This post includes an ultrasound pic. Feel free to skip if you're not in the mood.
First, I have reached the Bon Jovi portion of this pregnancy. I'm not going to bother with typing out the lyrics.
Breathing. Sighs. of. Relief. Kid just ACED his 20 week anatomy scan.
Four chamber heart? Check.
Kidneys? 2
Fingers and toes? Five per appendage, totalling 20.
Eyes? 2 gaping black holes (apparently how they're supposed to look)
Legs, arms, bladder, all that good stuff. He's a properly forming baby. Amazing.
J and I opted out of any early risk assessments - nuchal translucency, MaterniT21, and the like - at 12 weeks. I was on the fence and welcomed reassurance (though terrified of bad news) while J felt very strongly about not doing testing. His reasoning? We get what we get and we'll love who we get. Let's not spend the next 6-7 months worried about something we can not change. We will deal with whatever it is when the baby is born. We knew that we didn't want to terminate unless we found out without a shadow of a doubt that the baby's condition was incompatible with life. How do you find out without a shadow of a doubt? Through CVS or amnio, both of which carry very small risks of miscarriage. We just weren't game for all of it. J's strong stance on the issue made me gradually feel more comfortable. Lingering in the back of my mind were those "incompatible with life" syndromes. A hell of a euphemism. As this pregnancy has progressed seemingly normally and Kid is now big and strong enough to make me feel him moving around (despite a stubborn anterior placenta), I've been in a pretty good place. I really have trusted that he's healthy and normal. All that said, whispers of horror stories danced in my head leading up to today's scan. What if, what if, what if... And then, nothing. All good. A happy (I project), squirmy boy nestled right where he should be. My cervix is nice and long and my OB announced my risk of preterm labor "as low as anybody else's."*
I feel a little weirdly relaxed. Very happy. Like I just had a glass or two of wine. It's the warming juju of relief.
Without further ado, here's my boy...
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| Looks like he's smiling, doesn't he? |
*I admittedly had a freakout of a cervical nature that I shan't go into on these pages. Long story short, I had images of babies, keys and cell phones falling willy nilly out of my short gaping cervix. I don't know why I do these things to myself.
Yay!! He DOES look like he's smiling!! I'm so glad you got great news...so much to be thankful for!!
ReplyDeleteThat is one gorgeous boy you have there. How are you 20 weeks already? I want to catch up!
ReplyDeleteVery handsome - and apparently roughly the size of a banana or carrot, according to my favorite baby-veggie comparison website. And yes, most definitely smiling. :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad everything is going well for you and your family :) He has a cute nose!
ReplyDeleteI had the same cervix worries-- for no good reason. I'm glad to hear everything is going so well! He is definitely one adorable baby boy. I can tell already!
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome! So happy things are going well for you! Happy Thanksgiving!
ReplyDeleteI worry about the cervix, too. Still. Despite measuring faaarr above average at 20 weeks. Apparently I had an ABNORMALLY long cervix. There are worse things, I suppose. But then at my next appointment is was JUST high average. Which means that it's shortening? But no one was concerned, so I'm trying not to be. But what if it keeps going????
ReplyDeleteYour boy looks very very handsome, friend. And happy. Definitely happy.