Blue or Pink?

What do you think? We had our Level 2 ultrasound yesterday. Austin and Lauren stayed with my friend while Brian and I went to the perinatologist's office. My doctor refers all his patients to them for ultrasounds, I am not sure why. But it is nice, because since they are doctors they can tell you exactly what they see, if things are ok or not, etc. With Julia and Austin I had an ultrasound technician do them, and the techs were not "allowed" to read the results right then and there. Just a little background info. Since this post is about the new baby, here are some pictures of the first three. :) The girls:


And the boy. Have they changed much?


Pretty much the first thing Dr. N looked at was the baby's gender. And, we are having a
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GIRL!

We did not find out with Julia, but did with Austin and Lauren. And I have to say, it was obvious with him. With Lauren, I took the doctor's word for it, when he said she was a girl, and that they look not only for the absence of "boy parts", but also specifically for "girl parts". As Dr. N said when she checked again towards the end of the ultrasound, "There are three little lines, and no pointy thing....yep, definitely a girl," and that is what we saw too.

The baby appears to be healthy. Dr. N said she has multiple choroid plexus cysts (CPCs) on the right side of her brain (see article here for more info). This can be a "soft" marker for Trisomy 18, a chromosomal condition not compatible with life. But Trisomy 18 babies almost always have at least one more abnormality, like twisted joints, heart, kidney, or abdominal problems, measure small, etc. Our baby has none of those things, and measured 11 oz.--not small, from what Dr. N said, and one of my books said. The book said a baby at 19 weeks is about 7 oz. and one at 20 weeks is about 9 oz. I am 19 1/2 weeks, so 11 oz. certainly does not seem small. Also, at my 13 week ultrasound in January, I had a Nuchal Translucency Scan done (see article here). Those results said my chances of having a baby with Down Syndrome are 1/7000 and with Trisomy 18, 1/10,000. Dr. N said that is as low as their measurements go--so 1/10,000 is the lowest possible risk you can have. I asked if the CPCs increase that risk to say, 1/200. She said no, nothing like that. And that the vast majority of CPCs disappear by the third trimester (that they even disappear in Trisomy 18 babies). I asked what happens if they don't disappear, and she kind of shrugged, and said that they almost always do, but sometimes babies are born with them, and it's ok--doesn't appear to be harmful. Dr. N said it is very common for them to see CPCs, in fact, yesterday morning, there had already been another patient in there who had the same thing. Dr. N said she would not recommend an amnio (info here), and that she herself wouldn't get one just seeing the CPCs. She said even if I requested an amnio, she would try to talk me out of it. The risk of miscarriage with an amnio (though low) is much higher than the baby having Trisomy 18. She was very reassuring. I do need to go back in 7 weeks to make sure the baby is growing well. We will continue to pray for a healthy baby!

We waited to tell the kids until last night at dinner, though when I picked Julia up from school, she'd barely popped her head in the van when she was asking whether the baby is a boy or girl. Austin had forgotten about it up to that point! Then he was curious too! At dinner we asked each one of them what they thought the baby was. Julia: boy. Austin: girl. Lauren: boy. We told Austin he was right, and then asked each one of them what they thought (both had said earlier they wanted a baby brother). Julia said, "I'm glad. I'm going to love her soooo much!" I asked Austin what he thought. With a huge grin on his face, he said, "Bad!" I asked why, and he replied, "Because I like boys better!" Lauren really doesn't have a clue what is going on, and has even been telling me today, "Maybe baby be a boy. Maybe baby be a dirl. What our baby donna be?" I told Brian last night that Austin better stick close to him--the girls (**Julia**) are already dressing him up like Cinderella and Snow White. Brian mentioned something to Austin about how they were going to have to stick together, and that he better not let them (**Julia**) paint his fingernails anymore. Austin said, "No! They can do that." Hee hee. Julia does have blue shimmery polish that he's gotten before. He likes it! As well as the pink....... I can't imagine this is going to last toooo much longer.

In other less exciting news, the kids and I have been sick. Again. This cold isn't as bad as the last one I had, but I am ready to be done with them!! For all of us!! Brian stayed home from church with Austin and Lauren on Sunday. It's been almost constant since the week before Christmas, that at least one of them (or me :( ) has been sick! Last night was Awana, (and this actually is exciting ;) ) and Julia finished her third extra credit book! She received a small trophy. The Sparks director told me afterwards that it has been a long time since she's given out one of those. Now Julia is working on her Climber memory packet, which is the last memory material they have available for her.