12 Week Ultrasound

I had a really great visit for my twelve week appointment and ultrasound. You have no idea how wonderful it is to say this. The best news of all is that "the baby's arms and legs look like they are growing perfectly in proportion with the baby's body", as Dr. G informed us! He also said the baby's head looks like it is forming absolutely normal. Horray! As many of you know, Wyatt's skull never hardened so that has been a constant worry for me as well as Thanatophoric dysplasia. It was a relief to see the baby and a healthy beating heart.

I didn't sleep the entire night before my appointment because I was silently dreading going into my appointment and finding out my baby died right after my last ultrasound. It was a ridiculous fear considering the fact that my waist is doing a steady disappearing act...

My doctor also addressed some of my fears without me even mentioning I was uncomfortable.

The biggest being that his office sends all the expectant mothers to the perinatal unit in Knoxville (the office we found out Wyatt would die) for all of the 18-20 week anatomy ultrasounds (the same time frame as with Wyatt's diagnosis). I have been freaking out about stepping foot back in that office since I found out this piece of information.

As I was laying on the table waiting for my doctor to start my ultrasound, he was looking over my medical records which I brought in at his request, and he said "I notice you had a lot of your ultrasounds done out of the perinatal unit in Knoxville... Would you be more comfortable if we sent you to UT instead of Fort Sanders?". I started shaking and crying with relief at the idea of truly never having to go back to that room again. I didn't realize until that moment how much I was truly dreading it. What a blessing.

My doctor is sending me for a detailed first trimester screening on the 28th. They will do an anatomy ultrasound and blood panels. This IS NOT the quad screen... I refused that particular test because the results often come back as a false positive. The doctor said he is very confident this baby is 100% healthy and that he is ordering the test simply to give me some much needed assurance. I couldn't ask for a better doctor. It's hard not to be joyful when he's around. Joseph calls him Dr. Joy! As a matter of fact, I think that is what we'll call him from now on (on here at least).

On a minor note, I found out I tested positive for Beta Strep. Let me just say I was shocked considering I've had this test done for THREE different pregnancies, MULTIPLE times each, and have always received a negative! Dr. Joy told me that Beta Strep is something that comes and goes, and although a woman tests negative for it, she can be positive for it later. So that raises this question for me... Why don't they just give everyone the antibiotic for it if there was the possibility that even though they tested negative for it, they could be positive for it when they deliver?

I feel it was a blessing to know this in advance. It's one more thing we can be prepared for to make sure this baby enters the world as healthy as possible. On the note of the baby, here are a few pictures from my ultrasound. Notice that you can clearly see ARMS and LEGS... especially in the second picture!