Take that "Advanced Maternal Age!"

I just got a call from the genetic counselor from Stanford with my NT scan results. My chances for Trisomy 21 (Downs) was 1 in 3761, less than someone under the age of 20 she said! My chances for Trisomy 13 or 18 were 1/6901. I am beyond thrilled. No amnio for me. Of course she recommended I continue with the sequential screening, which I will do, but it looks like we are doing pretty well in that department.

I also had my second midwife appointment yesterday. I worked with the other one this time, although I met her at my first appointment and she's the one who did my ultrasound. I asked her about my concern over my NT report and the note that said: "cord insertion is within 2 cm of upper placental margin. To be confirmed later in pregnancy". I researched this and it seems I may have a marginal insertion (battledore insertion). This, of course, freaked me out when I Googled, especially considering automatic C-section was mentioned more than one and"hemorrhaging".

Lenore, was very assuring, however, and told me that it was too early to say for sure and even if it was a battledore insertion it wasn't a big deal. I could still have the natural birth I am wanting. Awesome. Maybe it's the difference between an OB and a MW. I've noticed they are very easy going about everything and are not quick to be bothered about anything. I like that. It's calming for me.

She checked the heart rate yesterday and was able to find it pretty quick. Baby's heart was loud and beating strong at 160 bpm.

My next appointment is on January 16th and then I have to go back two weeks later for my "Big Ultrasound" at 20 weeks on February 12. They won't do it any earlier. Boo, I hate waiting. I'm not good at it.

C Cup Without a Boob Job

This is an aspect of pregnancy I am loving! Now keep in mind I'm one of those late bloomer girls, the one in 8th grade who was as flat as a board and used to have boys come up to her and say,"Hey, have you heard the joke that makes you flat? Oh you already have...". Yeah, that was always fun.

I was thrilled to pieces when I eventually grew to a B cup. But here I am, in a C and almost out of that! I about cried when I went bra shopping yesterday. I tried on 6 or 7 of them. The sales girl was pissed I only bought one but I explained to her that these were pregnant boobs that just might grow more. She was kind of a bitch though and wasn't very understanding.

Alex, while not a boob man is enjoying the spoils of war as well. Now I just have to hope these puppies stick around for a while and don't disappear or sag too much once breast feeding is over.

I love you boobs!

One Down, Two to Go

Today I officially leave the first trimester. I never thought I'd get here and feared every day that the worst would happen. Even though I know no one is completely out of the woods until birth (heck how about ever?) I'm starting to let myself relax a little bit and feel a bit more secure in my pregnancy. Maybe I will get to have a baby in July.

Happy Holidays

I hope everyone had a nice holiday. Ours was pretty hum drum.

Before it got taken down I wanted to share with everyone one of my neighbor's houses. This, my friends, is where Christmas goes to die.



Oh, but let's go closer, shall we.


I can't even begin to describe how heinous this light display is and sadly (or not) so many of the inflatables don't light up very well, and therefore don't photograph very well.


There was also music playing along-side several of the inflatables, music sounding like a Christmas carnival from hell.

May I also direct your attention to one inflatable that was one of no less than five inflatables featuring penguins. We are talking penguins dancing around a Christmas tree with Santa, penguins riding a carousel with Frosty, penguins riding a ferris wheel with Rudolph, and a penguin playing in a band with a polar bear.


10 points if you name the problem I have with penguins hanging out with polar bears. Penguins hanging out with Santa, well I can overlook that.

Anyway, Alex took video. If he puts it on YouTube, I'll share.

Nuchal Translucency, Over

I had my NT scan and genetic counseling today. I have to admit that I was pretty freaked about it. I kept having visions of missed miscarriages.

Luckily, baby was moving away in there and hanging out partially upside down. The doctor had a heck of a time getting baby into a good position to get measurements but was able to finally.

0.9mm

And here is where I sigh a big sigh of relief. Now I just have to wait to see what the blood work says but I'm thinking with that measurement I may be able to avoid an amnio.

I also heard the heartbeat for the first time (147bpm) and the quick woosh, woosh, woosh made me tear up. What a great sound! It totally made me and my mom (who was with me since DH couldn't) cry. I love you little baby.

We will do the quad screening in a few weeks and will also be having a fetal echo cardiogram within weeks 20-22 due to heart issues on Alex's side. I'll have to go to Stanford for that.

And last but not least here is my tardy 12 week bloat belly pic.



I will say that while my bloat seems to be down greatly in the day from what it was, everything is much rounder in general. Pants are not my friend but sweats, pajamas, and my new elastic waist New York and Co. pants are.

