The First Screening Test

So.. after our experience with "I", we opted to take the early screening test again, though this time we took something called an "integrated screen" rather than the first trimester screen. This one consisted of a blood test and ultrasound in the 13th week, and a subsequent urine test and blood test in the 16th week. It takes so much longer to get the results of this screen - C had already had an amnio at this point due to the FTS results turning out to be on the abnormal side.

Well..

After waiting the extra time for the results of this more accurate test we passed with flying colours! Our chances of having a child with spina bifida was suggested to be 1 in 54,600 and the chances of having a child with Down's syndrome was suggested to be 1 in 2,170 (a far cry from 1:77!)

We're very pleased with those results - though they are based on statistics.. and you know what they say about statistics :) So, we're hopeful and taking the risk and not going to proceed with an amniocentesis this time.

She's Going to Be a Big Sister!

Stats:
Last day of C's LMP: May 1st, 2009
Insemination Day: May 10th, 2009
Positive Home Pregnancy Test: May 24, 2009
Due Date: February 2, 2010
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Now that that is out of the way...
We have been horrible at blogging to document the past 2 years of our daughter's life. Needless to say, being parents has been an experience more incredible than anything we could have imagined. We love waking up every morning to greet our daughter and have enjoyed two Christmases together. Watching the delight in her eyes with the decorations and gifts has been so fun. She had the opportunity to get to know her Nana for a year before she passed away from complications due to breast cancer. Indeed there have been some incredibly sad times, but they have been silver-lined with the joyful experiences that we've been fortunate to have despite them.
"I" is now going to be a big sister! As she would say, "Mommy has a baby in her tummy... can I seeeeee??" (as she lifts C's shirt to try to look). And it's true, we're going to be parents once again in late January/early February 2010. This is most likely going to be our last child. I hesitate announcing that because I really wish we could have 4, but we're both in our mid/late 30's now and there comes a time when it gets riskier to have children and we're approaching that. We'd like to be around to see our grandchildren as well - and even now, it might be questionable as to whether that might be possible. I suppose we'll see.

We had our first ultrasound on July 21st. The heartbeat was measured at 154bpm and the baby's gestational age according to our calculations was 11w4d, but was measuring 12w2d at that time. The nuchal fold measured 1.3mm - well within the normal range at this age and we're awaiting the results of the blood test to screen out genetic abnormalities. With our daughter, this is where things started going awry. Hopefully it doesn't happen that way this time around. Though failing all else, we simply wish for a healthy baby to share our lives with in the end.

We decided that we will not find out the gender this time - there are so few true surprises in life that I think we're going to take advantage of this one and enjoy it. We have some ideas about names we might use, but again - nothing in stone yet.
Both of us weren't prepared for the insemination process to work so quickly. We tried with one month with one sample and BAM - C was pregnant. We're very fortunate and happy that it worked out that way. Our donor (S's brother) probably is too :)

We go to see the midwife this afternoon for our first official prenatal appointment. We met her a number of weeks ago, but it wasn't really a check up. I hope today that we might learn how the bloodwork went last week for the screening test - not holding my breath though. More soon.. will post how the appointment went later!

She's home (and been home for almost 3 months!)

I's home and perhaps the most telling part of that is the fact that we've been unable to post for so long. Things are wonderful. We surprised C's aunt and uncle when they came over for dinner that evening. We'll never forget her aunt's face when they came to the door - it was a good surprise and we don't get to do that often with them.

The first few weeks were really crazy. After going through it, we now know what the best gift is for a family with a new child --> lots of homemade prepared meals in the fridge/freezer because there is so little time to do anything but change diapers and feed that little mouth. It's so easy to forget to take care of yourselves!

Little I was up frequently throughout the night feeding and we had very little sleep. We kept her in our room so it would be easy to hear her and tend to her throughout the night and that remained the case for about two months. At that point, she began to prefer her own little crib in her room and so we let it be and she's been there quite happily ever since.

We've been on road trips to visit our families, picked apples, visited galleries, gone grocery shopping, gone to the movies, gone to the beach, enjoyed I's first Thanksgiving, had some professional pictures taken, and next week it will be her first Hallowe'en. Time is flying! Little I first turned over on Thanksgiving day. It was fun to watch despite her frustration with the entire situation.

I is now about 10lbs and we believe that her growth has started to level off or slow down once more. We're hoping that it is not the case, but we'll soon find out. She seems to be getting longer and bigger, just not a whole lot heavier.

So much has happened and not all of it has been posted here. It's been quite busy, but we'll try to write more. Speaking of which - it's past our bedtime.. time to sleep!

