{21 weeks!}

How far along? 21 weeks!
Total weight gain: 10 pounds.

Maternity clothes? Mostly shirts, and elastic pants or pants the next size up (1/3, depending on the brand)

Stretch marks? notta.

Sleep: is non existant, for the most part. I'm the last to go to bed at night and the first one up in the morning, plus waking up in the middle of the night.

Best moment this week: we had our ultrasound today!! yay!

Miss Anything? sleep. I'm. So. Tired.
Movement: Baby really loves when I rock in the rocking chair, that's the only time s/he will move a lot.

Food cravings: LEMONS. and peaches! 
Anything making you queasy or sick: nothing comes to mind!

Gender: we were able to find out today, but we're staying tight-lipped about it for now :)
Labor Signs: are a long ways away!

Symptoms: oh i've got all the stereotypical ones- overly emotional, tired, achy. I want to obsessively clean all the time, but that's nothing new ;) 

Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!
Looking forward to: cleaning and organizing baby's room a little more and making it look like a nursery! 

 

 

We had our 20 week ultrasound today with the perinatologist! Big brother Aldon & Keegan got to be there, of course. Aldon didn't get it at first that he had to look at the screen to see the baby- he kept looking down at the tech's wand on my belly all confused like 'really guys? this is what you're so excited about?', but then he saw baby and kept exclaiming 'hi baby! hi baby!!' It was beyond adorable. He also made a new bff with the doctor, they high-fived. 

 

 

The ultrasound went really well, the tech did her thing and then called the doctor in. The doctor comes in and immediately says "Now, everything's fine, except..."

 

Oh, great. 

 

Cue mini heart attack...

 

The 'except' turns out to be a little spot on baby's heart. On the ultrasound, it shows up as a bright white dot. It's called an "Echogenic Cardiac Focus." It was explained to me in medical geek speak and regular terms...

 

"ECF is present in 3-4% of all 2nd trimester fetuses...it represents microcalcification and fibrosis of the papillary muscle or chordae...it does not represent myocardial disfunction, cardiac structure abnormalities, congenital heart disease, or abnormal growth or tumor inside the fetal heart..it is a soft marker for aneuploidy...ECF is seen in 20% of all fetuses with Down Syndrome"

 

In my case, baby's ECF is in the left ventricle (which is most common), and is the only present marker for aneuploidy (like Down Syndrome). Basically, there's a bright white spot in baby's heart that is like a calcium deposit. It's very common. Before this was found, my doctor calculated the risk of baby having DS to be about 1 in 1200. Now, it's about 1 in 600. Still a very, very, very low risk. I could go on to have an amniocentesis to be sure, but under the doctor's advice (and common sense), that's not necessary- the risk is so low it doesn't justify the invasive procedure (there's a greater chance of my membranes rupturing from the amnio versus baby having DS or another aneuploidy). There's a beyond 99% chance that this will go away by the 3rd trimester and baby will be born perfectly healthy. 

 

Whew.  

 

In other news, this weekend is the Art Festival at Crocker Park (Westlake's $400 million "outdoor lifestyle complex")! We're (ok, me) are pretty excited!! And next week Keegan starts work in Cleveland, lots of things happening! 

:)