On One Hand...

The day began early, as I did not sleep well in anticipation of our Perinatologist appointment this morning. Admittedly, I am pretty exhausted as I write but hope it still sheds some light on where we currently sit.

Going into this appointment, we had assumed a couple of things...

1. We thought we were meeting with our Perinatologist (Dr. Lagrew) but instead he had made a request that we see another Perinatologist (Dr. Booker?...trying to keep all our people straight) for a second opinion. All of the doctors in this practice are extremely bright (the ultrasound tech gave us a "fast fact" that this doctor graduated 5th in her class from Harvard...not sure her rank was for her bedside manner but we are a bit biased toward our regular doc who exudes both warmth and intelligence...you know like a good coffee date).

2. I am pretty certain both Jeremey and I were hopeful that many of our concerns would be laid to rest or confirmed with the measurements that the geneticist requested. Those measurements were indeed taken and it appears that she is in the 50th percentile or a little above which would be considered "normal." Other measurements that came out well were her pinky (the ultrasound tech noted this is one of the measures they look for around the 20th week because the bone is missing in 60% of Downs cases. At week 29 she is seeing the bone and because it can grow later she wanted to see its length. The bone was present and appeared to be the right size). They also measured the distance between her eyes which looks to be normal vs. too close together. Her heart and kidneys continue to look well which we are celebrating.

3. With all of these great measures you would think that we would have nearly been given the "all clear"...not the case. In fact some of the waters got a bit more murky. When they measured my amniotic fluid again today it was high at 29 (normal is between 5 and 25). I'm thinking great we have extra! Not exactly...I guess this is yet another indicator of the potential for Downs as many babies have difficulty with their muscle tone including their swallow reflex. Additionally, the doctor thought she saw some movements of the head that were indicitive of Downs--again due to the possibility of poor muscle tone. If all of this were not enough, the doctor reconfirmed that our daughter appears to have a low nasal bridge (or missing nasal bone) and when she looked at pictures of Gabriel (we were holding out that she would see his lowered nose as similar) she said "nope, his is normal." This was her opinion from looking at both his ultrasound scans and his pictures.

I asked very clearly at the end of our time what the doctor thought and she said "I am concerned." She still put our chances at 50/50 but was sure to tell us "I wouldn't be surprised if this baby has Downs." Due to my abundance of amniotic fluid, we will go back to Dr. Lagrew on Monday for another ultrasound. Several things will need to be monitored because of these levels including the health of our baby as the fluid can cause issues with the placenta, her heart, etc. We will also need to control the fluids as they are likely the reason that I am contracting...which began again this afternoon and continued for about three hours. Thankfully, we are able to control the contractions at home with bedrest and doubling my meds.

We would love your continued prayers for our daughter and for our family as we prepare for her arrival. Specifically, we ask continued health for her organs (heart, kidneys, etc) and more time inside to grow and gain strength. For us...trust...the unknown has been a tough place to live.

Grateful for your love and prayers!

The Kings