15 weeks along

Well, we made it to London & back! What a wonderful trip that was! Aside from a delay coming back from DC back to Nashville, everything went as planned. Just a great reminder for why I enjoy my job & the flexibility it has provided for me & my family, and then to get a tremedous trip once a year is icing on the cake! We had a great time visiting all there is to see in London & then our day in Paris. Pampered Chef pulled out all the stops for the Galas they had for us, including an event held where they hold the UK Emmy's & a fabulous river boat cruise w/ dinner at the Painted Hall at the Naval College in Greenwich.
I was a little nervous about how I'd feel on the long plane ride & then with the different food being pregnant, but all was fine. Aside from my knee giving out & a foot cramp that I think was caused from my shoe inserts, I felt fine. I was even able to stay up past my 'normal' pregnancy bedtime, but since they are 6 hours ahead, that screwed me up for the past few days of being back home. I'm still tired, but not quite as bad...still not back to late nights though as I was pre-pregnancy.
I'm starting to have a belly pop out & make an appearance as well! I guess it's time to start the weekly belly progress pics. I still have a few pairs of jeans that fit, but not for long! I'm anxiously awaiting that first moment when I know I feel the baby move, but it really is just a little too early to expect that yet. I'm definitely back to using the restroom more frequently! Good thing I had aisle seats on all the flights to & from London!
My 16 week appt. is set for next Thursday, April 24. There won't be an ultrasound, but we should be able to hear the heartbeat. This will be our first appt. meeting my new OB. My other OB (same one I had for Kameron) has decided to stay home to raise her family & her last day was April 4. I'm excited to meet my new doctor (in that same practice), as I've heard a lot of good things about her.
Since my last post (well, Buddy's) our results came back normal for the Nuchal Screening, which brings our risk for Down's Syndrome down to 1/702. I may be getting a Cystic Fibrosis test at next week's appt., but insurance has to have a letter of medical necessity from the doctor in order to pay for that.
Other than that, we're keeping busy as always! Kameron enjoyed a week with both sets of grandparents, but seems pretty happy to have mommy & daddy back home. He recently said he thinks the baby is a girl, but has always said boy until the other day. I'm honestly on the edge of my seat to find out, yet at the same time there is a part of me that thinks it would be neat to wait the whole time to find out. I just don't think I could do it! You can take the poll on the right for what sex you think it is until next month! Well, I guess that's all for now...I'll post another update after my appt. on the 24th.

13 Week Ultrasound - 4/2/08

We went in today for what's called a Nuchal Translucency Screening which assesses the baby's risk of having Down syndrome (DS) and some other chromosomal abnormalities as well as major congenital heart problems. This screening involves both a blood test for Danelle and a very lengthy in depth ultrasound in which the technician measures the Nuchal Fold which is located on the back side of the baby's head. It is a very lengthy examination because the reading can only be taken if the baby has it's neck extended (difficult due to the baby naturally having it's chin down by it's chest). I counted that the technician was able to get about 6 different measurements and Nuchal fold averaged about 1.5mm from what I could tell. They said we would not have test results for 48 hours, but the curiosity was killing me about what that number meant so I did a little online research. From what I saw on the internet (because the internet is always 100% accurate, right?) for a baby between 10-14 weeks, with that size Nuchal Fold is less than 1% chance of having Down Syndrome. Of course, the blood test results will tell about other chromosonal abnormalities, etc... It's nothing we're worried about and we didn't even have these tests done when we were pregnant with Kameron. However, we found out the health insurance that we have this time around covers the test 100%, so why not....
The really cool thing about this test though is that we were able to see the baby for about 30 minutes during this extended ultrasound and the technician burned a 30 second video clip along with about 10 still images on a CD for us to take home. The main BabyBartels site has a short 5 second clip that I edited down and there is also a link to view the entire 30 second clip (the full length is about 5mb though...dialup users beware). The BabyBartels Gallery link has all the still images as well...even a few freaky "3D" ones that the technician was playing around with. The 3D ones do not look like much of anything so don't get too excited. I don't think the 3D technology was meant for 13 week ultrasounds.
On a final note, male & female organs are already developed at 13 weeks and the technician tried her best to maneuver the scope to get a sneak peak at the gender. However, I think it would be premature to start painting the new baby's room blue or pink based on the fuzzy picture we saw. I have a very good assumption, but you guys are just going to have to wait until our 20 week ultrasound when we know for sure.
Be sure to vote on our new poll on the side of the blog page: Boy or Girl?

Take Care - Buddy