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| Me and Our Baby #2 |
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| My Mom, Me and Baby Pangan #2 |
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Somewhere between 19 weeks 3 days and 21 weeks and 1 day
Monday, June 6, 2011
Quad 4 Results
Well we got the Quad 4 results last Thursday and well it was a mixed result test. The results are mostly informational and this is just a screening. If you want specifics about the test you can follow this link http://www.americanpregnancy.org/prenataltesting/quadscreen.html . However to explain my results I am going to give you a shorter than cliff notes version. As you have figured out already the Quad 4 screens for 4 things: Down Syndrome, Trisomy 18 (another genetic disorder I am not familiar with), spina bifida, and placenta problems. To check for placenta problems it looks at your hCG hormone levels and mine were a little higher than normal but not high enough to be of worry. They look at the AFP Protein level to check for spina bifida and down syndrome. If the AFP protein is above 2.5 then that points towards possible spina bifida but if it is below 1.0 then that could point toward down syndrome or another chromosomal disorder. Mine was 1.41 which is in the normal range. My risk factors for Trisomy 18 were normal.
For down syndrome they look at the patterns in the proteins as well as factors such as age and ethnicity. For someone my age the normal ratio is 1 in a 1000 however my risk is elevated to 1 in 83. Sounds terrible right?! But really it still means there is only 1 to 1.5% chance the baby could have down syndrome and a 98.5 to 99% chance the baby could not have down syndrome. There are also positive factors about Baby Pangan that point to this NOT being the case. The 1st being that my AFP protein did not fit the pattern and was normal. The biggest is that the nasal bone is a key indicator that the baby is good. Baby Pangan has a well developed nasal bone which greatly decreases the chances that he or she has down syndrome. For more information on this check out this article http://www.webmd.com/baby/news/20021217/fetal-nasal-bone-predicts-down-syndrome. Another thing that the genetic counselor said could cause results like this is a small baby! Babies that are smaller can have protein patterns that mimic problems. And we know Baby Pangan is smaller than he or she is supposed to be!
There are a lot of things that go through your mind about this. It is nice information to have and my mind is at ease more knowing this information even if it wasn't the 1 in 10,000 I was looking for on everything! On Web MD when you look up Quad 4 Screening it says this: Out of 1,000 pregnant women, approximately 50 will have quad marker screen results that indicate an increased risk for having a baby with a birth defect. Of those 50 women, only one or two will actually have a baby with an open neural tube defect. About 40 women will have quad marker screen results that show an increased risk for having a baby with Down syndrome and one or two will actually have a baby with Down syndrome. (Link to Article on Web MD) I think that it really puts it in perspective.
So why test you ask?! Well for a lot of reasons. We decided to have the test because well there is a family history with my mom's sister who passed when she was not even a year old of hydrocephalus and possible spina bifida. It was the 1950's and they didn't know about shunts back then. We didn't do it with Nisee because she was always growing properly and there wasn't anything that presented to be wrong. We also tested because well I always feel like the more information I have the better decisions I can make and the better decisions I can make the better off I am. The question of amniocentesis kept coming up and since the presents the greatest risk to the baby that we would get as much information as possible before deciding to do that. From the beginning I told Chad that there would have to be like a 1 in 4 chance that the baby would have down syndrome or a high high risk of spina bifida for me to risk an amniocentesis. Well since both those are out we are pretty much just down to waiting for the last ultrasound.
My follow up ultrasound is Wednesday June 8th at with WFU Baptist Fetal Medicine. They really wanted to do a time lapsed ultrasound both preformed at their location. This will really be the determining factor as to what is going on. I was measuring at 16 weeks 5 days on May 18th and I should be measuring at 19 weeks 5 days when I go back this Wednesday. They will also be able to see the babies heart and spine better than before. They looked ok before but they couldn't get clear images of them so they will be checking those again. So as long as baby has grown about 3 weeks worth over the last 3 weeks then we are good. If we go in and baby is measuring significantly smaller or larger then we will be in a whole new boat and who knows from there.
