I Think I See a Turtle There...

Well, folks. It's official. And 100% guaranteed accurate. In fact, you can see for yourself. We are having a boy. This image was taken from the bottom... literally. Think of it as having our little six ounce baby sitting on a glass coffee table and you are lying down underneath it, looking up. So you are seeing two legs, and between them... well, you know.

We had the ultrasound today to see what caused my bleeding, but they went ahead and did the full-on ultrasound that they would have done next week at my scheduled appointment. So not only do I know it's a boy (and won't he be thrilled at age 12 to know that all of you saw his genitals posted on the Internet way back in 2005?), but I have some other information, possibly scary, but probably not, as well.

First, let's talk about the bleeding. You may recall that when I went to the doctor on Friday, she performed an ultrasound machine that I believe had been used on living dinosaurs... it was that old. According to that reading, the doctor announced, "Well, the placenta seems to be where it should be." What she meant by that is that it was not over the cervix. This condition is referred to as Placenta Previa when it occurs later in pregnancy (often the bleeding occurs after week 26). If the placenta is still over the cervix at time of delivery, then a c-section is the only option.

Well, guess what! The ultrasound today showed, undoubtedly, that the placenta is draped quite clearly over my cervix. This is the cause of the blood. Now, the good news is that this is fairly common in second and third (etc.) pregnancies and often, the placenta migrates up the uterine wall as the pregnancy progresses (euw!! Gross!!). So, I am still somewhat restricted in my activity. But the doctor gave me the okay to lift up to 25 pounds or so and to do light housework (yippee). I can still work, but I should just "take it easy." Fortunately, I am looking at a rash of meetings over the next few weeks, so that keeps my activity level at work low.

The important thing is that I can still go on my cruise, assuming there is no bleeding within the next couple of weeks. So this is a secondary motivation (not that I really needed one) to really stick to the restrictions.

Now, the real purpose of this ultrasound would have been to look for possible problems with the fetus; most specifically, Down Syndrome. There are about four things they look for in the ultrasound that might indicate Down Syndrome. The presence of one of these is not much cause for concern, but the presence of all four is certainly alarm worthy. One is the presence of the fifth digit (pinky finger). One is the complete formation of the feet. So literally, they are looking for ten fingers and ten toes. Then there is something about the kidneys, which I didn't quite get. Finally, there are some calcifications in the heart that they look for. Turns out, baby boy Caran has those calcifications. But he has ten toes and ten fingers and his urinary tract looks okee dokey.

Again, one sign is not really cause for alarm, but they do have to follow up on it. Therefore, I will be getting a call tomorrow to schedule a level II ultrasound. This is basically an even better machine with even more skilled technicians. Hopefully, that will be scheduled next week. They will also get the results of my AFP test soon, and that will also provide some indicators.

So three times in two weeks I get a little peek inside me to see the newest family member. And now we know that he is a HE! So Chris is completely pleased with himself (he predicted a boy from about two minutes after the little plus sign appeared on my pregnancy test). If there is a bad side to it, it's me having to admit over and over again to friends and family that Chris was right. Again. *sigh*