Well, I went to the ultrasound appointment today and EVERYTHING is FINE! NO amniotic bands, NO tumors, NOTHING UNUSUAL...except a little, boy named Thomas who isn't really "little" at all!
I have large babies*. I don't have gestational diabetes...just large babies. Yay. Lucky me. Heehee!
Okay, I knew as soon as I posted it that I would get a lot of "you don't have to do genetic testing..." comments. I already knew that, sillies! My doctor, who is 100% pro-life (including NFP only) told them my age and went along with their recommendation to do the GC. So, I figured it couldn't do any harm and I might learn something. It didn't, and I didn't, but now I do understand a little better how the people at Children's hospital view genetic testing and it's uses. The counselor told me that a lot of people think that they do it to terminate the pregnancy when they find something wrong, but that is NOT AT ALL the case. She said that the testing is by no means 100% accurate and they know that, but it does give them a picture of what they are facing and a better idea of how different problems could be managed. Now, I don't know if she was just saying that because she might have sensed that after 6 pregnancies, it might be what I wanted to hear. Maybe, but I got the impression that they were VERY NON-PRESSURE about further testing, compassionate, and very understanding. I didn't tell her one, single thing about how I felt about testing other than that I didn't do any of the blood marker tests before. That's all! So, I really think that what I saw was what I got. I have to say that the 15 minutes that I was in her office was kind of entertaining and not a horrible thing at all. If I was a first time mother with a family history of genetic birth defects, I would want to know absolutely EVERY thing about what to expect with my baby and that's not a bad thing. I am not, though, so I am so happy to report that any fears I had were completely unfounded and wiped away by this ultrasound. When the doctor came in to review the report and double check the baby, he showed me some things on the ultrasound that might be mistaken for bands. He skimmed over the whole baby and uterus and looked kind of funny, as if to say to himself, "What's this lady doing here, anyway? She has three perfectly healthy children sitting here with her and one perfectly normal baby in there! Get out of here already!".
I am an extremely happy mama today!
*I know that the size of the baby in utero to determine when it will be "due" gets less accurate (by ultrasound) the further along one is...but the baby's bones and structures are now measuring 24 weeks, 6 days. It's going to be really hard when I get to the end of this to determine when to have the baby! I am extremely terrified that this one wants to be the "record breaker" and I am NOT excited to break that record! I would try to induce a week early if I knew exactly when that is...but due to my crazy cycle and weirdness about when he is due...I'm not exactly sure when that is! I already feel HUGE. It's gonna be a LONG 4 months, people!