This is where we sit right now. Praying that this ultrasound is going to show our baby to have grown 3 weeks and that all is well. They can issue me a due date and continue to monitor his or her growth. It is hard to stay all strong and not freak out but I just try to remind myself that we don't have anything to freak out about yet and so far we are getting nothing but good news! Thanks again for the all prayers between our loving friends and family and our awesome God we know we can make it through this no matter what the outcome is!
For down syndrome they look at the patterns in the proteins as well as factors such as age and ethnicity. For someone my age the normal ratio is 1 in a 1000 however my risk is elevated to 1 in 83. Sounds terrible right?! But really it still means there is only 1 to 1.5% chance the baby could have down syndrome and a 98.5 to 99% chance the baby could not have down syndrome. There are also positive factors about Baby Pangan that point to this NOT being the case. The 1st being that my AFP protein did not fit the pattern and was normal. The biggest is that the nasal bone is a key indicator that the baby is good. Baby Pangan has a well developed nasal bone which greatly decreases the chances that he or she has down syndrome. For more information on this check out this article http://www.webmd.com/baby/news/20021217/fetal-nasal-bone-predicts-down-syndrome. Another thing that the genetic counselor said could cause results like this is a small baby! Babies that are smaller can have protein patterns that mimic problems. And we know Baby Pangan is smaller than he or she is supposed to be!
There are a lot of things that go through your mind about this. It is nice information to have and my mind is at ease more knowing this information even if it wasn't the 1 in 10,000 I was looking for on everything! On Web MD when you look up Quad 4 Screening it says this: Out of 1,000 pregnant women, approximately 50 will have quad marker screen results that indicate an increased risk for having a baby with a birth defect. Of those 50 women, only one or two will actually have a baby with an open neural tube defect. About 40 women will have quad marker screen results that show an increased risk for having a baby with Down syndrome and one or two will actually have a baby with Down syndrome. (Link to Article on Web MD) I think that it really puts it in perspective.
So why test you ask?! Well for a lot of reasons. We decided to have the test because well there is a family history with my mom's sister who passed when she was not even a year old of hydrocephalus and possible spina bifida. It was the 1950's and they didn't know about shunts back then. We didn't do it with Nisee because she was always growing properly and there wasn't anything that presented to be wrong. We also tested because well I always feel like the more information I have the better decisions I can make and the better decisions I can make the better off I am. The question of amniocentesis kept coming up and since the presents the greatest risk to the baby that we would get as much information as possible before deciding to do that. From the beginning I told Chad that there would have to be like a 1 in 4 chance that the baby would have down syndrome or a high high risk of spina bifida for me to risk an amniocentesis. Well since both those are out we are pretty much just down to waiting for the last ultrasound.
My follow up ultrasound is Wednesday June 8th at with WFU Baptist Fetal Medicine. They really wanted to do a time lapsed ultrasound both preformed at their location. This will really be the determining factor as to what is going on. I was measuring at 16 weeks 5 days on May 18th and I should be measuring at 19 weeks 5 days when I go back this Wednesday. They will also be able to see the babies heart and spine better than before. They looked ok before but they couldn't get clear images of them so they will be checking those again. So as long as baby has grown about 3 weeks worth over the last 3 weeks then we are good. If we go in and baby is measuring significantly smaller or larger then we will be in a whole new boat and who knows from there.
This is where we sit right now. Praying that this ultrasound is going to show our baby to have grown 3 weeks and that all is well. They can issue me a due date and continue to monitor his or her growth. It is hard to stay all strong and not freak out but I just try to remind myself that we don't have anything to freak out about yet and so far we are getting nothing but good news! Thanks again for the all prayers between our loving friends and family and our awesome God we know we can make it through this no matter what the outcome is!