I've Been Tagged

Callie got me.

1) Choose the 4th picture folder on your computer


2) Choose the 4th picture


3) Explain the picture


4)Tag 4 other people



Landscape with Open Gate, 1630 by Pieter Molijn

My fourth folder is an art folder as I love fine art. I can't remember exactly when I first saw this piece (most likely around 10 years ago)but I fell in love with it at first sight. The movement in it is amazing.

Arg, now I have to tag 4 people but I think most everyone has been tagged already. No fair.

Predictions

So many of these boy/girl web "prediction" sites are ridiculous but I figured I might as well put them all in one place to laugh over and see if any of them are actually right.



Madame Zaritska

The day you deliver, outside will be warm. Your baby will arrive in wee hours of the morning .

After a labor lasting approximately 6 hours, your child, a girl, will be born. Your baby will weigh about 7 pounds, 15 ounces, and will be 18 inches long. This child will have light blue eyes and a little patch of brown hair.

Baby Gender Predictor
Girl

Just Mommies Gender Quiz
Girl

Babyman Predictor
Boy

Sex Ratio Study
Girl

This one is kind of cool. Supposedly less dominant women tend to have more girls. That would work for all the women in my family where they all have girls and were all married to uber dominant guys.

Bump Chinese Gender Chart
Girl

Baby Gender Predictor Test
Boy

Biorhythm = Girl
Swinging ring test = Girl
My students = Girl

So we'll see...

Telling Grammy

My 88 year old Grammy has been feeling really depressed lately. She is staying in this shithole convalescent hospital while her new place is being built. I can't believe it hasn't been condemned yet and am so mad she has to be there. It's so bad that she doesn't even want to hold on to life anymore. I decided I would tell her about the baby today rather than wait for Christmas to cheer her up.

To surprise her I put a copy of my U/S in a gift card box and gave it to her. She just looked at it for a while asking, "what is this?"

Finally she got it and sobbed. I have never seen my grandmother cry like that. I don't even remember her crying like that when my Pompy died. She just held on to me and cried saying she had prayed and prayed for a miracle. Well it was a miracle and I was so glad to be able to tell her about it. She said that she now has a reason to hold on.

One of my biggest fears with my IF was, that if I ever had a child, that they wouldn't get to meet or know my grandmother so this was a day I had been waiting for for a long time.

10 Weeks

I may be 10 weeks but I don't think I look it. Is this normal? Alex thinks it is hilarious and makes all sorts of jokes and comments. I think any more eating comments and I'm going to eat his face.

Really, I am not eating any more than I normally do since I've always been a big eater. Anyway, I've pretty much given up on wearing any of my normal pants without them being both unbuttoned and partially unzipped. I've bought a couple pairs of maternity pants at Old Navy so we'll see how those work.

Work has been great in regards to me being pregnant. People at school are stoked for me and some of the kids can hardly stand it. Some of my 7th grade "babies" (I taught them in 2nd grade, 5th grade, and for 6th grade religion)run and hug me every day.

It's also extra hilarious that I ended up telling them the week I am teaching sex ed. to my fifth graders. One of my students said, "It's a good thing you are teaching this class since you are pregnant". LMAO. I guess she felt I could teach myself as we go. I do love teaching this unit, however, because I get to teach about how women's cycles really work. Awesome!

Introducing....

Our gummy bear!

It's time to come clean to everyone. I just had my first appointment/ultrasound with my midwife in Santa Cruz. I met two of the three midwives and both were great. I was so very scared of what we might find on that ultrasound but luckily the baby was there in all it's gummy bear glory, it's heart beating away.

I feel so much better now and feel like I can bond much more now. I was honestly afraid to, hence the lack of blogs within the last few weeks. Obviously I'm still scared but today does help a lot.

My midwife was great. I like a woman who tells me to eat my lunch meat and sushi if I want to. I was a little frustrated that they wanted to stick with my LMP due date, 7/4/09 as I know when I ovulated giving me a due date of 7/1/09 and the baby is even measuring ahead at 10w1d, but oh well. As she said, it's better to pick a later date than an earlier one. We'll see if this kid wants to be a Canadian (Canada Day baby) or an American (Fourth of July baby). Either way it's pretty darn funny. In my head and on my tickers I'm going to keep it July 1st.

As a side note I am most proud of my introduction of my midwife/OB's office to the term "dildo cam". I used it with one of the midwives and the term immediately spread through the office. She lamented she couldn't use it with patients but cracked up all the same.