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!