Week 20 (updated)

Hello day 140 aka halfway mark!

In baby specific news,

IT'S A GIRL! :) :) :) 

Will post all the NSFW pictures of girl parts later.

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Update 06.14.2015

So it's a girl! When we first got pregnant I said I wanted a girl. I mean sure, they can help out baby # 2 (HA) and etc but really because they are so much cuter to dress up :D. To spite me/make me not feel bad if it was a boy, Eric said he wanted a boy but really he doesn't care.

So the first sonogram at 14 weeks the sonogram technician said she thought it was a girl from what she could see but "don't go buying clothes". At the 18 week sonogram with the OBGYN, the dr thought it was a girl as well but that was due to the absence of boy parts which could still mean some poorly endowed boy - also her sonogram machine sucks. At the most recent 20 week sonogram with the fancy hospital equipment, they confirmed it was a girl with a sonogram of girl parts! For those of you who think sonograms still look like a bunch of bubbles (my mom included), they look for 3 lines in the sonogram depicting the female parts. Baby spawn did a really good job showing the goods this time.

It's a girl! Daddy doesn't like this picture being public. hahahaha sorry baby girl :D

3rd sonogram. 3rd picture of baby spawn sucking on thumb. This one is a fatty.

Hi baby girl!

The 20 week sonogram is also known as the "anatomy scan" where they look for all the vital organs of the baby. Scan takes FOREVER (okay, like 30m but it's boring) as the sonogram technician prods you with the sonogram wand. All the major parts checked out (brain, heart, 4 chambers of heart, spine, arms, legs, feet, hands, measurements, etc) but they did notice 3 soft markers. Soft markers are basically markers that don't indicate anything concrete but *could* be correlated with some more serious problems. These tests are newer as technology has advanced aka, our parents didn't have them

1. Small fluid bubble in the non thinking fluid part of the brain (or cyst in the brain) - about 50% of normal adults have it and it means that either Eric or I probably have it as well. It may go away over the baby's development in the womb but even if it doesn't, it won't affect the baby in any way
2. Small calcium spot in the heart - very common in Asians. As with the cyst, it may go away in the next few weeks and even if it doesn't, baby will be fine
3. Echogenic bowel - this one caused the most concern. It basically means the baby's bowel is brighter than usual meaning some kind of calcification. They view it by turning the sonogram down to the lowest setting and seeing how it compared with the spine brightness. You can kind of see it in the last sonogram posted above.
   
   Any echogenic bowel can mean a few things:
1. Trisonomy 18 - aka, an extra chromosome 18 that happened during development. This is unlikely though as it also causes physical malformations and the baby's formations looked normal
2. Down syndrome - since it's a "soft marker" it doesn't actually indicate Down Syndrome by more like... x% (some low number I can't remember) of babies with Down Syndrome also have an echogenic bowel
3. Cystic fibrosis - unlikely as Cystic fibrosis is genetic and has to have both parents test positive for it. My test was negative
4. Viral infection - potentially I caught something and am showing no symptoms but the baby would have it as well
5. Nothing (most likely) - Baby has some kind of digestion blockage or I had some slight internal bleeding and baby swallowed some blood. OR, sonogram machine was too sensitive

So in any case, I'll be going in for a blood draw to test for viral infections and have another sonogram scheduled in four weeks. We also went in for genetic counseling where I was mesmerized by her genetic tree drawing shorthand. My chances of Down Syndrome based on my first trimester screening had put me on the lowest probabilities  so even with the new soft markers the chances are 1/10,000 so we're not going to go for an amnio as the risk for miscarriage or damage is much much higher (1/300).

Overall we're feeling fine :). For some reason I guess the genetic counselor thought we'd break down in tears or something (she kept asking if I was OK o.O) but we figured the chances of it being something severe is actually pretty low and even if it is, we'll handle it as it happens.

Baby stuff hoarding! This corner of the house makes me so happy