A Little Good News
Yesterday I got part of my blood work back! And the good news is that all the antibody tests for infections came back negative! So Good news is that there is not an infection! I won't get the results from the Quad Four testing until next week though. BUT I wanted to let everyone know about our good news! We are so thankful for all the prayers and thoughts! God is good and he is going to see us through the rest of this! We hold high hopes for another good result!
Baby Pangan Update ... Posted 5/18/2011
I had my ultrasound at Baptist this afternoon. Chad couldn't get off work so my Mom decided to join me. They took me back to scan me and she was showing us all the babies parts again and of course doing a lot of measuring. The plan was she would scan me and then the doctor would review the scans and then come speak to me. When the doctor came to speak to me we talked a while about what was going on and then she talked about what she saw on the scans. She stated what she could see looked good but that they were not able to see the heart and the spine as well as they liked. We talked a lot and they are thinking that there is an issue with the way the baby is growing. This could be a lot of things some of which are really scary and some are pretty much nothing at all.
She talked about 4 different things that it could be at this point. First it could be a genetic disorder or a chromosomal issue, second it could be an infection that is causing the baby to not grow properly, third it could be that the baby is not getting what it needs from the placenta and fourth it could be just small baby. She doesn't think that there is anything wrong with the placenta because there is ample fluid around the baby and since that comes from the baby urinating if there was an issue with the placenta and the baby not getting what it needed they normally would see low fluid levels. She also did say that the baby is uniformly smaller than normal so it is not like one area is smaller than it should be which is another good thing. The babies heart rate is 153 which is also good.
We decided on the following game plan. They drew blood today to test for infection and to do the quad 4 genetic testing as well as test for the placenta just in case. I will be scanned again June 9th. They want to scan the baby again in a few weeks at the same office so they can see the growth over time. Since I am measuring at 16 weeks 5 days (should be around 18 weeks 3 days) then they want to see where I am measuring at that time. That will help a lot they said. I am not a huge fan of the quad 4 because it can give a false positive and the only way to know for sure is amniocentesis. However I decided to do it because if it comes back with very little chance then that could rule out a genetic disorder as the likely culprit. If it comes back that there is a big chance then we would consider an amniocentesis if the ultrasound also shows something. The infection testing is a 2 part testing to measure my level of antibodies so we won't know if it is that for at least 3-4 weeks as well.
We could do all this testing and it all come back negative and the baby just be small. That is still an option. Chad was only 6lbs 12 oz and his sister was only 6lbs 1 oz and they were full term babies. I wasn't huge either at a little over 7 lbs. While a lot of this is scary, I still feel like we don't know much more than we did Friday except now we just know a little more about the WHAT IF's. The way I look at it is that there isn't any need to get all upset about something we don't know yet and stressing about it all the time is just as bad for the baby. So until there is something to get upset about I am going to continue to be optimistic and pray for the best out come. We continue to ask God to help give us strength and guidance during this time!
Well I just wanted to update you all on what we didn't find out today! ;) They gave us a few more ultrasound pics which I will post. They did show us the babies sex again and it was the same as they told us on Friday but we are going to wait until after the June 9th ultrasound to share just to be sure!
I do want to thank you all for your kind words and prayers!
She talked about 4 different things that it could be at this point. First it could be a genetic disorder or a chromosomal issue, second it could be an infection that is causing the baby to not grow properly, third it could be that the baby is not getting what it needs from the placenta and fourth it could be just small baby. She doesn't think that there is anything wrong with the placenta because there is ample fluid around the baby and since that comes from the baby urinating if there was an issue with the placenta and the baby not getting what it needed they normally would see low fluid levels. She also did say that the baby is uniformly smaller than normal so it is not like one area is smaller than it should be which is another good thing. The babies heart rate is 153 which is also good.
