Last Wednesday was my NT screening (this is an ultrasound where they measure the nuchal translucency, aka a fold behind the baby’s neck that contains fluid at this stage of development and combine it with bloodwork to determine your risk of down syndrome and other chromosomal defects). It was amazing getting to see the baby looking like an actual baby now! I will post the u/s pictures at some point when I’m not feeling so lazy.
The little guy slept pretty much through the entire exam and we actually had to wake him up because he wasn’t in a good position for the tech to measure his neck. This involved a lot of belly jiggling, coughing, drinking cold water and me changing positions a few times. We finally got him to wake up enough to move a little but he was clearly still super sleepy because he wiggled around a bit and then went back to sleep!
Oh yeah, and the tech said in her opinion we’re having a little boy! She said it’s too early to go out and start buying things but she was pretty sure she saw a little pe.nis. She showed us the money shot, and he had his legs spread wide open and there was definitely something peeking out. Just the fact that he was being so immodest about showing off the goods makes me think he must be a boy 🙂
I got my results back today and was told we have a 1/1,150 chance of DS and “the best possible” results for Trisomy (I forgot if she said 18 or 13) at 1/100,000. We’re still waiting for results from a test both Paul and I took which will tell us if we’re recessive carriers for 85 genetic diseases and if we’re both carriers for any of the same diseases. They said it was unlikely since we’re not related, but we decided to get the test done anyway since most likely our insurance will cover it (and if not they said they would only charge $99 each).
I also donated two extra vials of blood to a study that is trying to figure out a better, more accurate screening method for genetic defects that is less invasive than amnio and CVS (which both carry risk of miscarriage). I figured, I give four vials of blood all the time and it hardly seemed worth the stick for just two vials, so why not =P
At the NT scan I was asked at least three different times if I’d experienced any bleeding or cramping at all and I happily said no each time. So OF COURSE the next night I thought I needed to go #2 but when I sat down on the toilet I had a few very sharp cramps on the left side, bad enough that I doubled over in pain. I didn’t go but when I wiped and did my usual tp inspection I discovered an unsettling, suspiciously brown looking streak. I wiped again and there was more, it looked brownish-reddish and I immediately began screaming for Paul (who was already asleep by this time). He came over and agreed it was definitely reddish and I started panicking and wanting to call the emergency nurse line at Dr. D’s office (which THANK GOD they have that). He talked me out of it, saying it was so little and subsequent wipes yielded nothing.
I spoke to the nurse at Dr. D’s office as soon as they opened and she calmed me down a bit more, she thought it could have been from the ultrasound the day before because I had had some pain also on the left side during the ultrasound when the tech pushed down to get a good angle. She said she would talk to Dr. D and call me back, she eventually called back to say Dr. D wasn’t too concerned but wanted me to go on pelvic rest for now just as a precaution.
During all of this I was so incredibly grateful that a) my OB does have a nurse on call 24/7, I don’t have to leave messages, I can always speak to someone and b) I have a doppler. Being able to check that the baby still had a heartbeat during all of this calmed me down immensely (even though I was still really worried). Before this I was only checking the hb every other day but since Friday I have been doing it at least once per day, but only for a minute or so so hopefully that’s ok. I did talk to Dr. D about the home doppler and he said it’s fine, his only concern is me not being able to find the hb and flipping out when there’s nothing to worry about.
So after that little freakout I had a busy weekend for one of my best friend’s wedding. It started on Friday night with a rehearsal and dinner out in Pleasanton (it was still 80+ degrees even though we didn’t get there til 5:30pm). I didn’t get back to the city until almost midnight and was only able to sleep until 8am on Saturday because we had to go to my parents house in the ‘burbs for my mom’s 60th birthday lunch. It was a lot of fun and I got to spend a couple hours with my niece A (my cousin’s daughter, in Chinese culture she refers to me as her aunt) who is probably the cutest little girl ever. Later on Paul and I were talking about how much crap people schlep around for their kids, specifically how one of our friends seems to bring every single toy in their house with them just to go out to dinner…Paul said there’s no way he’ll do that but then he reconsidered and said well, unless we have a daughter like A, then I will probably bring anything and everything she asks me to. For some reason that totally melted my heart. I’m so glad this man gets to be a daddy – and to my baby!! Lucky me 🙂
After lunch we headed straight back to Pleasanton for the wedding. I was supposed to arrive early for pictures but was running a little late and mostly ended up just standing around in heels in the sun and 100 degree heat – no fun! Luckily I brought my big sunhat with me. The ceremony was beautiful, I managed to do my reading with no big mishaps and I got some special time after the ceremony for pictures with the bride that I was supposed to show up early for. After that I was pooped. The sun and heat had taken a lot out of me.
We stayed for most of the festivities but left not long after the cake was cut (or rather, cupcakes were distributed). By the time we were walking out I could feel the tell-tale aching in my lower extremities so I went straight to bed when we got to the hotel and slept for a solid 10 or so hours. When I woke up in the morning all the aches and pains were gone so we headed out to the Livermore Farmer’s Market since we would be missing our usual one in the city.
Everything was SO CHEAP! I bought 6lbs of peaches and a cantaloupe and the man said $10 and Paul was like, wait what about the melon? And the guy was like yeah, including that. We both looked at each other like what?!
After that we stopped for lunch at a popular ale house in “downtown” and Paul immediately started talking about how we should move here once we’re ready to leave the city. As we drove to my friend G’s new in-laws house back in Pleasanton (they were having brunch there but we were too hungry to wait til 1pm to eat) we passed a regional park with a big lake and lots of families hanging out, a water park and a BMX riding area and Paul was 100% sold.
I’m still not so sure about it, but I will admit I’m slightly more open to it now than I was before. Even though it’s only about 40 minutes from where I grew up I always thought of it as such a hick-ish area and was surprised to see it’s actually a really cute city with lots of family friendly things to do. According to wikipedia it also has the 3rd highest median income for a mid-size city in the US. That was a big shock to me because for some reason I had always thought it was kind of a “ghetto” place to live. I guess it’s the Bay Area snobbery in me?
Anyway, I have today and tomorrow off because I knew I would probably need some time to recovery from the weekend festivities. Paul is off tomorrow so we’re going to go up to Tomales Bay for some oyster shucking and bbq-ing! Sadly, no raw oysters for me :( But I’m sure Paul will make some delicious bbq-ed ones to ease my disappointment.