No. 2 is huge!

I had my last ultrasound today before we leave for Europe for Alexis' wedding! I am now 23 weeks and 3 days along in No. 2's pregnancy - and No. 2 is measuring 25 weeks and 5 days! Huge! "He" is now estimated to weigh 1 pound and 11 ounces - 3 ounces more than Jac when he was born! He has lots of fluid to play in and we saw him drinking today!

I am elated with the good news. I have been anxious about an ultrasound this far along in the pregnancy since I found out I was pregnant - and No. 2 and I have passed with flying colors.

No. 2 is continuing to dance around in my belly - particularly at night when I am trying to sleep. Happy baby! Jac never moved this much. In retrospect I can see that this means that he was never as happy in utero as No. 2 is now.

The perinatologist I saw today - Dr. P. - thinks that if No. 2 continues to grow the way "he" is he will be 7.5 pounds when be is born - and that there is no reason to think he will not make it to term (or close!).

No. 2 is right on track

I had my 20 week ultrasound today and No. 2 is growing well. (He) is
measuring a few days large and all systems are go. Yeah!

Sent from my iPhone

No.2 Systems Ultrasound tomorrow

I have a big, important, ultrasound tomorrow. This is the Systems Ultrasound in which the doctor looks for all of the babies systems to make sure everything is in the right place.

This ultrasound is also going to tell us more about how well No. 2 is growing. I am a bit nervous, but the 17 week ultrasound looked so good that I am very hopeful that No. 2 will still be growing well. Jac was already 2 weeks behind by the time he had his 20 week ultrasound.

Joseph and I have decided we do not want to know the gender of the baby so I am going to ask the doctor not to tell us what gender the baby is (hopefully it will not be obvious to me - I suspect it will not because I could never tell with Jac).

I am going to this ultrasound with Jac but not with Joseph. I wish Joseph could come but it all the way down in Denver and I don't want him to have to take so much time off of work. Jac and I will do it together. Joseph has been able to come to the ultrasounds that have happened in Boulder!

Update on 17 week Ultrasound for No. 2

Okay - we are in fact alive. Mostly. I am sorry it has been so long since I have updated the blog. Since we got back from LA we have been so sick and not sleeping etc. that I have not had the time or the energy to post!

Last Friday we had an ultrasound of No. 2. My new OB is following No. 2 very closely - ultrasounds every 2 weeks. I was very nervous about the ultrasound because this would be the first time that we would be able to see if No. 2 is growing properly. I am still pretty skinny and I am just barely showing so it is hard to see from the outside that a still very small baby (~150 grams) is growing well!

No. 2 was moving all around during the ultrasound - always a good sign - and he is reading LARGE for dates. About a week large! Oh man! I felt so relieved when Dr. P said that! So at least for now things are going well. I know very well that things can change though.

My next ultrasound is my Systems Ultrasound on May. 19 - which is generally considered the first time we can really see whether No. 2 is growing well. We should also be able to see all of "his" organs and check that they all look good. Grow, baby, grow!

First Trimester Screening for No. 2

We had our first trimester screening on Wednesday down in Englewood, CO at Swedish Hospital. Jac and I went down and saw the nice people at Obstetrix, which is a high-risk maternal fetal medicine office.

This test has two parts, an ultrasound and a blood test. No. 2 was being quite uncooperative in terms of positioning for the ultrasound. He kept on moving around and as much as they poked him he would not turn the direction they wanted him to. In the ultrasound they are trying to measure the amount of clear fluid behind the baby's neck. The more fluid, the more likely the baby has a trisomy defect. They were not able to get a great measurement, after the doctor and the nurse tried for 15 minutes, but they agreed to a measurement, which was quite low. They felt from that, that No. 2's chance of having Down's is fairly low.

They also did a blood test. In the blood test they look for tell-tale markers in my blood indicating that there is a problem with the fetus. The results of the tests will be back on Monday. These tests are not considered definitive - they give you probabilities. If the probabilities look low then no further testing is recommended. If the probabilities look high they recommend further testing.

I felt pretty good about what the doctor saw and by the answers to my questions about the chances of a repeat IUGR with No. 2. This doctor agreed that the chances of a repeat are not very high and that the MTHFR mutation by itself is not a problem given my Homocysteine level is normal. He said that we will be able to get a good sense for No. 2's growth at 20 weeks, which is about May 15th. Until then, take baby aspirin and folic acid (1 mg / day) and the rest of my vitamins and let No. 2 do his thing.

No.2's first ultrasound and estimated due date - Oct. 7, 2008

So it is official. I have a small entity growing in my belly! LOL! Hopefully it is a baby - it looked like one on the ultrasound! No. 2 was moving around quite a bit and we could see all of his limbs and his head and his heart! Cool!

Joseph, and Jac and I visited the OB/GYN this morning and were given the great news that No. 2 is 12.5 weeks along! Whoa! I am so bad at date math but I got the conception date spot on! Unfortunately when I did the date math for a conception date of Jan. 28 I ended up with No. 2 being born around Thanksgiving! Man was I wrong. The doctor thinks conception was Jan. 26th and No. 2 is due Oct. 7th! Oh man! That is 15 months separation from No. 1 (Mr. Jac). Whoa! Almost Irish twins (I guess that is only fair since my Mother's father was Irish).

No. 2 seems so much more real now that we have seen him moving around. Sometimes I still find it a little hard to believe that there is a small human growing in my belly and at 12.5 weeks along he has arms and legs and a head and is moving! (BTW, I am convinced that No. 2 is another little boy, I don't know why, I just am!)

(We forgot to ask for the ultrasound pictures that the doctor took of No. 2 but I will try to get them and post them up!)

I now have an appointment scheduled with the perinatologist in Denver for a First Trimester screening where they look for chromosomal disorders such as Down Syndrome and Trisomy-18 (the appoin. is this coming Wednesday). They can also detect some other defects such as heart defects. This is a standard set of testing that is done but our OB does not do it - they have the perinatologists do it. That is good for me since it will give me a chance to talk to another perinaologist and get their opinion of the MTHFR mutation and chances for another IUGR baby with No.2.

After the appointment on Wednesday we may have a new estimated due date - we shall see! Stay tuned!