{Pregnancy Update} 18 Weeks

Monday marked 18 weeks for this pregnancy. It's hard to believe that I am nearly to the halfway point of this pregnancy.

This morning I had the anatomy ultrasound. I was hoping to be able to find out the gender, but more importantly, I wanted to see the baby is growing well and is healthy. I was somewhat nervous as I drove to Chapel Hill this morning. I have not felt the flutters of this baby growing inside of me yet. I started to think about all the bad things they could tell me and I started to get overwhelmed. I prayed about it and took comfort in knowing that whatever happened was in God's hands and out of mine.

I really liked the sonographer I had for my last ultrasound, so I requested her when I checked in for my appointment, but it was her day off. Bummer. Sometimes it's hit or miss with sonographers. They see so many babies everyday that they sometimes don't get excited the way we do as expecting mothers - but I got lucky today. I always want to make sure they know my history with Tennyson. She knew the basics, but I filled her in on the details and jokingly warned her that I ask a lot of questions. I'm such a different pregnant woman this time around.

I know most women think of this ultrasound as the gender reveal. That was just going to be a bonus for me. I wanted to know how the brain looked and if she saw a choroid plexus cyst; if the heart had four chambers; if the baby was growing on schedule. I wanted to know the placement of the placenta and to know if she could see how big it was; I wanted her to check for blood clots in it. I asked about the umbilical cord...all the things that went wrong and unrecognized with my last pregnancy.

I let her know I had not felt the baby move yet. She told me that it was most likely because of the positioning of the placenta. It's right on the top of my belly, so this baby is going to have to get a little bit bigger (or kick harder) before I feel the flutters.

As she went through her ultrasound routine, checking all the body parts of the baby, I got to hear the heartbeat (a strong 154 beats per minute), see the baby wiggling around, see hands and feet, and just as she was about to tell me the gender, I beat her to it. I knew right when I saw it on the screen. I said, "Oh! It looks like a girl!". She said, "You're right. Wow, you're good."

Overall, everything looked great with our sweet baby girl. Today I am 18 weeks 3 days, and she measured exactly 18 weeks 3 days. My due date is February 11th.

I will have to return in a month so they can get a better look at her heart. In most of the images, her heart looks perfectly healthy. But there were a few questionable images that made the doctor want to make sure she doesn't have a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD). She assured me it was not something that is life threatening or anything that would affect her developmentally IF she does have it.

My Husband called me after the appointment. I said, "you know how you're outnumbered right now with Tenny and I? Well, you're about to be really outnumbered because we are having another girl!". He was excited. I don't know how people have the patience to wait for gender reveal parties, or any other cool gender reveal ideas I've seen on pinterest. Once I talked to my husband, I made about 20 phone calls. People were waiting and I was excited to tell them!

We are excited for another girl! I would have been happy for a boy as well, but I'm really happy the 5 giant bins of girl clothes I saved from Tennyson will be put to good use!

Tennyson is going to be an awesome big sister.

Amy

tennsense@gmail.com