It's Alive!!!

13 weeks, 1 day-- Grow, baby, grow!

We had the NT screening today-- it's a two part screening (ultrasound and bloodwork) that gives us an idea of the odds that we'll have a child with Down Syndrome or other chromosomal abnormalities. Neither side of our families have a history of chromosomal abnormalities, but Brian and I decided that in the case that our child does have special needs, we want to be as prepared as possible. Plus, the screening allowed us to see the baby on ultrasound again...which we wouldn't be able to do until early March at the "big" ultrasound.

We have the results of the ultrasound portion: a score of 1.5. The fetal medicine physician (Dr. Wells) said that this is an extremely low score (which is a GREAT thing), and that anything above 3.0 is considered abnormal. So, we are definitely in good standing after the ultrasound. We're now just waiting on the bloodwork to come back, which should be in by Friday. Brian and I are feeling pretty good about the baby's health after today's visit.

The ultrasound technician was really nice and pretty funny. The baby wasn't cooperating at first, he/she kept flipping around and over onto his/her side showing us his/her back. The tech needed a few good profile shots in order to measure the thickness of the fluid on the back of the neck (which is where our measurement of 1.5 came from), and he kept having to jab and poke my stomach with the ultrasound wand to get the baby to move in the right positions.

Here's a picture of the baby on his/her head... sorry for the glare...



It was pretty amazing to see the little guy/girl flipping around, kicking his/her legs, waving his/her arm above his/her head... it was very reassuring to me to see the movement because it's too early to feel it yet.

Overall, a great day!

Next visit is in about 2 weeks. Nothing special-- just a check in on symptoms, probably will hear the heartbeat, and send me on my way. The "big" ultrasound (where we find out the sex) won't be until weeks 18-20, so somewhere around March 3rd based on the 4 week appointments that we've scheduled. I'll keep you posted!