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Joined Aug. 14, 2018 7:58pm

ericalee2's Pregnancy

My Due Date: March 27, 2019
I have given birth!
Age: 40 years old

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12 week ultrasound and other updates
By ericalee2 » Posted Sep. 14, 2018 4:25pm - 430 views - 7 comments

I made it to 12 weeks! Holy moly! This truly is a miracle baby. It has been rather refreshing to not be on a boatload of meds this time around and also seeing this baby thrive. I still am basically holding my breath day-to-day because it seems too good to be true, but so far so good.

This week we had our 12 week ultrasound at the perinatal center. Before you get to see your baby you need to first meet with a genetic counselor to go over the blood test options. I hate, hate, hate this conversation. When I was pregnant with our daughter they convinced we to do the Quad screen, which I originally didn't want. Came back with high probability she had Down Syndrome. I had to get the follow up free cell DNA test and turns out she did NOT have it and we were told my body produces a different level of hormones than fit in the bell curve of the test and I would likely ALWAYS have results showing increased odds. We didn't do the testing with our son and then he had an echogenic (brighter white) bowel on his 20wk scan. Had to meet with the genetic counselors again who stressed we out about everything it COULD be.... when the odds of any of the things was less than 3%. So fast forward to this week and I was NOT looking forward to the genetic counselor appointment. Plus, now I am 35 so they get to throw the "Advanced Maternal Age" card at me. Yay.

She goes through all the info, yada yada yada, tells me I should just skip to the cell free DNA test given my results in the past off hormonal-based tests, yada yada yada.... I ask if I can just do the ultrasound and if they find anything concerning (no nasal bone, thick area behind the neck, etc.) that we can do follow up testing. She said that was ok. It was clear they would really like me to have blood work and seemed confused on why I WOULDN'T want this. For me... I just don't need/want another thing to stress about. This baby is already a miracle. Anything you tell me isn't going to change our mind. And frankly, I don't want to "what if" myself for the rest of this pregnancy if something were to come back on the test results.

We go to our ultrasound and the tech is really great. :) Best parts -- there was a nasal bone and the fluid behind the neck is super thin, which is fabulous. No markers for a genetic condition and everything else that is possible to check out at 12 weeks looked perfect. Made me feel even more confident in my decision to not do the bloodwork. Oh! and my placenta is posterior this time!!! With both my kids it was anterior so I felt movement super late and it was harder to feel. I am looking forward to experiencing something a little different this time around.

Baby was measuring a full week ahead now, so at this rate I should be giving birth to a toddler. LOL. I don't exactly know when I ovulated since this wasn't exactly planned, so I am not sure if they will move my due date or not since baby is measuring so much ahead. TBD!

I still have a LOT of nausea. Bleh. There have been a total of 2 days where I haven't felt like crap for the majority of the day. I keep expecting it to go away now that I am just over 12 weeks. I realllllly hope that someday soon I am just going to wake up and go the whole day without feeling like I have a hangover or have my normal appetite. Please, please, please let it be soon! :)

My husband and I are debating if we want to find out the gender of baby #3. He was totally for not finding out at first, but is now doing a 180. hehe. I am guessing we will find out, which will help with the name game debate. Boys names are SO hard for us. Oh. My. God.

Working on transitioning off the estradiol and progesterone meds now that I hit 12 weeks. I talked to my OB about staying on prednisone until 20w since it is what I did with my kids and she is a-ok with it. So far the prednisone hasn't been AWFUL. I think 20mg is much easier on me than 30.


Comments for this Journal Entry

Comment from sonata85 » Posted Sep. 18, 2018 11:22pm
This is such wonderful news. I've silently stalked your journeys through my own, and I agree with everyone---baby is here to stay!

Comment from FlamingoGirl13 » Posted Sep. 17, 2018 5:06pm
This is so good to hear! Grow baby grow!!

Comment from calvingirl » Posted Sep. 16, 2018 4:04am
Congratulations on a good scan! I'm so happy for every day you have with this little fighter. I know I stressed out big time on my 12 wk scan with the neck fluid and nasal bone too - and I had all the tests done but we hadn't gotten our results back yet. Do whatever doesn't stress you out...

Comment from WaitingwithHope » Posted Sep. 14, 2018 11:05pm
Great news! Congratulations on 12 weeks <3

Comment from cmere84 » Posted Sep. 14, 2018 10:09pm
So happy to see this! I prayed that this pregnancy would just be a miracle!

Comment from aprilluvsmoz » Posted Sep. 14, 2018 7:40pm
Congratulations on hitting this milestone. This truly is a little miracle baby that is meant to be! I did the 12 week testing this time and everything came back with the best results possible, I wish I would have trusted my gut and just avoided the test. Good for you for sticking up for yourself!

Comment from Newlyjg » Posted Sep. 14, 2018 7:25pm
I'm glad all is going well. Your baby is a fighter. Do what makes you comfortable in terms of testing. Was looking out for an update. Thanks for sharing.


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