And Then There Was Joy.

Thank you so much for your prayers. Please praise the Lord with us that we have received good news. We saw nothing abnormal with the baby at all.

As we drove down the familiar roads to Little Rock, I could not help but remember the many times we had drove them before. The exit to the apartment we had stayed at, the shopping centers we visited, the many landmarks on the highway where AR Children’s Hospital is located, all of these stood out to me. It was hard to seperate this trip from my memories of Emma despite the lack of similarity. We did not go all the way to the Children’s Hospital, but stopped a little before there at another clinic. With very little difficulty we found our way to the genetics clinic where we checked in. After that we waited awhile for it to be my turn with the ultrasound machine.

They started with the general level II ultrasound showing different body parts and organs of the baby. Time was taken to measure things like the amount of amniotic fluid, the size of the head and stomach, and the general size of the baby. Everything looked as it should even down to measuring within one day of my due date. The baby appears to weigh about 1 lb. 3 oz. by their measurements. The only thing that was remotely odd was the position the baby was in, though that won’t present a problem unless the baby decides to try to be born this way. Basically he/she was breech with one leg held all the way up to the head. Here are some pictures:

An arm and hand:

Legs and feet:

Face looking straight at it, with the foot directly below the chin:

And lips looking staight at them, not as easy to see if you weren’t there in person:

After the tech had finished her scan, we waited for just a few minutes and the echo technician came in. She started the scan of the heart, finding a heart rate of 157. Soon after she started we were joined by the pediatric cardiologist. One of the ones from Children’s who has actually done several echos on Emma. So she spoke of Emma by name to us, which I was very appreciative of. They spent awhile looking at the heart from different angles and the blood flow. Sometimes they would get the picture they wanted only to have the baby wiggle out of position. Despite the frequent wiggling, the cardiologist said she wished everyone scanned as easily as ours went. She took the time to sit down and manipulate the wand herself, I think to check the pulmonary veins, which is one of the things that was abnormal in Emma. After she finished she said that she saw nothing abnormal in the heart anatomy, including no sign of a hole (VSD). She explained that the pulmonary veins were hard to assess in the womb because of the babies not needing them yet, and therefore not sending much blood through them, but that she had seen at least 3 of the customary 4 and they seemed to be connected correctly. That is all they can tell at this point, but she didn’t see a need for any followup unless there are problems apparent after birth. I don’t think there will be. The baby seems to be doing so well.

John and I went on to Hot Springs and enjoyed a weekend relaxing there. The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed the leisurely time together in honor of our anniversary. A few months early, but we didn’t think we’d feel like going anywhere when I am almost 9 months pregnant on our actual anniversary.

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This is just a friendly reminder that in one week we will be getting the fetal echocardiogram and level II ultrasound in Little Rock.  We’d appreciate prayers for safe travel there and back, for good news from the ultrasounds, and for our nerves leading up to this.  Also that God’s peace will be upon us, especially in the event they do find something.  I have been really looking forward to this trip.  Not only are we getting to get a good look at the baby, John and I are actually staying the rest of the weekend in Hot Springs as an early anniversary trip.  But today I am feeling kind of down and I don’t know if it has to do with hormones, being tired, or if I’m worried about next week.  Whatever it is, I’d appreciate your prayers.  Since we will be gone the whole week-end I won’t be able to post the results of the ultrasounds until we get back, but I will as soon as we do.

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Well, another noneventful check-up for a noneventful pregnancy.  Not that I’m complaining, noneventful is really good; that means things are progressing as they should with no obvious problems.  I’m sorry to disappoint all of you that were expecting ultrasound photos.  I thought I was getting an ultrasound today, but because we’ll be going down to Little Rock for the big ultrasound in less than a month, the doctor thought it unecessary to give me one here.  He said he would if I wanted, but since I didn’t want to know the sex of the baby, he said he won’t usually do one just for fun then unless I ask.  Deciding it was smart not to subject the baby to more ultrasounds than necessary and wanting to avoid accidently finding out the sex, I decided against another ultrasound.  I’m sure I’ll get plenty of time to look at the baby in Little Rock.

He did listen to the baby’s heartrate with the doppler and it was racing along at a rate of 160.  That is higher than Emma’s ever was, and close to what Elise’s was at 20 weeks.  For some reason that is encouraging to me, though I don’t know that it has anything to do with the health of the heart.

He asked several times if I had any questions or concerns, which I didn’t, so I was only there a short time.  As soon as I walked out the door I remembered the things I had been going to ask him.  Oh well, I learned my lesson, next time I’ll take a list.  None of the things were urgent, so they will easily wait until my April appoinment, but I will write them down now so that I don’t forget them next time.

Since I have no pictures of the baby today, here is a picture of me taken by my sister Hannah.  I’m actually a bit bigger than this already as this was about a month ago.

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