Gametes In Love

It’s time for an iPhone picture dump.

Surely if I show them my belly they’ll give me extra Won-Tons

I jump in the water to chase after daddy’s silly head ring

Rubber Ducky, you’re the one, that makes swim-time so much fun. Especially when you’re supersized!

Check out the new Do

Auntie P reading books at bedtime

Hmn…. obviously the inspector didn’t come through this play-kitchen

If kitties go on a plane ride, do they ride in special chairs?

Want me to sweep the carpet too?

Look Ma! No hands.

Remember the other week when I posted about not being able to hear the baby’s heart-bean on my doppler, and my OB not being able to find it (and me freaking out about it?) There could be a good explanation for this. My placenta was noted as wrapping to the anterior on the NT scan today. Apparently with an anterior placenta, you can have a harder time feeling baby move and hearing their heart.

Huh — now I know.

Today was my NT scan and I’m happy to say that things are looking good.

The fluid between the skin and neck measured at 1.6mm pretty consistently, and the kid was 2 confirmed arms and legs. The brain lobes were also forming properly, and my cervix and uterus look good.

The risk of Down’s syndrome are 1/23,000 if you go by the age I was during conception and 1/18,000 at my current maternal age. Trisomy 18 risks at 1/100,000 in each age scenario. The State is required to get both sets of numbers. Honestly, unless I am way off on understanding genetics, I really don’t get how my current age will impact genetic sequencing, but either way — the risks in each of Downs and Trisomy 18 are very, very low. Of course, I need to go back in a few weeks for my second blood screen to confirm.

And here are some photos from today.

A few moments later there was some thumb sucking action

Here are some 3D views. Much like G, this one likes to hide his/her face, so in each of the 3D images you’ll observe some nice peek-a-boo action.

The big excitement of today’s appointment was getting out of the building. As we walked past the elevators, I saw one of my former managers sitting there reading on his iPhone. Poop! Said manager, while no longer with my company, can still easily get news to my team that I’ve got a bun in the oven. And while I’m planning on telling everyone next week, I just want it to be my news to share and I wasn’t really interested in talking to him about it just yet. So S and I tried to find an alternate exit to downstairs. Since we couldn’t find it, we tried to devise a way for me to sneak into the elevator without being noticed. Needless to say it didn’t work. I got caught and called out. I used a cover story of seeing an attorney who worked across the hallway from the Dr. office and focused the conversation on him as much as possible. S still doesn’t get why I lied, and while it doesn’t really make sense, as I said — it’s my call who I get to share my news with and who I don’t.

I go back in a few weeks for the second portion of the blood screening and in July for the anatomical scan. If I see him again (possible, since he WAS there for the same office I just came out of), then I get tell him all about our big news. Better yet, I won’t have to — it will be quite obvious. Ha!

I learned an interesting lesson today: apparently the “ie” suffix is not an appropriate addition to all words.

Remember Nubs? One of G’s buddies? Well, occasionally I call Nubs, Nubsie. Well, G has his own name for his giraffe: he calls him Nuk. I don’t know how we got from Nubs to Nuk, but whatever.

G’s routine in the morning is to get up, stand up in his crib and then toss his buddy as far out of the bed as possible. And then point and go “Nuk fall” (No darlin’, Nuk didn’t fall, he was pushed!). I picked up Nuk, handing it to G asking him if he wanted his buddy. Except I didn’t use the word “buddy”. Instead I used the name G gives him. And I added an “ie” at the end. And then I realized that didn’t sound good. At all.

Here’s hoping G won’t use this new word to name his friend.

… to quote the memorable Adam Sandler.

I received a note from the clinic that will be performing my NT scan tomorrow. It was a very pleasant, informative letter on the genetic testing that will be performed, how and when it will all be done, etc. All is well and good, until I read this line: “this screen provides individualized information about your baby’s risk of Down syndrome by combining your age, results ….” Wait a minute!!!

My age??? My age when? Now, or when this baby was conceived?

So I called the number at the bottom of the letter, which encouraged me to call should I have any questions. My conversation went something like this:

Me: Yes, I was calling to ask for more information on the genetic screening. You indicated that maternal age is a risk factor. Is that current maternal age, or the maternal age when the child was conceived? Because my child was conceived 2.5 years ago!

Her: Uhmn…. let me have you talk to one of our nurses.

