20 weeks, 5 days

Jesse and I had the follow up ultrasound for our baby this morning, bright and overcast early. The ultrasound itself went well, though it was so early Squirt wasn't quite awake enough to cooperate (surprise surprise, she's not a morning person). Anyway, everything looks good as far as growth and heartbeat go :) apparently her femur is pretty big for a 14 oz baby, indicating the possibility of a large kid. Obviously no surprise there since I'm 5'9" and Jesse is 6'3"..

As far as the spot on her heart goes, it is still there. The doctor called it an echogenic focus and then moved on without explaining. Dear people going into the medical field, for those of us who did NOT major in anything medical, please don't assume we know what you're talking about. Just because we nod our heads and say "mhm" does not mean we understand. Dumb it down for us, thank you.
He did explain that it used to be thought of as an indicator for Down's Syndrome, but this is no longer the case, praise God. He told us that I am half the risk for women my age for delivering a baby with such chromosomal defects, so we can cross "possibility of Down's Syndrome" off the list of things to worry about. Obviously he couldn't guarantee it, but as you can (sort of) see in the ultrasound pictures, she has a nasal bone; over half the kids born with Down's Syndrome are either missing this entirely or it doesn't show up until later or something (again, lack of explanation).

However, there is still the echogenic focus on the left ventricle of her heart. After doing some google searching, texting to Aunt Jessica who asked one of her professors, we have determined that it is a calcium deposit. Typically, these go away by the third trimester and something like 3-5% of the pregnant women have seen them on their ultrasounds. Bottom line here, no big deal yet. I'm still praying that it goes away completely and it really, truly is 100% nothing.

On a lighter note...Pictures :) I think you can enlarge the image by clicking on it...? Top, she is looking at you; middle, profile; bottom, a cute little foot. These were all taken before she decided to fold in half and somehow put her foot up next to her face (which made for an interesting view to see a foot up next to her arms). We would discuss the possibility of a gymnast if we weren't so sure she's going to be tall like us :)



We have another appointment (with the regular midwives) on June 3rd, and then the doctor mentioned something about another ultrasound at 28 weeks. So that is about all I know!