We decided on the following game plan. They drew blood today to test for infection and to do the quad 4 genetic testing as well as test for the placenta just in case. I will be scanned again June 9th. They want to scan the baby again in a few weeks at the same office so they can see the growth over time. Since I am measuring at 16 weeks 5 days (should be around 18 weeks 3 days) then they want to see where I am measuring at that time. That will help a lot they said. I am not a huge fan of the quad 4 because it can give a false positive and the only way to know for sure is amniocentesis. However I decided to do it because if it comes back with very little chance then that could rule out a genetic disorder as the likely culprit. If it comes back that there is a big chance then we would consider an amniocentesis if the ultrasound also shows something. The infection testing is a 2 part testing to measure my level of antibodies so we won't know if it is that for at least 3-4 weeks as well.
We could do all this testing and it all come back negative and the baby just be small. That is still an option. Chad was only 6lbs 12 oz and his sister was only 6lbs 1 oz and they were full term babies. I wasn't huge either at a little over 7 lbs. While a lot of this is scary, I still feel like we don't know much more than we did Friday except now we just know a little more about the WHAT IF's. The way I look at it is that there isn't any need to get all upset about something we don't know yet and stressing about it all the time is just as bad for the baby. So until there is something to get upset about I am going to continue to be optimistic and pray for the best out come. We continue to ask God to help give us strength and guidance during this time!
Well I just wanted to update you all on what we didn't find out today! ;) They gave us a few more ultrasound pics which I will post. They did show us the babies sex again and it was the same as they told us on Friday but we are going to wait until after the June 9th ultrasound to share just to be sure!
I do want to thank you all for your kind words and prayers!
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A little more explanation about our anatomy ultrasound ...From 5/14/2011
So I feel a little like explaining today and its really early and I am up and can't go back to sleep.
So yesterday we went for our anatomy ultrasound all prepared to find out Boy or Girl and find out all about how healthy and perfect our baby is but when we got there and they started measuring the baby there was an issue. I had an ultrasound on March 2nd to determine my due date which they placed at 10/16/2011. I knew with in a few days of when I had started and that due date pretty much matched up. However yesterday when they were measuring the baby he or she was measuring only at 16 weeks 0 days. I was supposed to be 17 weeks and 5 days.
If I had not had the 1st ultrasound to determine due date and they calculated solely off when I thought I had my last period then they would just say I was wrong and that I ovulated late and that I wasn't as far a long as I thought. There is a margin of error with ultrasounds and it is usually a few days but rarely is it 12 days. The problem comes from the fact that the original ultrasound has the baby being further along than it is showing now. The second issue is that my due date according to the new ultrasound has me conceiving after I had already gotten a positive home pregnancy test.
So what does all this mean? Well it could mean 1 of 2 things. 1) There was an error with the original ultrasound and I wasn't as far along as they put me and this ultrasound has me measuring a little small due to the margin of error that they can have. 2) the baby isn't growing like it should be and there is something more wrong.
Both the Doctor and the Ultrasound Lady said that what all they could see looked good but they couldn't see it clearly enough with the baby being so small. They were able to get a good profile shot, see the nasal bone (she called it something else), see the stomach and see all arms, legs, hands and feet. They were also able to see and hear the heart beat and it looked good and sounded strong BUT they couldn't see close enough to see all 4 chambers clearly. The spine looked good as well. The heart rate was 147.
Dr. Dorton is my favorite of the doctors at my OBs office and he's the one that delivered Nisee and will deliver this baby as well. He has one of the best "bedside manners" that I have found. So he pulled me and Chad into his office to talk about whats going on. He said he feels that it is probably that there was an error made with the 1st ultrasound BUT he said he wants to have me scanned at Baptist to make sure there isn't anything else going on. He said it will make him feel better and it will make us feel better once we get the results of that scan. The scan is to be scheduled for next week or early in the week after that.
Now my rational mind tells me that he is probably right and that it was just an error with the original scan and that since this one has a few days error on it too that its not quite as far out as they are thinking and that I am going to find my new due date somewhere in the middle. MY MOM mind has me freaked the hell out! Just the chance that there could be something wrong has me worried to pieces. I try to tell my MOM mind to listen to my rational mind but it only works for so long. Yesterday I was so exhausted from the emotional roller coaster ride I had been on that I didn't feel like really talking about anything but I did want to explain a little more about what happened.