Yeah, I’m sure there was some head scratching going on. Ensue conversation on fertility treatments, and being transferred over to a nurse.

Here’s the part that got me. The nurse asked “Well, did you tell us that you had a donor egg?”

Me: No. We didn’t use a donor. It was my egg.

Nurse: Well, the donor question also applies to embryos used in frozen cycles too.

REALLY? Well then frikkin’ say so, because when the phlebotomist took my blood and asked me about using a donor she was oblivious to other applications of that question. As was I — the scope of the question is pretty darn narrow. I responded “No.” (since it WAS my egg & S’ soldiers), but that we did go through IVF. No further questions were asked. No “Did you use previously frozen eggs, sperm or embryos?” Nothing.

So tomorrow when we get our preliminary results we’ll need them to re-run the calculation with my adjusted age. Also that they’ll need to inform the state of the change.

Fun stuff!

I’m looking forward to the scan though. Wish us (and most importantly the wee one) a healthy bill o’health.

I’m not an actively vengeful person, but I think there is something to be said about pregnancy hormones and associated rage.

Now when someone makes me mad it makes me want to sneak some iron supplements in their drink: so they can get backed up for a few days. It’s just a “little evil”, and a pregnancy joy I’m happy to have someone else experience… esp. if they’re of the male persuasion.

Please note that I would NEVER tamper with anyone’s food, drink, employ, or mode of transportation. However, in my hormonal pregnancy fantasies I sure want to.

How far along: 12w
Weight: me = 126.2; baby = 1/2 oz
Baby size: 2″ tall
Sleep: Pretty decent actually. Still welcoming a nap in the middle of the day whenever possible
Movement: Nada
Feeling: You know? Overall? Good! I haven’t thrown up since last Sun evening, and even though I’ve had moments of feeling queasy, still my best week since the yickies started. I’m hoping this will be a continually improving trend.
What I miss: Nothing right now. I’m feeling pretty good.
What I am looking forward to: Coming out at work. One more week until we do that though.
Food cravings: I fought the pickles… and the pickles won. Yes, hardy har har. Pregnant woman and her pickle. Laugh it up!
Fetal development:
The most dramatic development this week: reflexes. The baby’s fingers will soon begin to open and close, its toes will curl, its eye muscles will clench, and its mouth will make sucking movements. Its intestines, which have grown so fast that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into its abdominal cavity about now, and its kidneys will begin excreting urine into its bladder.

Meanwhile, nerve cells are multiplying rapidly, and in the baby’s brain, synapses are forming furiously. Its face looks unquestionably human: its eyes have moved from the sides to the front of its head, and its ears are right where they should be.

What is better than cookies, you ask? Dirt! Good ole’ potting dirt. Or at least G thinks so.

Tonight after dinner B made some cookies for the kids, and while little K was going coo-coo over her too-hot to handle cookie, G was sampling the dirt from the living room potted plant. Yeah, a call for cookies goes out, and my child runs for the plant soil.

I don’t know if I should be proud or hang my head in shame.

You know what? Childproofing kitchen cabinets is much easier said than done. Either the childproof locks we have aren’t very good — or our cabinets are especially made for parental torture.

S had to get creative in locking 3 of our cabinets (the ones that contain things like mandolyns and like sharp objects), but we have a few drawers that are out of the childproofing rhealm. The one with the pots I can handle: I mean how much trouble can G get in with a pot? Unless he decides to go hunting rabbit in the backyard by hitting it over the head with a pan, there’s not much I can complain about. The spice drawer on the other hand? Not my favorite child-toy.

Not only does G LOOOVE the spice rack, but he has learned to unscrew the tops off the little spice jars. I came into the kitchen today (where S was making dinner and G was “helping”) to find all my whole cloves on the floor. G was proudly standing over them. I guess he was getting ready to make a brine? I took a deep sigh and moved on. G then decided to gather up the cloves and throw them in the trash. Well, after the floor soup, I wasn’t going to use them again so I suppose he was kind of assisting with disposal.

THEN he decided to help me clean up. He stole the broom from me and brushed all the cloves under a cabinet I can’t reach anymore.

I guess our vacuum cleaner will be smelling pretty.

I had my first appointment with my regular OB Thursday. I’ve been looking forward to it, and nervous at the same time.

