Baby Tell.

A few weeks ago, we had our big anatomy scan of our baby. As far as I could see, everything looked good. We again opted not to find out the gender. When I had my OB appointment the next day, I was a little surprised to discover that they had actually seen something abnormal - a choroid plexus cyst. I knew that without other abnormalities, these cysts were probably nothing, but a quick google search (yes, sometimes doctors do them, too) told me that they are a "soft marker" for trisomy 18.

In my previous pregnancies, I have opted not to do the blood test that screens for certain birth defects since my insurance wouldn't cover them. California has a much more developed prenatal screening program, though, and my OB was really pushing me to have it done, so this time I actually went ahead and did it. I'm thankful, since at the same time I found out about the cysts, I also found out that my screening test was negative for Trisomy 18,  which was very reassuring. Even though these cysts are really common, the OB sent me to have a level 2 ultrasound with the perinatologist to make sure there were no other abnormalities. We had our first scan a few weeks ago, and everything looked good, but the baby was being stubborn and they couldn't get a good look at the heart. Since heart defects are very, very common with Trisomy 18 they needed to take a second look. This past week we had the second look and I was pleasantly surprised that they also did a 3D scan of the baby's face. I've never had one of these done before and getting such a clear picture of the baby made me much more emotional than I expected.

When I found out I was pregnant this time, I really didn't feel ready. So many days I feel at my limit with the kids and I had hoped to lose a few more pounds. Each of my prior healthy pregnancies have also been preceded by a loss, so it took me kind of a long time to believe that this little baby was going to stick around. Coupled with the fact that I felt terrible for the first trimester and had no energy to do anything, I just haven't been all that excited. Which is crazy to me seeing as how I longed to get pregnant for what felt like the longest time before we had Judah.

Seeing that sweet face, though, with that nose that looks like Judah's has made me feel so much more attached to this little one than I have been thus far. I'm also very thankful that everything looks completely normal and there are no signs that anything more serious is going on with this baby.

I'm really looking forward to meeting this little one in December.