Our Little Girl Joined us May 30th, 2007

It's been a busy time. As noted in the last post we were told that our little one would be born the next day and it was true. Our daughter was born at 2:26pm on May 30th. C didn't sleep a wink the night before, as one would expect, due to the excitement and nervousness of course.
Everything went well with the delivery of our daughter, whom we'll call "I" here. She was born crying and weighed just almost 2.5 lbs. She was tiny and perfect and didn't need any help breathing! She has spent the last month in the NICU gaining weight and catching the eye of all the nurses in the unit with her subtle charm. Of course C and S are in love with her :)
We learned yesterday that she'll be coming home on the 6th of July. One of S's friends at work bet that she would be born on July 6th (his birthday..no less) so we'll be pleased to let him know that his birthday is still a special day in little I's life. We cannot wait to bring her through the doors of our house and finally enjoy our first weekend as a family. We will be having C's aunt and uncle over for supper on Saturday evening at the house. What a surprise it will be when they arrive and see her with us. We were initially told that she may come home next Monday, and we haven't updated them on that change yet - so we'll see how they like that surprise!

32 weeks 6 days

Bebe is 32 weeks and 6 days gestation today. It's been a bit of a rough go this week too. We learned that bebe is measuring very small - < 3rd percentile in size which is cause for concern. C's placenta seems to be having some troubles feeding bebe and as a result it has what is called Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR) which causes it to be smaller in size. Fortunately, it is expected that bebe will catch up in size by 2 years of age. The unfortunate part right now for C is that her blood pressure continues to creep up (one of the signs of preeclampsia) and so she has been admitted to hospital to be monitored - basically until bebe is born.
*** post interrupted by phone call from C at the hospital ***
So, bebe is going to be born sooner than we thought - it sounds like it will be tomorrow - at least the induction will start. The rush of feelings going through both of us over the past week have been a bit crazy: concern, fear, worry, and of course excitement to meet bebe. The doctors have all been so positive saying that bebe has everything it needs at this point to be ok outside of the womb - it just needs to be fed so that it can grow.

Wow... I'm speechless. This could be the last day of my life that I'm not a parent. It's a big deal. I'm so excited.

The Verdict Is In! Bebe's Perfect!

Yesterday we had the 18 week ultrasound scheduled. At this appointment they take measurements of the baby to make sure it is growing normally. While we were waiting in the waiting room, our genetic counsellor, Hannah noticed we were there and came over to see how we were doing. We mentioned we hadn't heard anything about the amniocentisis results yet, and she took a moment to see if she had received anything yet and she had. She returned to tell us that the results were perfect and the baby is genetically normal! We were so relieved, had a few tears in the waiting room. I'm sure people were wondering about the tears, but they were tears of joy, and we said as much.

Bebe didn't cooperate with the ultrasound technician again yesterday. It was facing down and away from the ultrasound probes, so it gave a very good view of the spine for a very long time. Almost 3 hours of ultrasound later they finally gave up. Everything looked normal, from what they could see, but we'll have to return in a couple of weeks to get the final measurements of the heart and for the technician to see the baby's lips.


After a long day at the hospital, we returned home exhausted, but very happy. We're still both so tired today from the incredible rollercoaster we've been on over the past month. Everything is just fine thank goodness.

More later...
xx

Be Mine!

Yesterday was our 10 year anniversary! Yay us! It's crazy to think that we've been together for an entire decade. It is also nice to know that there were three of us celebrating our 10 years together, even though it was a rather quiet celebration. Yesterday we were hit with a snowstorm so we both worked at home. It was very nice to not have to commute.

There is still no news about the results of the amnio, which is a good thing because we're just at two weeks from having had the procedure done. We expect we'll likely hear sometime next week or the following week. We get to see our little one again on Tuesday. It will be the level II ultrasound where they check to make sure all the fingers and toes and other parts are developing normally. S was almost slated to go to Ireland next Tuesday through Thursday, but managed to get out of it, luckily.

Chinese New Year approaches and we're entering the year of the pig. That's S's year and the baby's year. S ordered a pig-shaped cake to celebrate this weekend. C has been feeling the baby's movement much more in recent days. S is still unable to feel it from the outside and eagerly awaits the day when she can. C is enjoying relatively uninterrupted sleep while it lasts. She's feeling much better and has more energy than in the first trimester, but still gets tired in the evenings after work. She hasn't gained much weight - perhaps 7-8 lbs in the first 18 weeks.

We have a lot to do in the second trimester. Getting our home ready for the baby is the main thing. We have to redo the kitchen and get a dishwasher and finish up the basement. C's sister will be living with us when she graduates and it's important for us to get a den ready so that there can be late-night movies and room for our computers. Before we can do all that we have to do a bit of purging. S isn't terribly thrilled with the idea, but it needs to be done.

So much to do... so little time.. time is flying!