeling her little flutters of movement lately which is SO exciting! I absolutely love feeling her move, it brings me so much joy. I cannot wait until she is kicking enough for others to feel her!

I had my first random stranger come up to me and touch my belly the other day at the mall. I didn't like it. It was weird. I would never touch a stranger's baby bump. Oh, and then this stranger told me she could sell me something for my acne (caused by the pregnancy). Umm, thanks?

Sadly, I think I got a little ahead of myself when I said my headaches were gone. They returned last weekend with a vengeance. I still couldn't bring myself to take any medicine. However, with the weekend gone, so were the headaches again. None this week so far.

We had our 20 week ultrasound this afternoon which confirmed, she's all girl! It was so incredible to sit there and watch my baby girl move. And was she ever moving! She had the hiccups (sooo cute to watch even though I know she didn't like them) so that made her kick and squirm like crazy! We also got to observe her touch her face with her little hands and play with her feet. She is no longer Breech (YAY) but again, she still has lots of room to move around so that could change any time, though we will keep praying that it won't! The u/s tech and OB both confirmed that she is perfect as far as growth of all limbs/organs. 

Oh, and mommy to be is growing well, too. I have gained 9 lbs thus far (and at halfway there, that's pretty perfect). They told me at the start of this process I should gain about 25-35 lbs. I also found out today that my blood type is A+. Yeah, I know it's sad I didn't know that before age 23andahalf but as you know, from reading previous posts, I don't just willingly give my blood away, and I guess I just never really needed to know. Her dad is A+ as well, so I guess it will be no surprise what Leighton is. And, maybe her grades in school will be around that same letter ;) This will be way easier to remember than all of our Social Security and Drivers License numbers! 

We got a video of her u/s today, so hopefully I can figure out how to upload it. Until then, as promised, here are pictures of nursery inspirations (see if you can try and envision what her nursery will look like from these little clues), and an updated "bump" picture.  

Nursery Inspiration Pictures: (Some items pictured may be things we are actually using, some may just be ideas, some may be in there just to throw you off. You just never know...) Cannot wait to hear everyone's thoughts/ reactions!

                                               And....

                               The growing belly: 20 weeks!

18 Weeks

I know, I am a few days late posting the "weekly update." I have gotten a few remarks from some of you that you have been looking for it! Apparently, the food comparisons are a hit, everyone wants to know what "vegetable" she is this week. Ha! Well, baby girl is now around 5 and 1/2 inches long, about the size of a bell pepper. She weighs almost 7 ounces! She's now flexing her arms and legs, so we should feel some kicks any day now!  You can now see her blood vessels through her thin skin, and her ears are in their final position, although they're still standing out from her head a little. A protective covering of myelin (remember that from college Biology 2 class anyone?) is beginning to form around her nerves, a process that will continue for a year after she's born. And, all of her parts that make her female are now in place.


I continue to feel great! Thank you to those who are always asking me, it's great to have so many people who care about mine and baby girl's health. Speaking of baby girl's health, we had a tiny scare last week and after praying about it, I just knew everything was going to be ok, so I decided to wait until we knew everything was fine before I made it public knowledge. I just don't like a lot of drama/attention.


Ok, so you remember at 16 weeks we had all of that blood work done and I wrote about how I agreed to a quad screen? (if not just go down a few posts) Well, last Monday was a week since we'd had it done and we got a call from our OB that morning and they left a message saying we needed to come in to discuss our blood work, and they had an opening at 1 p.m. We knew this meant something bad because they had told us if our blood work came back fine that we wouldn't hear from them, we'd just see them at our next apt. So, immediately I began to panic. I called Jeremy and told him that he had to come home right then from work and I was so upset I could barely speak.

I called the OB office back and told them I could come in and I asked (I just had to) if this meant something was wrong. The nurse said that yes, this meant there was an abnormality in the blood work. My heart fell to the floor. I was so confused. We had just seen her on the ultrasound screen on Friday and she was just fine. I called my mother and told her what was going on.


After a long hour in the waiting room, our OB came in and began to explain the lab results. He said the Trisomy 18 and Downs tests all came back fine. But the test for NTDs (Neural Tube Deffects) such as Spina Bifida came back abnormal. He said that this didn't diagnose anything, it just didn't rule it out. He said the target afp (alpha fetoprotein) level they like to stay around for this particular test is 2.5 and mine was 2.7. He said he had never ever seen such a low number and a number so close to the target number turn in to any sort of defect, that most defects are much higher numbers, like in the 4s. I wanted to hurt someone. They made us worry that much for .2 points. I was angry but I tried to calm down and remind myself that they were just doing their job.


Then my OB said he wanted to take one more vile of blood, run the test again, and if the levels went down, then that would be that. But if they were still elevated then they would send me to do a level 2 ultrasound at UAB. He said an amnio wouldn't be necessary to which I responded, "good because I wouldn't have one done anyway." (I feel like I am way to young for that) After more blood work, they told us we would know by Friday. So, I just gave the situation to God and let it go. I just knew in my heart everything would be fine. God really gave me a peace about it.

On Thursday afternoon my sweet, favorite (and also pregnant) nurse called me right before their office closed to give me the GREAT news; everything was fine! So, needless to say, I am now pretty strongly opposed to this Quad Screen (some doctors call it a tripple screen, they are the same). If you are young and have no history of birth defects in your family, I suggest you skip this little test that causes way more worry than necessary. Not to mention, most of these birth defects can be detected by ultrasound anyway. I just did the quad screen so that we would be prepared if there was something wrong, but as I said, they would have been able to see it via ultrasound anyway if there were something seriously wrong and we still would have been able to be prepared. I will never have this test performed in any other pregnancies I may have. Everyone is entitled to make their own decisions but I am going to take every opportunity to share our story. I love modern medicine, do not get me wrong. But sometimes I think they carry things a little too far these days. Oh, and I should say here: Sis, I should have listened to you! (my sister had a similar experience and her baby girl, who was born this summer, is just fine. She warned me not to do the test and I didn't listen. Lesson learned.) 


On a lighter note, my headaches (knock on wood) seem to be gone! Hooray! Also, last week was filled with starting to pick things out for the nursery! I am dying to show you all everything we have picked out so far, our plans, and where I got my inspiration. My mother has always been the decorating genius and it's all finally starting to rub off on me. I LOVE to decorate, and I think decorating her nursery will be the most fun project yet! In the next post, I will share a bunch of pictures that inspired me for Leighton's nursery so you can try to guess what the nursery will look like! Also, I will put up a new belly picture next time, since some of you have been asking for that. Until then, have a blessed week!