I really appreciate all the prayers and all the thoughts! We are really luck! We just pray that it really was just an error and that there isn't anything wrong. They did give us some pictures from the ultrasound yesterday.
So yesterday we went for our anatomy ultrasound all prepared to find out Boy or Girl and find out all about how healthy and perfect our baby is but when we got there and they started measuring the baby there was an issue. I had an ultrasound on March 2nd to determine my due date which they placed at 10/16/2011. I knew with in a few days of when I had started and that due date pretty much matched up. However yesterday when they were measuring the baby he or she was measuring only at 16 weeks 0 days. I was supposed to be 17 weeks and 5 days.
If I had not had the 1st ultrasound to determine due date and they calculated solely off when I thought I had my last period then they would just say I was wrong and that I ovulated late and that I wasn't as far a long as I thought. There is a margin of error with ultrasounds and it is usually a few days but rarely is it 12 days. The problem comes from the fact that the original ultrasound has the baby being further along than it is showing now. The second issue is that my due date according to the new ultrasound has me conceiving after I had already gotten a positive home pregnancy test.
So what does all this mean? Well it could mean 1 of 2 things. 1) There was an error with the original ultrasound and I wasn't as far along as they put me and this ultrasound has me measuring a little small due to the margin of error that they can have. 2) the baby isn't growing like it should be and there is something more wrong.
Both the Doctor and the Ultrasound Lady said that what all they could see looked good but they couldn't see it clearly enough with the baby being so small. They were able to get a good profile shot, see the nasal bone (she called it something else), see the stomach and see all arms, legs, hands and feet. They were also able to see and hear the heart beat and it looked good and sounded strong BUT they couldn't see close enough to see all 4 chambers clearly. The spine looked good as well. The heart rate was 147.
Dr. Dorton is my favorite of the doctors at my OBs office and he's the one that delivered Nisee and will deliver this baby as well. He has one of the best "bedside manners" that I have found. So he pulled me and Chad into his office to talk about whats going on. He said he feels that it is probably that there was an error made with the 1st ultrasound BUT he said he wants to have me scanned at Baptist to make sure there isn't anything else going on. He said it will make him feel better and it will make us feel better once we get the results of that scan. The scan is to be scheduled for next week or early in the week after that.
Now my rational mind tells me that he is probably right and that it was just an error with the original scan and that since this one has a few days error on it too that its not quite as far out as they are thinking and that I am going to find my new due date somewhere in the middle. MY MOM mind has me freaked the hell out! Just the chance that there could be something wrong has me worried to pieces. I try to tell my MOM mind to listen to my rational mind but it only works for so long. Yesterday I was so exhausted from the emotional roller coaster ride I had been on that I didn't feel like really talking about anything but I did want to explain a little more about what happened.
I really appreciate all the prayers and all the thoughts! We are really luck! We just pray that it really was just an error and that there isn't anything wrong. They did give us some pictures from the ultrasound yesterday.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Week 14
These shots are of Nanny and Papaw with Nisee! She was loving all over them this day! You all know what is going on with Papaw and Nanny and we spend most Sunday's there with them and today I felt these pics are good enough for my project!
Week 13
I completely forgot to post this! So here is week 13! Some shots from an afternoon we spent on the playground at our church!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
2nd Doctor's Visit for Baby Pangan #2
Well my doctor's appointment was scheduled for March 30th but I ended up going March 28th. I saw Dr. Bryson. I have been having a lot of cramping this time and at times its really bad. I called them last week and they said as long as I didn't have any other symptoms that they felt it was just stretching but if it got worse or didn't ease up to call them again. So Monday I was having some of the worst cramps and pains I had and I got worried so I called and they had an opening at 2pm so I went a head and went that day. After a check all is good! Dr. Bryson feels that the cramping is still from stretching and could be worse because of the c-section scar tissue that I have from Nisee. He said as long as I don't get any other symptoms that its all fairly normal. The babies heart rate was at 150 which was good! I always love hearing that! I go back April 25th for my 3rd visit and this time it is with Dr. Dorton.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Eating Crow and Vans
Most of you know Chad and I are expecting a second child in October but most of you probably didn't know that we only have 1 car that we can all fit in. Chad drives a 2 seater truck and I have my matrix of course. On a normal day I drop Nisee off at Daycare and Chad picks her up which is fine now BUT when Baby#2 gets here we are going to have a problem! So we just planned to look for a car later this year or 1st of the year next year because I get a lengthy maternity leave and if all goes well I won't be going back to work until January 2012.
