The funny and weird thing about being a parent is the absolute pleasure you get from doing just a simple thing with your kid. Yesterday after an extremely stressful and worrisome week L’il E and I just sat in our kitchen eating apples and chatting (toddler speaking) about our day. At that moment I didn’t care about anything else. I was truly just enjoying our moment together.
I was an emotional mess this week and just hangin’ with L’il E took that all away.
On Tuesday the hubs and I went to the doc for a follow up ultrasound to check on #2. They spent a lot of time looking at the baby’s brain and discovered that the left lateral ventricle is enlarged – it’s 2mm larger than “normal”. After another more in-depth ultrasound of the brain and the entire baby on Wednesday they couldn’t find anything else abnormal other than the fact that the baby is giant (98th percentile).
They told us that it has fetal unilateral ventriculomegaly, but that it’s on the mild side and it could be nothing. Worst case scenario is Down’s Syndrome. We spent hours discussing what this could be and what the risks are and wondering if our baby is going to be ok. It’s all still uncertain, but after a lot of research I’m feeling pretty positive. Besides this enlargement the baby looks perfect and there are no other markers that would indicate the worst case scenario. In the end I’m still going to love it just as much as my L’il E and at this point there really isn’t much we can do about it.
I love all of the amazing advances in medical technology, but sometimes I wish they didn’t exist at all. I still haven’t ruled out going in for an amnio, but for now I’m just going to enjoy the simple moments with the Hubs and L’il E.
Has this ever been discovered in one of your ultrasounds?
When I was pregnant with my first, we discovered that the babies heart beat was very irregular, and then at our 15 week check up, she was diagnosed with holo anencephaly. I won’t go into the details of it all, but she was born our little angel at 5 months gestation.
Our second pregnancy went extremely well. A healthy little girl born.
Then I got pregnant with the twins, and at our 15 week checkup I was given the news that they both tested positive for possibly having down syndrome. It was heart breaking, devastating and nerve racking. I was offered the opportunity to have an amnio, but the risk of miscarriage from the procedure with twins is twice as high. Besides, what difference would it make? If we had the amnio and it showed they did in fact have downs, it wouldn’t change anything, we would still end up with two beautiful little babies. So we decided to wait until they were born and deal with things then if that was the case. I like you went through the week or so of panic, then decided to enjoy my pregnancy (as much as that is possible) and enjoy my little girl who was just needing her mommy to be happy.
Hang in there, love is a very strong thing, and the love of a baby, no matter how they come to us in this world is the strongest of all.
So so stressful but as Tracey said – your attitude is fantastic! I had a false positive at the neck measurement test for Downs. I was close to 40, so had already decided on an amnio. Everything was fine but still lots to think of!
I’m sorry for your stressful week, and can certainly empathize. When I was pregnant with my first, I was sent for further bloodwork after an ultrasound showed the baby’s measurements’ were a little off. Essentially, arms and legs were measuring shorter than they should have been in comparison to head, and they were concerned that it was a marker for Down’s Syndrome. My ob/gyn finally reassured me with blood work and said it appeared I was just going to have a short kid with a large head. It was a very stressful experience, but I look back at it now…14 years later…and laugh. I’m the mother of a normal sized headed, tall teenage boy who excels in sports, school and in making me proud!
Aw geez, lady… that’s stressful. But, you sound like you have the right attitude, and I’ll bet you’re right – everything is probably just fine – but oh, the anxiety of just having the baby OUT and in your ARMS, just to be certain can be overwhelming. Stay sane – you’re almost there!! 🙂