20 Week Level II Ultrasound - Baby #2

A little scare

21 weeks

I forgot how AWESOME ultrasounds are! Oh wow. A level II ultrasound is beyond cool. The main reason we received the Level II was because of the heart defects on my side:

• My dad had a quarter-sized hole in heart and leaky mitral valve, irregular slow heart beat and a pacemaker – had open heart this winter
• Brother had a hole in heart (they think he was born with it) and had irregular, slow heart beat
• Grandpa has pacemaker and pig valve and might have had a hole in heart, irregular slow heartbeat, clots in heart
• Uncle now has a pacemaker and had open heart surgery for slow and irregular heart beat
• Mom has the FAST heart beat and is on beta blockers
• Grandpa (mom’s dad) passed away from congenital heart failure
• Oldest uncle had heart defibulator and was on heart transplant list for a while. Still kicking it!
• Second oldest uncle has the fast heart beat
• Aunt has the fast heart beat

You get the picture, right? Now you all know why I try to live out the HEALTHIEST lifestyle possible! The odds aren’t totally in my favor but if I can eat healthy and exercise, maybe I can prevent certain things. 

Maybe…

As soon at the ultrasound tech put the goop on my belly, baby’s face popped up on the screen. INCREDIBLE photo. My heart melted. Karl grabbed my hand and squeezed it. SO SO SO COOL.

Everything seemed to be measuring GREAT. We were able to see how the blood was flowing through the heart. CRAZY. HEALTHY. Strong beat at 161 bpm. We were passing with flying colors left and right.

We had to turn away so we wouldn’t see the “private” parts. But then when we turned back to look and the tech arrived to the head, she spent some time in one area and became quiet. I was getting sleepy lying down so I didn’t think much of it. Until the doctor came in and had that look. Right away I knew something was up.

He of course was sweet and nice and introduced himself, but then we started getting into things. “When you walked in the doors today, you were high-risk being 35. You already knew your chances of having a baby with some kind of genetic defect were now at 1 and 300.”

I nodded. I knew that, but come on…I JUST turned 35 on Sunday!!!

“I don’t want to alarm you but it’s my job to tell you that the baby’s nuchal fold measured a couple times at 5.7 and once at 6.1. We couldn’t get the best measurements because baby doesn’t want to move for us to the area we want to capture, but the threshold for being at a increased risk for down syndrome is anywhere from a 6-10 measurement. You did have that one measurement at 6.1, so I need to explain what that could mean…”

Yes, my heart dropped. Yes, it was like a movie clip ran through my head in fast forward of the past two years and all we went through with Jackson. Would I NOT have that with #2? Would it be crazier? Harder? Would I only get what I had with Jackson ONCE and then have to relearn how to be a better/different caregiver for #2? My head was swirling with thoughts.

Then this calm washed over me out of nowhere. Even the doctor stopped and said, “You look really calm on the outside right now. How are you feeling on this inside?”

I seriously was OK. This crazy amount of strength and optimism came over me. 

How many of my friends have gone through something VERY similar? Doctor sees something, they worry and then baby is born healthy? A lot. I was sticking with that thought. Everything was going to be OK.

The doctor rambled off some statistics. I think my risk is at 1 and 100 now. BUT I hung on to the 98% chance that the baby would STILL BE HEALTHY. Basically not one other thing came up that put up a red flag. And he said because baby wasn’t moving in the right position for them maybe he/she had a serious neck fold the way he/she was lying.

I’m going with that right now. I can’t worry about this. Only pray. Baby is in God’s hands.

We visited with our doctor after and he didn’t seem too worried. We ended up talking about the usual - gas, peeing, and other weird stuff. He is the coolest. I felt much better about things.

I honestly can’t worry about this right now. I have to trust in God and his plan. But at the same time I kept thinking how lucky we all are for being able to walk and talk and breathe every single day. SUCH miracles. We all are. It's amazing how our bodies function every single day the way they do. 

Every second this baby is developing and growing into something incredible. How is that even possible? There is SO much more going on here than science. God. God. God. 

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FUN Birthday Weekend - Wheel of Fortune Style

High-Risk Mama Here

Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — about the size of a carrot. It may soon feel like she's practicing martial arts as her initial fluttering movements turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. You may also discover a pattern to her activity as you get to know her better. In other developments, your baby's eyebrows and lids are present now, and if you're having a girl, her vagina has begun to form as well.

Just hanging with Pat and Vanna!

It’s been a super fun week over here, and a better weekend!!  Even with ALL the stress of moving, we’re still making plenty of time for fun! YAY! I have to or else I think my head would fall off.

I think picture-wise I have a couple weeks mushed together here, but oh well.

Of course we’ve been taking time to walk, run and ride over to all the construction zones around the area. All Jackson wants to do is climb up the steps and try to open the doors of construction vehicles so he can sit down and drive. He’s too cute. I found out though I can’t be in the sun and heat for too long being pregnant. I get SUPER dehydrated and worn out—I pretty much feel light headed and ill. So not sure how this summer is going to work out for me? I’ll have to figure out something though! The winters are WAY too long. I have to get outside!

Forklifts are called "Weave-Weaves" Did you know this?

You should have seen his shoes and socks after this "dirt" adventure:) 

Big boy!

Uncle Mike (my brother) came up for the weekend. Jackson ADORES him. He has no problem kissing and hugging him and jumping all over him. It’s WAY too cute. Makes me sad we don’t live next door to each other anymore, but we treasure his visits even more.

Uncle Mike’s friend Stephy J surprised us and mailed a super COOL John Deere tractor that Jackson is in love with. He was SO excited about this tractor. So nice and thoughtful of her to do this! We met Stephy J when Karl and I traveled to Greece a while back. Super cool chick. 