However, Sunday on the way to church we came across a van for sale in Mocksville. We both figured it would be too much for us to afford but then we pulled up and the price they were asking was pretty decent and the miles were good too. So I was wondering what's wrong with it. After church I called the number and I we set up a time to go look at the van. I got my Mom and Dad to meet us there too.
When we looked at the van and it was really nice! It had everything but the media package. Automatic side doors and back hatch really peaked my interest. Overall the engine looked good and it ran well. The inside was for the most part clean but the floor mats needed some work but you can always get new floor mats. You could tell that she had kids and well if we got it we would be getting it because of kids. Chad nor I are neat freaks about our cars anyways. For me as long as it runs and looks semi decent then I am all good! LOL
We told her we were really interested but we had to discuss a lot. We looked it up on NADA and based on the miles and condition what they were asking was over 5K less than retail on the van and 2K less than trade in. So it was a great deal! Now came the decision of if we were really going to do it. We thought about it for a couple days and finally decided that we wanted it. I am getting to the crow part soon but this back story is appropriate. We are finalizing things early next week and we will have the van then! :)
We are really excited about getting another vehicle with more room. My parents have a place at the coast and with Chads family in Pittsburgh we travel a lot. It is really difficult to pack all our stuff in my car and make it 8 hours to PA comfortably with 1 kid much less 2! We borrowed my Mamaw's van for a trip to Atlanta and for a few trips to the beach and we loved the room.
Ok finally the crow part! I always swore that I would NEVER EVER EVER have a van no matter what. BUT now after borrowing my Mamaw's and finding a great deal on this one ... Well we just couldn't pass it up. SO this is me eating crow! LOL
However, Sunday on the way to church we came across a van for sale in Mocksville. We both figured it would be too much for us to afford but then we pulled up and the price they were asking was pretty decent and the miles were good too. So I was wondering what's wrong with it. After church I called the number and I we set up a time to go look at the van. I got my Mom and Dad to meet us there too.
When we looked at the van and it was really nice! It had everything but the media package. Automatic side doors and back hatch really peaked my interest. Overall the engine looked good and it ran well. The inside was for the most part clean but the floor mats needed some work but you can always get new floor mats. You could tell that she had kids and well if we got it we would be getting it because of kids. Chad nor I are neat freaks about our cars anyways. For me as long as it runs and looks semi decent then I am all good! LOL
We told her we were really interested but we had to discuss a lot. We looked it up on NADA and based on the miles and condition what they were asking was over 5K less than retail on the van and 2K less than trade in. So it was a great deal! Now came the decision of if we were really going to do it. We thought about it for a couple days and finally decided that we wanted it. I am getting to the crow part soon but this back story is appropriate. We are finalizing things early next week and we will have the van then! :)
We are really excited about getting another vehicle with more room. My parents have a place at the coast and with Chads family in Pittsburgh we travel a lot. It is really difficult to pack all our stuff in my car and make it 8 hours to PA comfortably with 1 kid much less 2! We borrowed my Mamaw's van for a trip to Atlanta and for a few trips to the beach and we loved the room.
Ok finally the crow part! I always swore that I would NEVER EVER EVER have a van no matter what. BUT now after borrowing my Mamaw's and finding a great deal on this one ... Well we just couldn't pass it up. SO this is me eating crow! LOL
Monday, March 21, 2011
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