week 18

We had a GREAT weekend! It was so good to see Lauren and Matt and Caroline. An added bonus was seeing my mom and sister for a little bit too. After prying Seth off of the tractor and planting soybeans, we headed off to Memphis to celebrate Lauren's birthday (a tradition 11 or so years in the making). It was strange for our conversation topics to be babies and families...big change from the years past.

Seth and I have basically made it to the halfway point of our pregnancy! We are ready for this boy to get here. I am feeling the aches of motherhood already... despite the normal backaches, belly aches and all-over aches, I already worry about this child every day. After our trisomy 18 scare, we critique every "feeling" I get. Seth has grounded me from google. There is way too much info online for pregnant women to stumble upon and freak themselves out. During my triple screen research I found a lot of information on the negative but not a lot on the positive; so here is our story in case others find themselves in a similar situation.

I went in for a routine OB appointment with my doctor and he recommended taking the triple screen test. I did not know a lot about it so I went on his advice and let them draw the blood and test it. He said that it would more than likely provide me with a peace of mind that our child is healthy.  The following Monday (Easter Monday) he called my cell phone (not the nurse but the dr) and I knew it was not good. I went in to talk to him and he said my results came in and everything looked good except the screening for trisomy 18. This is a more severe disorder than trisomy 21/down syndrome. Oftentimes the baby will not survive in the womb or will die shortly after birth. Seth and I were devastated, despite the doctor telling us there was only 1 in 60 chance of our baby having this disorder. Normal chances for this were 1 in 10000 or something exponential like that. Immediately, my dr arranged for me to see a specialist at UAB. By Wednesday we were meeting with the genetic counselor hearing all about the potential outcomes of our level II ultrasound and amnio. Before we new it, we were looking about live images of our baby on a big screen. It was incredible: his little hands waving, his foot tapping... I was in tears- NO SIGNS OF TRISOMY 18! We were so blessed. We had sent out the prayer warriors to ask for God's help and God heard us! We found out we had been blessed with a baby boy and he appeared to be 100% healthy! No need for an amnio. Our prayers were answered.

After the good news Sarah and I celebrated by taking Lane for a girls day out to Dogwood Festival in Aliceville.  We enjoyed the sunshine and warm weather while Lane enjoyed super slide and the bouncer...