Normal

We received the results on Friday at 3:00pm est that Jack does not have downs syndrome. It was one of the more difficult weeks of my life. And I weep just thinking about it. The decision to move forward with the amnino was agonizing. We had fought so hard for Jack that to risk his life to have answers tortured me. We did not speak much about the procedure or the possible results during the days we waited to hear. Just before I made the call to hear the results it struck me as odd that we had not discussed it. We were not prepared to hear anything other than " the results are normal". And I am so glad that is just what we heard.

Amnio

Today we did the amnio. The procedure was over quickly. I would describe it as uncomfortable more than painful. There is just pressure. My Dr. has requested FISH results so we should know the results by Friday afternoon.

The best part of today was seeing Jack again. On Monday he was sleeping and not moving around much during the US. Today he was face up and moving quite a bit more. We were able to confirm again he is a boy. At one point it looked like he was waving to us. And we counted 5 fingers. Yeah.

Monday's post... And you are a ..............

BOY!!!!!!!!!!

Today was our big Ultrasound. We were surprised to hear the baby is a BOY. Even though I had two dreams that the baby is a boy everyone around us seemed to think girl. I think we started to believe it too after Dr. M. listened to the heartbeat and predicted girl. But I need to learn to trust my instincts and intuition more.

So Jack it will be. We are very excited about your arrival. We are still working on a middle name.

The US was not without concern. After two US techs viewed Jack the US Dr. came into the room. She told us Jack had EIF. EIF in itself is nothing. It is a calcification on the heart. It does not affect form or function. However it is a soft marker for downs. It has halved my risk factor from 1/1100 to 1/550. Our option is do nothing or have an amnio. While we believe Jack is just perfect we did not want to be preoccuiped for the next 5 months with wondering what if... So we are doing the amnio on Wednesday. I will be on bedrest for three days.

19 weeks

I need to do a few catch up posts. First.
Me at 19 weeks. See a difference. I felt baby move in the shower on Saturday, the 9th. Right before this photo was taken.

Mom and Kelly came into the city to spend some time with us. We checked out the Madonna Della Cava feast here in the North End. We had a great time. So, did Archibald. He was treated to vanilla ice cream and some sausage. We were treated to vomit later that night. Not so fun.

18 weeks 3 days

I finally had David take a picture of my growing belly. He seems to be really into taking pictures of me so we can show the baby all the things that we did while he/she was growing in my belly.

I am feeling great. I have lots of energy and no more sickness for several weeks now. Amen.

Just 6 more wake ups until we found out if we will have a son or daughter. I am crazy with excitement (and a bit of my usual nervousness before a doctor's appointment).

Peoples predictions:
Daddy- Girl
Gramma- Girl
Aunt Kelly- No prediction either way. Too early
Aunt Maureen- Girl
Aunt Pixie-Boy
Deb M- Girl
Lori Ann- Girl
Maureen- Boy
Dr. Mansour- Girl
Chinese Gender- Boy

Girl is in the lead.... We will see if that holds true on Monday.

As for me I thought boy all the first trimester. I have had dreams about babies and they have all been boys. But lately I have been thinking maybe a girl.