I know that everyone has been wondering about an update on our last appointment and some details on what they found on the ultrasound. I had another appointment on Thursday and we have received all of the blood work results so we are ready to share what is going on!
At our 20 week ultrasound they discovered that her bowels (stomach and intestines) looked "bright" on the ultrasound. I don't really know any other way to describe it that they looked more white than they should have been. The cause for this could be a myriad of things, and because of that Josh and I did not want to go in to details right then because even the doctors weren't sure what was causing them to appear that way. The option was presented for us to do an amnio (the procedure I had done with Sawyer where they stick a rather large needle in my abdomen to take out some amniotic fluid) or to do some blood work. Because of the risks associated with the amnio and the fact that the doctor seemed to think it was probably nothing, we opted for blood work. Some of the reasons for bright bowels have been linked to Down Syndrome, Cystic Fibrosis, any of the Trisomy's, or if I had a primary exposure to some virus. All of the blood work tested for that and they all came back normal! We are so thankful for your prayers, and thankful that the Lord has answered them. My initial frustration was at the fact they found anything and part of the reason we didn't share all the details is because in reality there were too many "it-could-be's" and too big of a chance it wasn't going to be anything.
90% of the time bright bowels have no explanation, but that is not something they can be conclusive on until AFTER she is born so they wanted to do the testing and blood work just to be sure. They will continue to monitor me closely and starting at 32 weeks I will go in for twice weekly testing, just like with Sawyer. I am definitely NOT complaining about extra monitoring because it means they are keeping a close watch and we get lots of 3-D pictures :) The ultrasound this week showed that everything looked about the same, maybe even a little less bright! The doctors seem confident that it is nothing, but like I said before - they won't know until after she is born so they will keep watching. For now my nerves are at ease and I don't feel as anxious about the initial discovery. My next appointment is with my regular OB on Tuesday for my gestational diabetes test - Yahoo!
Now for my weekly pictures!
Fun Pregnancy Information
How far along: 24 weeks!
Total weight gain:I have finally gained 1 pound! I am not to my pre-pregnancy weight yet, but I think I have turned the corner on all-day sickness!
Maternity clothes: Yes and no. Still wearing more non-maternity pants. Although, I went shopping for swimsuits this week and I think it is more depressing now than before! LOL
Stretch marks: Nope!
Sleep: Great! Not quite to the 'waking up every hour to pee' stage :)
Best moment of this week: School is out for the summer and I have survived my first year teaching!
Miss anything: Not particularly, still not eating much cereal!
Movement:Yes! We can see her moving all over from the outside. She is still breech and kicking me right in the bladder, all the time :)
Food cravings: Strawberries and sugar, granola bars, and recently - milk (CANNOT GET ENOUGH!)
Anything making you queasy or sick: Other than the smell of fish, I am doing pretty good!
Have you started to show yet: Yes!
Gender: Girl!
Love,
Ashlyn
No comments:
Post a Comment