Nervous because I haven’t been able to pick up the heart-beat of the wee-one through my doppler all week. I was going to post that I had found it last Thursday (which I swear to you I did), but then when I tried again on Sunday there was nothing. There was nothing on Monday, or Tuesday either. I tried to comfort myself by thinking “well, it really IS too soon”, “Most people  even at 10w don’t hear the heart-beat”, “I’m still nauseous as hell” but the reality is that I was scared. What if the baby had stopped growing? What if my body didn’t miscarry because of the progesterone and was tricked into thinking I was still pregnant.

At today’s appointment Dr. M finished my exam, and even exclaimed how big my uterus was, for where I should be in pregnancy right now. She broke out her doppler almost excited to use it. And then we stood around in the room waiting. And waiting. And waiting. She navigated that wand across my belly and got nothing but my heart-beat. Her face looked confused. It felt like forever and I was ready to scream out “Get the u/s RIGHT NOW!!!!”. Tears were forming down my throat, but the u/s she did get.

When it went in, all that you could see was an empty half moon shape. Then she pushed in further and there it was — the kiddo, with a heart-beat flickering away. It had pushed up against the corner of my uterus. It was either snuggling up (like G snuggles up against the edge of his crib) or purposefully hiding. Dr. M said “You’ve got a baby in there!” (at which point in time, by the way, those tears DID run down my face).

And then, just like that the kid began to do flips. I’m not joking. It mooned us a few times, waved his arms and legs. Dr. M laughed. I guess she doesn’t get these kind of performances too often. And now here I am thinking “Why does this child play pranks on me already?” A whole week of no heart-beat, only to get a “Psych! Gotcha” wave in the end. Ugh, I hope this is not a preview of things to come.

But, the good news is, all is on track. I’m actually measuring at 11w already. Not too far off since I’m 10w4d today.

I got a refill on my anti-sick meds too. Since the end of morning sickness is no-where in sight, and my current prescription ran out, I’m now setup for another few weeks.

Our trip to Bulgaria and their measles epidemic is also nothing we can do anything about. I was inoculated as a child, and even though I’ve been inoculated, I haven’t gotten a booster in the past 10 years. There’s nothing they can really do now. Yes, I could do an antibody check for it, but to be honest, at this point I’d rather not know all the nasties I could be exposed to.

Also, delivery wise, I’m still leaning c-section. Although I haven’t formally made up my mind on this, Dr. M started off delivery conversations with c/s. I asked her if there was a reason why I might not be a good candidate for a VBAC, but didn’t really get an answer. Ultimately S and I interpreted something different in her response. It’s something we’ll revisit again, but for now, tentative plan is c/s. We’ll schedule the surgery for 11/22 (day after my EDD), with the hope that I go into labor on my own. Instead of waiting for dilation, however, I’ll just head for the hospital, get fitted into a gown and proceed to surgery. This way baby gets to bake in as long as it plans to, and it still gets to choose it’s birthday 🙂

I leave you with a bunch of photos Dr. M took while trying to chase the kid around. Enjoy!

(oh and bottom right — that’s a baby butt giving you a full moon. PS don’t get excited about the in-between the leg shot — that’s just the umbillical chord)

How far along: 11w
Weight: me = I refuse to weigh myself for another week after the indulgent week-end I’ve had. But on Wed I was 126.6lb.
Baby size: Just over 1.5″ (Wow it’s grown a lot in the last month!)
Sleep: Good. I’ve even had a few nights I haven’t had to wake-up to pee.
Gender: No news
Movement: Nothing as of now.
Feeling: Still gross, but I’ve had a few days without alms to the pukie gods. I’m hoping this will become a trend.
What I miss: Wine. After watching my friends do wine tastings this week-end, I realized how much I’d love to have some too. The got me some faux sparkling wine (aka sparkling grape juice) though, which was very sweet!
What I am looking forward to: More days of feeling good.
Weekly Wisdom: If you give a phlebotomist a lab form they’ll take out 5 vials of blood.
Food cravings: I had a craving for a pickle the other day. No, I’m not making a pregnancy funny.
Fetal development:
The baby’s hands will soon open and close into fists, and tiny tooth buds are beginning to appear under its gums. Some of its bones are beginning to harden.
It’s already busy kicking and stretching (and flipping and mooning), and its tiny movements are so effortless they look like water ballet. These movements will become more frequent as its body grows and becomes more developed and functional.