2nd Trimester! Still hanging in there!

So here it is week 17! I really can't believe it. I am still in a constant state of disbelief. I still tend to "forget" that I am pregnant. Although I do have a belly, it is that in between stage where people are wondering is she pregnant or does she just drink too much beer. I am still stressing, but not as regularly. I listen to the baby's heartbeat everyday with the doppler and do get upset when I don't find it right away. This drives my husband absolutely nuts.

I go back the OB next week on the 28th and then the "big" ultrasound is scheduled for August 4th. The Genetics place is having me come back there to have the ultrasound. I am still really nervous about this. But whatever will be will be. My husband really wants to know the sex of the baby. We didn't find out with our first, he was a surprise. So that will be different. I am wondering if knowing what the baby is will make me more bonded? I do worry about mistakes though. Someone I know just had a baby a month or so ago and they told her she was having a another girl, so they had everything ready and had been calling "her" Alexandra since they found out. And surprise, surprise, "she" turned out to be an he. A little shocking. But I figure they only had the one big ultrasound where I will be having monthly ultrasounds so I guess I can just have them make sure each month.

The last few weeks have been pretty calm. Just the regular pregnancy issues, still craving salad, still tired, heartburn has started. Trying hard not to gain too much weight. But what can you do.

Just wanted to update you all, thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Whatever will be will be. . . .

We met with the Genetic Counselor this week and it was very informative. It seem that only one of the three things they consider for the first trimester screening was abnormal.

My HCG was normal, the baby's nuchal fold was normal, it was only the papp-A which was abnormal coming back lower than average. Which is why my risk for a child with down syndrome rose from my age related risk of 1 in 215 to 1 in 131.

Yes, this is still less than one percent and the risk of the amnio is anywhere from 1 in 300 to 1 in 1000 depending on which study you refer to.

So hubby and I have decided not to have the amnio because we worked too hard to get to this point in a pregnancy and would not be able to live with ourselves if we lost the pregnancy due to the test. We are going to proceed with the second trimester screening in a few weeks and then have the detailed anatomy scan at 19 weeks. The Genetic counselor said if this scan come back clean for any soft markers then my risk will be recalculated and lessened.

On another note though the decreased papp-A value has been linked to other pregnancy complications, such as placental insufficiency, fetal death, preterm birth, IUGR, low birth weight and preclampsia. So the Dr has decided she will monitor me more closely with monthly ultrasound with focus on the placenta. Especially since my mother lost three pregnancies between 18 and 24 weeks.

So for now we are just letting it all go with God, whatever will be will be. It is out of our control. Until the baby is viable, even if there is a problem with the placenta, nothing can really be done. So I cannot stress over something that is beyond human control.