Almost at 24 weeks – things are going well. Here’s a new interesting little symptom. When I sit for long periods of time, I get a burning pain just below my bra line on the right side. I started noticing it about 2 weeks ago. According to the goog.le, it’s pretty normal and most seem to chalk it up to round ligament pain. It’s weird and can be a bit distracting.
We’ve found a lawyer for the second parent adoption. I’m trying not to get too sideways about the absurdity of having to spend thousands of dollars so that my wife can adopt her own child, but that’s just the way it goes. The lawyer has estimated that the whole thing will cost about $3K, which is great since I was thinking it would be closer to $5K. We meet with him next week to get the paperwork started. I’m due to give birth in June and we are planning a vacation with friends in August. I really don’t want to leave the state, let alone step foot into a red state, without paperwork in hand. He thinks we should be able to be wrapped up by then.
Here’s something interesting. We’ve been doing research on cribs. Consum.er Re.ports ranks 2 cribs as having the highest rating for safety – one of them is an Ike.a crib and only costs $150! Now, it’s not going to win any design awards – it’s pretty plain and understated, but did I mention that it’s $150 AND that it converts to a toddler bed?! Sold.
Lately, I’ve found myself facebooking all sorts of people who I haven’t talked to in years. College friends who I haven’t thought about in 10 years – friends that I made after college who I’ve lost touch with. It’s weird, all of the sudden I’ve just had this burr up my butt out reaching out to people who I’ve grown apart from. I don’t know if the pregnancy is to blame or what. Anyone else out there finding themselves digging through the past?
We start birthing classes in about a week and a half. Right now we’re signed up with a Bradley method class – our OB is recommending Hypnobirthing. Any opinions?
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
21 Weeks
I’m a bad blogger.
Sorry Team.
Things here are good. We had a bit of a scare a few weeks ago, but we’re feeling really good now. During the first trimester, we never ended up getting a nucal scan. Instead, our OB measured the space in between the baby’s head and neck and said that everything looked fine and that there was no reason for the scan. At about week 18, I went in for the AFP blood test. It came back positive for Down’s. The AFP is not a diagnosis but is considered an indicator of probability. Our next step was to meet with a genetic counselor and perinatologist who would conduct an ultrasound and look for ‘soft markers’ which would either reduce or increase the risk. The ultrasound went fine and our risk was reduced. Not enough to render the AFP blood test negative for Down’s, but enough to make us feel a lot better. A definitive diagnosis could happen through an amnio – which neither one of us was all that into. We’ve heard that there is anywhere between a 1 and 200 to 1 in 1600 chance of miscarriage after an amnio – this just seemed like too big of a risk to us. The biggest factor is that if we did get confirmation that the baby has Down’s, we wouldn’t terminate. That just isn’t the decision we’d make right now.
Maybe this is naïve, but I really feel like everything is fine with this baby. I’ve read that upwards of 80% of the positive Down’s AFP tests turn out to be false positive. I just don’t think that this baby has Down’s. If he does, we’ll deal with it, but it just doesn’t feel like that’s what’s happening.
We had another OB appointment on Friday, and got even more assurance that he doesn’t have Down’s. Apparently, babies with Down’s are born with a single wrinkle across their palms, because while in the womb, they don’t move their fingers independently. According to our OB, Down’s babies will use their hands similar to a primate, with all fingers perpendicular to the palm, thus causing the line. During our ultrasound, our little guy was displaying quite a bit of digital mastery as he not only picked his nose for us, but spent a good amount of time playing with his penis. Who knew it started so early for the brothers?!
My naseau subsided around week 17 and has been replaced by crazy heartburn. Other than that, my back tends to hurt a bit more and I’m a little more prone to tearing up. It all feels pretty manageable. As of today, we’re at week 21. I’m too shy to post belly pics, but tonight I’ll post a video from the ultrasound.
Thanks for sticking with me. I promise to be better about posts and comments.
Sorry Team.
Things here are good. We had a bit of a scare a few weeks ago, but we’re feeling really good now. During the first trimester, we never ended up getting a nucal scan. Instead, our OB measured the space in between the baby’s head and neck and said that everything looked fine and that there was no reason for the scan. At about week 18, I went in for the AFP blood test. It came back positive for Down’s. The AFP is not a diagnosis but is considered an indicator of probability. Our next step was to meet with a genetic counselor and perinatologist who would conduct an ultrasound and look for ‘soft markers’ which would either reduce or increase the risk. The ultrasound went fine and our risk was reduced. Not enough to render the AFP blood test negative for Down’s, but enough to make us feel a lot better. A definitive diagnosis could happen through an amnio – which neither one of us was all that into. We’ve heard that there is anywhere between a 1 and 200 to 1 in 1600 chance of miscarriage after an amnio – this just seemed like too big of a risk to us. The biggest factor is that if we did get confirmation that the baby has Down’s, we wouldn’t terminate. That just isn’t the decision we’d make right now.
Maybe this is naïve, but I really feel like everything is fine with this baby. I’ve read that upwards of 80% of the positive Down’s AFP tests turn out to be false positive. I just don’t think that this baby has Down’s. If he does, we’ll deal with it, but it just doesn’t feel like that’s what’s happening.
We had another OB appointment on Friday, and got even more assurance that he doesn’t have Down’s. Apparently, babies with Down’s are born with a single wrinkle across their palms, because while in the womb, they don’t move their fingers independently. According to our OB, Down’s babies will use their hands similar to a primate, with all fingers perpendicular to the palm, thus causing the line. During our ultrasound, our little guy was displaying quite a bit of digital mastery as he not only picked his nose for us, but spent a good amount of time playing with his penis. Who knew it started so early for the brothers?!
My naseau subsided around week 17 and has been replaced by crazy heartburn. Other than that, my back tends to hurt a bit more and I’m a little more prone to tearing up. It all feels pretty manageable. As of today, we’re at week 21. I’m too shy to post belly pics, but tonight I’ll post a video from the ultrasound.
Thanks for sticking with me. I promise to be better about posts and comments.
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