Merry Christmas!

23 weeks

Follow-up #3

November 21st - Fetal Echocardiogram at Herma Heart Center, Children's Hospital

One of the major concerns from the thickened nuchal fold was that it could have been caused by an abnormality in her heart. Her heart had been checked at the previous two appointments but it was required (with an abnormal NT scan) that a scan be done by a heart doctor. Thankfully the previous ultrasound tech had warned me that, unlike herself, the doctor that would do the echo scan would not talk during the ultrasound. 

Follow-up #2 (19 weeks)

Appointment #2 - November 14th

Another scan - this time closer to home in the hospital that my clinic and doctor are in.

Everything went great once again. All organs look normal and are developing the way they should be. The tech was really nice and explained everything she was looking at as she was bringing it up on screen. She confirmed and showed us that the baby was a girl (which didn't need to be confirmed but Kevin had asked for confirmation).

17 weeks

1st of 4 follow up appointments (15 weeks)

Our first follow up to the NT scan and CVS testing was October 16th.

At this scan they would be able to look at the baby's organ development and see if the thickened nuchal fold had been caused by organ abnormality. The Milwaukee doctor had requested that I come down by her for the next scan and if everything went well then I could see the perinatology doctors at the hospital that was closer to my house. It was also required that I meet with Barbara beforehand, something that typically was done before the NT scan but had been waved off since my scan had come with such urgency.

The 24 hours after.

I don't think I have to tell you how long 24 hours can be when you're waiting to hear about the fate of your child. The day that I got home from the ultrasound there was a lot of crying as I told Kevin and then a few select people. Kevin made me dinner and despite the mess I felt I was internally, I managed to eat - I still needed to take care of the baby. After dinner was over the doorbell rang; a package had been delivered. In the worst possible time ever, my insurance company had sent me a "Congratulations on your pregnancy" package, including a week by week pregnancy book. I looked up CVS in the index and read the very small blurb that had been my day. Had I read it prior to my day, I wouldn't have been any more prepared for what I had gone through. I threw the box along with the book on the kitchen table. It broke my heart to look at it. I spent the night watching TV for distraction and checking my temperature as instructed by the doctor.

The day I stopped worrying.

The day of my NT scan (nuchal translucency screen) I worked in the morning. I was anxious but I wasn't afraid. Like I had said previously, I knew that worrying couldn't change the outcome. To be completely honest, as I got ready to leave for my appointment I had calmed myself by thinking that there would be nothing wrong - the previous ultrasound tech and doctor weren't looking at the nuchal fold when they found it - so I'm sure they didn't even get the proper images needed to determine it was "too big". I wasn't even entirely sure what "too big meant". I started to do research but then I started to drive myself insane so I stopped immediately.

Weeks 4-11

I have quite a bit to backtrack on so I'm going to lump most of the first trimester into one entry.