La La Land

Today I am in la la land. In that state of happy euphoria; that feeling that I am floating around rather than walking. Yesterday was our big day in regards to having our level 2 ultrasound done on the baby and of course finding out if my bed rest restrictions were to be lifted.

Needless to say, we received excellent news. The baby is doing fabulous as is Mommy. I have been given the green light to go ahead and mingle amongst the live and normal people, yet must still exercise cautious and make the proper judgement calls. Basically, I can't go ahead and resume a walking/running routine and if I start to feel achy or crampy at work, I need to go home and lie down. If I practice this common sense, then perhaps I will be able to carry a baby to full term.

At the ultrasound, we had a genetic perinatologist in attendance. He was mostly there to look over the baby in "real time" and answer any questions that we may have had. Here are just a few of the amazing things that we learned yesterday that a technician and/or doctor will be looking for during the ultrasound (done at 18 - 20 weeks gestation) and hence why they seem to take a million and one pictures before you get to see your baby:

1. Hands/feet. This was probably the most interesting thing that we learned yesterday. The technician will want to see that the baby is flexing it's thumb out. Most commonly the baby will spread all five fingers out. If the thumb is flexing out, then this is showing that there is proper brain development. If the baby's thumb remains folded into the hand it could be a prelude to a problem, at which point, the technician will take a look at the feet. If there were to be brain development issues, then most likely, in addition to the thumbs folded into the palm, the feet will likely be turned inwards (as if your ankle were to roll over). If the feet are flexed upward, this is a good thing.
2. Abdomen. Aside from checking the heart out to ensure that there are 4 healthy values, a liver and kidneys present, another reason why the abdomen is checked is to ensure that the baby is practicing swallowing.
3. Bladder. Self explanatory: to ensure that the baby is having bowel movements.
4. Stretching like movements. This shows that the skeletal and muscular systems are developing normally.
5. Placenta. For someone who like myself has a type of Thrombophilia, the placenta will typically start to take on a grainy appearance. Without proper treatment during pregnancy, the placenta could eventually start to break down and feed clots to the baby resulting in stillborn and premature births. (Thankfully for me - my injections are working like a charm because my placenta looks fabulously clean).
6. Cervix. The length of the cervix is an important tell tale factor of how a woman's body is responding to the pregnancy. Anything around the 1 - 1.5 area (sorry, I don't know if that is in mm's or cm's) indicates that there could be premature labor issues. Luckily, I was at 4.4!
7. Gender. Yes, we wanted to know and it is figured that we are going to have a _____! (Heh ... you think that I would tell?)

Tonight, I will try to scan the gorgeous ultrasound pictures of our precious little baby. It is funny, because today I feel pregnant. I swear that I feel movement and I know that this little one can hear me speaking to it. To be honest though, it is because I now believe in this pregnancy and am not scared to bond with it. To start to take enjoyment out of it and not focus on the fear of losing it.

Now, all that is needed to make things great is to tell Kaelen about it. I am sure that this will provide an amusing story to two in the near future.