The Lily Pad

Well, we did receive the results of our amniocentesis last week and everything is perfectly normal! It was such a relief to get that news even though we wouldn’t have loved the baby any less if she had Down Syndrome. Oh, did you catch that part? That part right there where I said “she”? Oh, yeah…we got that result too! Woohoo! There is no real reason why my blood test was so screwy and we’ll probably never know, but we are not ruling out the effect my kidney disease, IgA-Nephropathy, could have played in the results. Again, I am purposefully using key words because this is the type of story I would have loved to find when I originally got my results back. A story of how everything worked out OK and that it was just a wonky test. It would have eased my fears that first night even though every single persons experience is different. Now that we know we’re having a little girl I have gone into full on plan / shopping / thinking of everything mode. I had put off everything until w

On Thursday we find out the results of our amniocentisis (scroll down a bit to find out all about it) and I do believe that this is the longest week evah! On Thursday morning I will know if I'm buying pink and yellow yarn for a blanket or blue and yellow. On Thursday morning I will know if my baby has any genetic defects. My entire life hinges on my knowing of the stuff...luckily at around 10 a.m on Thursday my entire life will hinge on my needing to know new stuff or to buy stuff...my life and it's hinges, it's a little wonky sometimes.

Maternity pants. Why have all the pregnant women kept these a secret? They are like sweat pants you can wear to work! Maybe it's from trying to continue to wear my regular pants for so long that when I get dressed in the morning and can slip on one of the two pairs of maternity pants I own I feel like I should just lay back down in bed. It's awesome! I may never go back to regular pants again! Well, at least not for stressful fat days when I have to work. Tanning. I can sit outside for 15 minutes reading a book and I have tan lines! This makes it fabulous because I eat my breakfast outside on the patio, read for a minute or two, get hot, come inside and TADA! I've got a tan! Well at least on the front of me...I need to start working on the backs of my arms and legs now. The boobs. I've never been lackign in this department but since being pregnant they are significantly fuller and fill out my shirts nicely. Talk to me in a month and see if I still like the

Please splain it to me how come I went to the doctor yesterday and the speculum was ice cold and the belly goop for the ultrasound was toasty warm. I wonder if I can request that the speculum hang out with the goop on my next appointment. * Part I can be found here.

Yesterday I had my 4th ultrasound (I'm just over 15 weeks) and an amniocentesis*. Let's back up to three weeks ago when Froggydaddy and I had our first ultrasound at MUSC to measure the nuchal translucancy fold of Froggybaby and the bloodwork done to test for Downs Syndrome and other genetic abnormalities, known as the quad or triple screen. We were confident that everything would be fine and this was just a precaution because we are people that need to know stuff because we have to plan. The ultrasound went great and the nuchal measurement was perfect so we left feeling confident. One week later, I'm at work on a particularly busy Friday afternoon when K, the geneticist, calls and says that my results are in. She proceeds to tell me that based on my age before the bloodwork, my chance of having a baby with Downs Syndrome was 1 in 803 and after the bloodwork, my chances are now 1 in 73. I stopped cold. Especially when she gave me the actual numbers for my results. The

Wow...I feel normal. I don't really feel pregnant of course unless you count the constant feeling of being bloated and the tears that sometimes happen before I even crawl out of bed because I'm really not sure what I can wear that will be comfortable and there might be the horror of thinking something will fit only to pull it on and have it not fit at all. It's funny because everyone asks how I'm feeling or how I'm doing and I'm not doing any different except if I go out with friends then I'm the sober one laughing at their drunk asses and that makes me feel just fine because nothing is better than going out with friends and having a good time and still being able to function in the morning. Of course there is little that is worse than thinking you still look not-pregnant until you see said pictures from the night out and realize that holy cow(!) you look bloated and you thought the black shirt and heels were slimming and heaven help you if indeed they were