@drkoyya this boy is giving you a run for your money already! Either he will be hard-headed or ridiculously chill lol I hope for the chill outcome haha.
@drkoyya I found with my first that her behavior in utero was indicative of her behavior as an outside human. She was constantly moving on the inside, and that hasn’t stopped in the 2+ years since she was born, lol.
Anatomy scan this morning. Baby girl was VERY active, but the tech did still manage to get all the pics and measurements needed. The tech said they need to take approximately 90 specific pics! I knew it was a lot, but that was more than I expected. I think the part that blew me away the most was when I could actually see the tiny heart valves flapping on the screen. Husband clearly had too much coffee and I was finding him super annoying the whole time and just wanted him to shut up and watch the screen and stop distracting the tech and trying to be a stand up comedian or something. It didn't help that I woke up with a headache. Everything looked normal and good and baby is measuring at 67% which is awesome despite living at 10,000 ft. If I could just get the rest of my test results back I can start to breathe again.
I have yet to look at the photos the tech printed for me, but I'm hoping there's a good one we can use for our pregnancy announcement.
Next appointment is another centering class in 2 weeks.
20 week ob appointment yesterday. Baby girl's heartbeat sounded amazing, we were with a different doctor this time since they're encouraging their patients to rotate through the different providers and she was really nice and let us listen to her hb for a while. She encouraged me to be working on my diabetic diet now due to previous gd, and wrote my order for the 2 hour glucose test at 24 weeks. I really want one of the other docs to do my repeat cs otherwise I'd see her again. We went over the results of last week's as and she said everything looked perfect. The scan gave me a new edd of 5/16 but she said it's only 2 days difference so they aren't worried about officially changing it.
@splashmountain at some point one of my drs/nurses said they would only change the due date if I measured more than a week off, but if it was just a couple days either side of the EDD they would keep it the same
AS yesterday at 20+0, baby was measuring 20+3. Found out we are having a boy by the tech saying "well, I don't see anything so I'm assuming it's a girl....oh wait, nevermind." 😂 We were able to get most of the pictures except for the final few, so I did have to get up and walk around a bit to get him to move. We were able to get the last ones after that. I didn't have an appointment with my OB right after but she did message me and say she reviewed the images and everything looked normal. I have an appointment with her on Jan 7th so hopefully we'll get a deep dive into anything else then. Overall very happy to see baby and know he's looking great!
I had my follow up with my OB today after the AS last week. He said everything looked great and he wasn't concerned at all that we need to go back in a few weeks to get the heart images. He was reassuring and said it was very common and nothing to stress about. We listened to the heartbeat and it was in the 140's. Also I dont know what my blood pressure was but he said it was good so that's good news because it had been a little high the last few appointments, and I'm worried since it got super high during and after delivery with DD. But for today everything is good
We ended up not going through with the amnio today. The appointment started with a level 2 anatomy scan (better u/s machine than had been used before), which was very very thorough and found nothing of concern for either baby. The ultrasound tech wanted us to review risks of amnio again with the genetic counselor and doctor, in part because she wasn't going to have an easy route to the baby with the anterior placenta, and the other baby was being wild (like barrel rolls during the ultrasound wild). We ended up deciding that the risk (up to a 3.5% risk of loss for twins, depending on which study you consult) wasn't worth it for an information advantage that is unlikely to have any actions come of it. We did elect to do "MaterniT21 PLUS" blood testing, because the genetic counselor thinks that the difference in methodology between that and Panorama may allow them to get results where the Panorama didn't. Also, if the issue was a vanishing triplet (which the genetic counselor at Panorama suggested may have been the case), that DNA should be out of my system by now.
I've kind of been thinking about it as, if we hadn't had the Panorama, we would be at this point and not worried, having had a normal NT scan and now an unconcerning anatomy scan. Sometimes new technology helps, and sometimes it's a bear. For now, que sera sera.
@louessbee had I not had Carrier screening I would have just gone on and had all the normal scans and seen a healthy baby and totally avoided a lot of unnecessary stress. I totally get it. For me amnio results may have changed which hospital I deliver at as well as impacted insurance decisions for 2020 because we may have needed a NICU or something. If it will not change your treatment during pregnancy or when you give birth than it’s probably less important. Also I trust when your tech said one of the babies was moving too much. They do a lot of amnios on a lot of babies and I trust them to judge a safe vs unsafe situation. My baby pretty much slept through it, but had it been the day of our AS it would have been a no go because baby was wild. Also it can safely be done later in pregnancy if you decide you want to as the babies shift around in there.
@pirateduck We might revisit if the MaterniT21 comes back hinky. But it came down to that I'm already delivering at a hospital with a level 2 NICU, because it happens to be our closest hospital (less than a mile away), and we wouldn't attempt a reduction because of the risk to the other babe, and we're not going to get results until we're past termination. We've also had carrier screening done and we're not shared carriers for anything, so that's another reduction in risk. We still have a small question-mark next to "potential spontaneous chromosomal abnormalities", but again, there's a good chance those would have been picked up on the NT or AS. But it would have been nice to avoid some of this stress, right?
@louessbee ugh, the stress. I sometimes wonder had I not gone through this if I would have just found something else to worry about... there’s always something.
I wish my hospital had better facilities honestly. However I am comfortable with my doctors and it’s an hour from home, which makes it the closest birth center by a lot, and the one we can most realistically make it to easily when the time comes. The thought of going further to the city while in labor sounds extremely stressful to me, so the small local hospital it is. Also it’s only about 20 minutes from my work.
@pirateduck Trying to go more than an hour away while in labor does not sound like fun, I agree. And you're probably right, there's always something to stress about!
Thanks for sharing your experience with the amnio and for thinking of me. I really appreciated the realistic expectations and the kind words.
I had my anatomy scan today and all looked well except they found a couple soft markers for trisomy 18/21. There were 3 echogenic foci in the left ventricle of his heart and a choroid plexus cyst in his brain. Apparently these are most likely normal findings but the fact that they aren’t isolated because there are two of them may be more worrisome. The next step would be NIPT testing, which we already had done and came back negative. So that’s positive. The stats lean towards this not being an issue but I can’t help but be nervous about it. The OB said if we are really nervous we could see a genetic counselor and have an amniocentesis. I don’t think we will go that far, right now we have a growth scan scheduled in 8 weeks. Feels so far away. Has anyone had similar findings on their anatomy scan?
With my now 2 year old daughter we had 3 different markers show up- one with three kidney, heart & brain. She turned out to be a healthy smart child with no genetic issues. I honestly think its very common for things to show up at the 20 week scan and end up resolving themselves by the next check!
@4thonthewayinmay Thank you! That's super comforting. Did you have any testing or see any specialists after finding the soft markers or did you just have a regular growth scan?
Re: December Appointments
I have yet to look at the photos the tech printed for me, but I'm hoping there's a good one we can use for our pregnancy announcement.
Next appointment is another centering class in 2 weeks.
FTM
BFP: 9/5/19 ~ EDD 5/15/20
I've kind of been thinking about it as, if we hadn't had the Panorama, we would be at this point and not worried, having had a normal NT scan and now an unconcerning anatomy scan. Sometimes new technology helps, and sometimes it's a bear. For now, que sera sera.
Thanks for sharing your experience with the amnio and for thinking of me. I really appreciated the realistic expectations and the kind words.