Poor, Neglected Squishy!

I have mentioned before that my poor Squishy has 2nd child syndrome already. I know it, I admit it. Things are just insanely different with this second pregnancy than they were with the first. I had not a care in the world, really, with my first and took pictures and blogged every 2 weeks...but with a full time job as a mommy, house cleaner, meal cooker, and my "real" job as a nurse...I just can't be bothered. It's why I'm only doing monthly, or every 4 weeks, pregnancy updates this time...and some in between if I feel like it.

Anyway, if you remember back to my anatomy scan, I mentioned that Squishy has a 2 vessel cord. No abnormalities or defects were found from the cord at this point, but the radiologist wanted me to have a follow-up echo ultrasound of baby's heart at 23 weeks. So...we had that done last Monday!
The ultrasound tech totally left this profile shot on her screen on purpose when she left the room. You're not supposed to use any "recording devices" in the room, so I appreciate her leaving such a nice picture for me to snap when she left!


So the good news is that all looked well as far as the ultrasound tech could tell. She said I would hear back yesterday or today from the cardiologist if there were any concerns with baby's heart, so continued prayers that I won't hear anything would be lovely! Squishy is growing right on time and seeing as how my last 3 ultrasounds have all showed dates for a November 2nd due date, I'm officially changing it to that and am 1 day behind my usual dates. My ovulation date gave me a due date of October 31 my period date was November 2, so I initially chose November 1 as the median date, but we are officially now November 2!

Here's some 23 week pictures of me at the wedding on Saturday. Look for my "big" 24 week update at the end of the week!

My Anatomy Scan + 2 out of 3

I cancelled my anatomy scan on Monday to stay home with my sick boy...who doesn't act very sick when he's sick, by the by. More on him later, but by the grace of God I was able to reschedule for the exact same time a mere 2 days later, which brings us to today.

I have a really cute baby. I know people say that about ultrasounds...and you think "how can you tell if it's cute? It's not even in 3D...it's all black and white"...but just look:

A smile. Seriously! Heart = melted! Sweet little lips and a sweet little nose:

This baby cooperated fully and gave an awesome profile! Big Brother did NOT cooperate for his anatomy scan and I never got "the" profile shot that every pregnant mama longs for. Here's a few more pics, they're pretty self explanatory.

And...lastly, can your almost 19 week old fetus do this? Cuz mine can!

Jay got a kick out of that one! And baby's heartbeat was 160 today.

Jay had to stay home with Braden, as he's still contagious, so luckily I got all these great pictures to bring home. Baby looks perfectly healthy, all organs developed, a beautiful 4 chambered beating heart, bowels inside the belly, 2 kidneys, and that about covers all the stuff my pediatric nurse brain worries about at this point! We are also on Team Green for this baby too, meaning we aren't finding out the sex until delivery day!

So what does the "2 out of 3" in the post title mean? Well, baby's umbilical cord only has 2 out of the 3 vessels. Normally it has 2 arteries and 1 vein, mine only has 1 artery and 1 vein. The arteries carry deoxygenated blood & waste from the baby to the placenta, and the veins carry oxygenated blood & nutrients from the placenta to the baby. So apparently I fall into the 1% of pregnancies that have a single umbilical artery. Wow! I'm in fairly low company, but one of my good friends just delivered a healthy 7 lb 4 oz baby boy in January with the same cord 'abnormality'...I'm truly not worried, so please don't worry for me either.

Some more info for you:

• 75% of babies are delivered healthy with no problems
• 25% of babies can have heart, spine, or kidney defects - my baby has none of the above - praise God!
• Slightly higher risk of congenital abnormalities, but as we all remember from my NT scan, I'm at extremely low risk as it is
• Possible low birth weight

So where do we go from here? Squishy gets an echocardiogram (echo) at 23 weeks to take an even closer look at his/her beautiful heart that was functioning completely perfect today, and I get another ultrasound around 30 weeks just to check that Squishy is growing nicely. The way I see it? More pictures - yay!

I was also asked if I had bleeding with this pregnancy. I said a little bit of spotting in the first trimester, but nothing that concerned me, in fact, my spotting with Braden was worse. The ultrasound tech said there was a little membrane filled with blood that had collected by my cervix which usually indicates that the mom has had a bleed, which I haven't. I hadn't started blogging yet, but pretty much the same thing happened with Braden and that pocket burst at 27 weeks and I had a very scary morning with a big, one-time bleed. I'm praying this doesn't happen again, but at least I know if it does...it will likely be due to that membrane.

The wonderful thing about this radiology centre, is that the radiologist is right on site, did my report, and came and spoke with me about it after. He was so nice and kind (not what I think about when I do think about radiologists!) and told me he doesn't sugar-coat things and that my baby was perfect and healthy and we'll do the echo and extra scan at 30 weeks "just because we can". He also assured me that "Women have had 2 vessel cord babies since the beginning of time, we're just able to detect it in utero now with the amazing equipment we have now". My care doesn't change at all. I'm also not actively bleeding, which I made sure to ask, and Squishy is not at risk for developing heart, spine, or kidney defects as s/he grows. They would have happened already.

Part of me wishes they just wouldn't tell me this stuff. I'm truly not worried, I lean on God in times like this and let Him worry about it for me, as it's all in His hands anyway and there's nothing I can do to magically grow another artery in my umbilical cord. It's really comforting to be able to pray in times like this! But baby is measuring right on time...and I'm growing - trust me!

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:34

Thanks for reading, I'm hoping to have more posts, more frequently again for you!

Everyone...Meet Squishy!

Oh my gosh! I am so in love and it is so real now. I never seem to hear my babies heartbeats early, like some ladies do...so until I get to see it...pregnancy never really feels real to me. I wasn't worried at all when the nurse couldn't find Squishy's heartbeat at my appointment last week, even though I was almost 12 weeks, that's what I anticipated. Didn't find Braden until almost 14 weeks. Anterior placenta, tilty uterus, you know. Well...there is no mistaking that there's a real, live baby in there! With a heart rate steady and strong at 163:

The baby actually was very chill almost the whole ultrasound. I'd see a hand wave here, a little kick there...but nothing like big brother was! The hand was up by the face almost the entire time.

Two tiny legs

Two bitty feet

Two little arms

High 5!

Alien face...the longer they cook, the cuter they get!

Measuring right on time at 12 weeks 5 days. Such great pictures compared to my early ultrasound with Braden. I'm tempted to book my anatomy scan at this place instead of where I am booked as they just give a little, poor quality picture printout. This place was actually quite swanky for what I thought it might be!

Also, can I just say...how is anyone supposed to hold 1 litre of water in their bladder for over an hour...especially if you're pregnant??? Seriously, first world problem I know, it was so uncomfortable and unpleasant I wanted to pee so bad I would have peed my pants if it was socially acceptable. But I'm so thankful and blessed to have seen Squishy healthy as can be at this stage in the game. My big anatomy scan is June 8th!

In other news, this was technically my NT scan. As I've mentioned before, I didn't care about the results, but since they give them to me anyway I was low risk to begin with, but I am extremely low risk for Trisomy 21, 18, & 11. My scan was negative and this is wonderful news! More on my thoughts on NT scans later to come...!