LOOK AT THE COOLEST TRACTORS EVER!!! Thanks, Stephy J!!!

OK. Can I just say moving stinks and is SO stressful?? I’ve really started to take everything in and am getting pretty sad and anxious about moving to a new town and place. I’m going to miss this beautiful pond view by our house.  I run or walk by it ALMOST every day in the spring, summer and fall, even winter when it’s bearable. I know Minnesota is the state of 10,000 lakes, but I’m SO comfortable with where we live now.

Going to miss this. A lot. 

Change is coming! Change scares me. I also know it’s SO great too. There is SO much work ahead of us. So much. And we don’t always agree on where things will be going in the new place. Yuck. Seriously all I can do is let go. I have to. There is no other way right now. Must keep going and SMILE. Throw in some silly too. 

Time for a work out!

Friday came and Jackson and I spent the morning packing up boxes the best we could. We had a maintenance man come over and fix up our pantry. Then we went for a long walk and checked out all the bulldozers in action and then played in the park. Then we hit up Costco during the lunch hour so we tasted plenty of delicious samples, or “treats” as Jackson calls them. I was also co-hosting my friend’s baby shower on Saturday so I had to buy plenty of snacks!

SOMEONE surprised MOMMY at work!!!! He was PRETTY excited about this ride!

Jackson was ready for his nap when we got home. His naps have been getting shorter so we were soon on our way to a SPLASH PAD!!!!!!!! Holy smokes. Last year the splash pads were EMPTY when we’d go. This year it was INSANE. Maybe we went on opening day? I have no idea. All I know is Jackson was so excited he was bouncing everywhere and slipping everywhere too. But he also wanted to do everything the bigger kids were doing. I was one stressed out mom! I can’t get to the point where I sit back on a park bench and watch just yet. Just can’t do it.

SPLASH PAD FUN!!!!

Saturday was Baby Shower day for my dear friend. I drove all the way to Rogers and got lost. Ufdah. That was a haul. But the baby shower was GREAT. I was able to see friends I haven’t seen in forever. It was SO nice not to have to chase a little dude around and just BE an adult and laugh my head off with my girlfriends. Karl took Jackson to the Mall of America ON A SATURDAY (can I just say BRAVE SOUL!?!?!). I’m seriously SO impressed with him. Sometimes I get frustrated (not mad) that he can just drop Jackson off at his parents whenever. I don’t always get that option with my family being 5 hours away. I will say we are VERY lucky that his parents are generous with their time and will watch Jackson so Karl and I do get some time to do what we need to do. But this time Karl spent the WHOLE day with Jackson!!!!!!!! I was SO happy about this!!!! I didn’t get home until dinner time! This was something VERY new for me.

LOVE THESE GIRLS!!!!!!!

Sunday was my BIRTHDAY!!!!!!! I’m officially high-risk now when it comes to my pregnancy. Is that something to celebrate? Not sure. But hey, I’m alive and healthy!

Karl and I are HUGE Wheel Watchers and after catching a few commercials during our Wheel Watching last week, we saw the Wheel Mobile would be in Minnesota ON MY BIRTHDAY! Perfect! We made an entire day of it. We drove to the cabin and dropped Jackson off with Gpa and Gma. The weather was INCREDIBLE. Jackson was SO excited to be outside and in nature! I didn’t feel so bad leaving him AGAIN.

Call my name!!! Get me up there! (A little excited!)

Kisses for Pat!

Hey there, Vanna! Looking good!

BIG MONEY!!!!!!

When we arrived to Grand Casino, I was SO excited to have some adult time with Karl. I just had to share with the security people that it was my birthday! I received VIP treatment and we were able to cut in line at the buffet (we’re kind of a big deal) and I ate for FREE!!! We also were able to play with $10 FREE money. AND our names were thrown in a drawing to win some meat packages. OK. We SO need to get out more, don’t we?? LOL. We didn’t win, but our hearts were set on playing Wheel of Fortune. We had to fill out a card and stand in line. The line was NOT long at all and we got in right away. We dropped our cards in a huge basket.

Tractor fun for Jackson!

Lake is a little high these days!

BEAUTIFUL!

He still talks about this tractor! And the CABIN!

A fake Pat and Vanna were on the stage and would call 5 names at a time from the big basket. Those people had to stand on stage and share some information about themselves. Then the fake Pat spun the wheel and the contestants won promo items like hats and t-shirts. Ohhhhh. Then they tried to solve the puzzle. We were hoping to get called (well, Karl wasn’t) but no dice. SHOOT!!!!!!!! It was still FUN! SO much fun!

We might not have gotten on the show just yet, but Pat Sajak tweeted the both of usJ That counts for something, right?

What's that Pat? You tweeting us? :) 

Karl and Jackson also spoiled me with chocolates and a sweet card. Karl also spent the night before preparing cold-press coffee. I guess it takes 12 hours to make. It was SO good. I only can handle about 5 sips of coffee these days but those were the BEST 5 sips of my lifeJ

Can you believe Karl did all this for me even AFTER I accidentally put cumin in our yogurt treat? SO every morning I pack our lunches (I do this so Karl doesn't stop at the gas station and get some NASTY $2.22 meal.). Usually our snack is PLAIN Greek Yogurt, a little cottage cheese, frozen fruit, a little honey and cinnamon. Let's just say cumin doesn't taste very good in this mix. Eesh. Karl is such a champ!

After all the fun, we headed back to get Jackson. We talked about work and moving and all kinds of things. We held hands. I almost forgot HOW MUCH I LOVE DATING MY HUSBANDJ We need MORE date nights.

It was a GREAT birthday! Feeling SUPER blessed!!

Now…off to our ultrasound! And to pack a few more boxes… 

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