Life is SO exciting!

We had the routine triple screen blood test during my 3rd baby Dr. visit, and the spina bifida marker came back high. Most often the tests DO come back positive for downs or SB, and are not correct. My Dr. had assured me already  that I might get a call with the results, and not to worry AT ALL because there is usually another reason. I had heard many stories of downs coming back, but didn't know anyone who had SB come back. I knew it all would be OK if something was wrong, but we needed an ultra sound to determine, and get surgeries set up if needed after the birth.

The head & belly both measured perfect--they are indicators of SB--and the spine looked great as well as the feet! They did notice bright white coloring in the bowel--which indicates blood. This means that most likely the results came back from bleeding I had early in pregnancy ( which was the reason for ultrasound at week 10). The baby's stomach is not mature enough to digest it, but it will later on.

The rest of the body measured great as well. They had a hard time seeing the heart because the baby was laying face DOWN curled up the entire time. This also meant we never got a good face shot. AND not only was the baby face down, but the legs were crossed too =) This made it difficult to see the gender as well. Since we were in there looking around, why not find out if it's a girl or a boy? We were able to see the 3 white lines a few quick times, along with her flexing her bicep, sucking her thumb ( Elyssa LOVED that), and her cute little modest legs crossed at the ankles. The radiologist did come in to check the heart, and it all looked fine once they got a good view. There was a detection of a '2 vessel chord' which has to do with the umbilical chord  having less vessels or arteries. The radiologist said the baby still gets the blood flow they need, but it gives you a small percentage of down syndrome. Since my blood came back OK, that most likely won't be the case. It also gives you a small percentage of the baby having birth defects, but since everything measured well, he thinks that will all be OK too. I didn't go see my Dr after the visit, and he hasn't called back with any other news, so it seems that everything is good. We do go back on October 5th ( 20 week visit) for the full ultrasound and then a Dr. visit. They will measure everything again, and hopefully we will get a good face shot, and some good 3d pictures. My Dr. has said that we will check at one point for low fluid again, so we will most likely have another US towards the end, but I'm not sure if the 2 chord warrants more monitoring or not. I'm beginning to think there is no such thing as a 'normal' pregnancy! But we will go through whatever it takes to get a baby here, and safely!

With it being in the 90's still last week towards the end of September, we were beginning to wonder what the temperatures will be in Gatlinburg when we go on the 8th. 2 years ago, when I was pregnant with Landon, it was in the high 80's, and last year it was chilly! It looks to be getting cooler FINALLY! Now, if only I had clothes that fit =( My maternity clothes look 'massive'--as Luke assured me last night. And my regular clothes fit ok, until I sit down and have to unbutton my pants, and all my shirts fit weird. Maybe I will grow some in the next 2 weeks, and get to try out some cute Autumn maternity clothes!

Oh, the baby's name is Lucy!

I love how when I texted people to say it was a girl, they told me congrats on Lucy. I guess I've said it enough in the past few years for people to catch on =) So, it seems that I will NOT be making a quilt for the baby bedding, since we fell in love with the bedding in the last blog. YAY, it's all so exciting!