Offically a blogger....

I have finally decided to give into the pressure of my sisters and start a blog. I must admit that this will be a much easier way to keep people informed on the Lawver happenings! Every time something new happens, or I leave a doctors appointment Ted always says... "I'll talk to you in an hour!" as he knows I am about to call my mom and all of my sisters. Now, I can type the info once - and it is then up to you to show interest and read! :)

Yesterday was our 21 week ultrasound! Yeah! it was SO much fun to lay there and watch your little baby on that screen! I could not believe the changes that had taken place and how different it looked compared to our 7 week US. We have very detailed pictures of the hands, feet, profile etc... So amazing! The baby is almost a pound and is in the 69 percentile for growth. I was expecting it to be in the upper 90's based on Ted's size, so that was a relief! We chose not to find out the sex of the baby, but I am convinced it is a boy, for several reasons.... #1) I dream about a baby boy all the time. #2) The US tech knew "FOR SURE" what the sex was in the first two minutes of the scan. #3) When she made us look away so she could type the gender on the image I counted 1, 2, 3, clicks... b-o-y. :) We shall see!

The only concern from the US was that they found 2 choroid plexus cysts on the baby's brain. The choroid plexus is the area of the brain that makes a fluid that protects and nourishes the brain and spinal cord. Cysts develop on this area in 1-3% of all fetuses between 16-24 weeks. These cysts can be found on either one side (unilateral) or both sides (bilateral). Ours has them on both sides. The cysts themselves are not harmful to the baby. When CPC's are found, they go over every body part and all of the major organs to look for abnormalities and stunted growth. When there are no other abnormalities, the diagnosis is called and "isolated CPC". Our scan showed NO abnormalities, so our baby has an "isolated CPC". The concern comes because CPC's are associated with a severe genetic disease called "Trisomy 18". Because the baby has no other abnormalities, the risk that it will have Trisomy 18 is very small, about 1 in 300. When CPC's are spotted, the first step is to do a level 2 ultrasound to check for abnormalities- esp in the hands and feet. Being in a high risk practice, that is the kind of scan they did to begin with. We have a very clear picture of the baby's hands and feet and they looked good. Our doctor offered us the option to have a amniocentesis or to just "wait and see". We opted to "wait and see" as amnio's have their own risks (some which are higher than the risk of our baby having Trisomy!) and regardless of what we were told we would not do anything differently. Our physician seemed very calm about it and assured us that the vast majority of babies are perfectly healthy and that a CPC is just a normal part of growth and development in some babies.

Even thought the chances are very low, this still causes some great concern for Ted and I. After our miscarriage I cannot fathom how I would handle something going wrong with this pregnancy. Especially after seeing it on the scans and feeling it move day in and day out. The only thing left to do in the coming weeks is to just keep turning it over to the Lord. I know that whatever the outcome it is all apart of his plan.

Here are a few pictures of our precious Lawver baby! Do you think it looks like a girl or boy...humm...