Buon Giorno Friends and Familia,
Hey I have a love of the Italian language, even though I have a vocab of about 40 words. If I sound prententious, too bad - sue me! I have this fantasy I was of Italian heritage in another life. If you've been to Italy you may have the same daydreams.
So......many of you know that yesterday I had a doctor's appointment to run some 2nd trimester risk assessment tests, and most importantly have a 16 week ultrasound (I will be 4 months on Saturday). I was really hopeful we might be able to find out the sex of the baby, but alas, it was not to be. My doctor's high-tech ultrasound machine broke down, and so the one he was using was a loaner and did not show a great amount of detail. Boo :-( In the meantime, we were still able to see the baby and hear the heartbeat, which was fun and also reassuring that the pregnancy is still going smoothly. There will be another ultrasound at 20 months, and the machine they use at that time shows quite a bit more detail (a specialist comes in to run more tests, measure the baby, check out all of its organs, fingers, toes etc.) so we should have a good chance to find out then. I was really looking forward to be able to start buying baby clothes, but I guess I will have to wait a bit longer. :-( Being patient is hard! I do have to say that when the baby moved its legs, I swear I saw a penis! But who knows - maybe one of the toes was in the way, it was quite blurry ;-) But now it has gotten me thinking about boy's names. Ha ha!
The good news is the baby is healthy.. he/she was moving around quite a bit. So that is what is important. And in a few weeks I should really know if those "flutters" I feel now are really the baby, or just gas. Most of the time it is gas. Hee hee.
I had some blood drawn for the purpose of running risk factor tests. They take the blood tests from the 1st trimester, my 12 week ultrasound where they measured the baby and make sure there are no abnormalities like down syndrome, and the blood tests from yesterdays visit, and will be able to give me an overall risk factor for abnormalities. So far 2 out of 3 tests look good. This will determine whether I should consider an amniocentesis (needle where they draw amniotic fluid); right now my doctor doesn't think it is necessary.
Oh and this is interesting (and important) .... since my blood type is A Neg, I might need a Rhogam shot. Because of the blood type, if my blood mixes with the baby's blood during pregnancy, it might distinguish baby's blood as foreign matter, and could start attacking the baby. So this shot would create antibodies to keep that from happening. I will find out in a couple days if that is necessary or not. So thanks mom and dad for the A Neg blood - it's all your fault! LOL
As far as my growing belly.... the baby is supposed to double in size in the next month (from week 16 to 20), so I assume I'm going to need to buy some new clothes! Right now I am still able to fit into most of my skinny jeans, but have to unbutton them and wear long shirts. That will not be possible in the next few weeks.
Oh and a question: even though I technically won't be a mom yet, but I will be 6 months pregnant in May, does that mean I get to celebrate Mother's Day? I think the hard work of growing a baby should qualify me to get cards ... hint hint
Here is a video of what is going on with the baby weeks 16-20. The human body is amazing.
http://www.babycenter.com/2_inside-pregnancy-weeks-15-to-20_10308111.bc
Ciao,
Mommy V
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