14 Weeks and counting..................

Despite the fact that I am no longer feeling nasty and having strange food aversions, I am still so crazy tired! I fear my thyroid is still not quite on track, so we will be looking it to this again next appointment. Hmmm, where did I leave off??? Oh right. The NT scan. Well, it didn't really go how we had hoped. Little One's NT measured somewhere around a 3.5, and they like to see it below 2.5. In fact they didn't even take my blood because they said that the blood results would not be enough to lower our risk given the measurement. Ouch! Fortunately, we had quite possibly the cutest and kindest doctor possible giving us this information. Once I was in tears, he was quick to remind us that this is all about risks and does not mean that there is anything certain wrong with our baby. I have to remind myself that he said this because it is awful hard to remember anything else he said after the initial blow.

Dr. Cutie also proceeded with a complete anatomy scan of our baby after this news and informed us that she looks perfect. Heart is beating well and has all 4 ventricles. Brain is properly formed and blood is pumping through all of the lobes. Kidneys are formed and functioning. She looks "like a very healthy, normal 12 week baby, " he said. We are still saying "she" because our little one was very stubborn (I have no idea where she gets this from!) at our appointment, and it was difficult to get an accurate view between the legs. The doctor explained his technique for determining the sex this early in the game, and we all stared at the ultrasound screen long and hard. He said his best guess at this point was that she is in fact a girl. I look forward to setting this record straight, once and for all, very soon. Which leads me to the scary topic of "further testing".

I never wanted to have to go here, but somehow I found myself agreeing to having an amnio. I guess the decision was easy given the choice between amnio and CVS. I know 2 people who have lost perfectly healthy babies from complications with CVS, and I also know plenty of ladies who have had no problems with it all. I remain scared shitless of the thought of it, and to make things worse, the doctor mentioned that it might be a little more difficult as they would have to maneuver around the sac of Baby B. No thanks. I'll take the giant needle in my stomach. That appointment is set for August 10th after more crazy controversy at work over when I could be allowed 2 days off in a row. Good times! If anyone can spare any prayers or good thoughts for Baby Sunshine, I would greatly appreciate it. We have come so far and prayed so long for this little baby that the thought of anything being wrong with her is more than I can bear.

In happier news, I turned 40 last week and entered the second trimester! Yay!!! For my birthday I decided to order a doppler from babybeatdotcom, so that we could keep tabs on the munchkin between appointments. It's really awesome! We haven't had any trouble finding her heartbeat, and it continues to be a strong and rhythmic 143-150 bpm. It makes us smile every time we hear it, and if we ever figure out how to download the recording I will post it in the blog. Pierce spent a good chunk of time yesterday looking at tutorials on the Mac and trying to figure out how to make it work, but no go.

I have so much more to share but will end this here for now. I am once again taking a vow to be better about keeping up with our little blog. I want Baby Sunshine to know all of the details, good and bad, and know how very much Mommy and Daddy have loved her for so very long.