Baby Update

We hadn’t posted anything about this because we really felt that everything was going to be ok and didn’t want to cause any unnecessary worry. When we had our ultrasound last week, for the most part everything looked just fine. They told us at the end though (and were able to show us) that they did find two Choroid Plexus Cysts in his brain. The Choroid Plexus is the area that makes cerebrospinal fluid (thank you google). The cysts can be likened to a blister and are not considered a brain abnormality. These appear in 1-2% of babies, and typically go away and they themselves don’t seem to be a problem.

However, they are also associated with Trisomy 18. If the cysts are all that are present it doesn’t seem to increase any risk or anything. Luckily, the ultrasound tech was very quick to tell us that from what she saw everything looked just fine. One in specific that she mentioned was that his hands were open, which I guess closed hands can be another indicator.

So with that, we were sent for a Level 2 ultrasound and appt with maternal fetal medicine today. They were being cautious and wanted to do a more in depth look to make sure there weren’t other indicators. While we really were feeling confident going into it, I didn’t sleep much last night and was a basket case this morning before the appt. Luckily, everything looked great! They spent a long time really looking at everything and there were no other markers of Trisomy 18. The cysts will most likely disappear by the third trimester.

And this baby looks to be a big one, just like his older brother. He’s measuring 8-10 days ahead, just like Luke was at this point. Even though they say that doesn’t necessarily indicate size at birth, Luke came out at 9lbs 3oz with a 98% head, days early. I think I just grow big babies. :)

First Swimming Lesson

Luke had his first “no parents in the pool” swimming lesson yesterday and it went better than I ever could have imagined. We didn’t think he’d be upset about the swimming/pool part, but more that he was in there without us. Nope, he went right in like he’d been doing it forever. The parents all stay in a separate room and watch behind a window, so that the kids can get the full benefit of the class without worrying about us.

We were a little shocked when we talked about the lessons beforehand – he told Jason that he might drown and get hurt. We have no idea where that came from, but told him that no, he’d learn to swim so he wouldn’t have to worry about that. We also prepped him that we wouldn’t be in the pool, but that there would be a few other kids in his class that he could watch and he’d have a teacher there to help him.

There were just 3 in his class, with 1 teacher. The kids all sat on the edge of the pool until it was their turn to do something. He got to kick, move his arms, blow bubbles under the water, back float, jump in the pool, use his hands to “walk” along the edge of the pool while he was in the water, and climb out. Everything was just great until the jumping in part. He was nervous to jump in, and when he finally did, didn’t jump out far enough and sort of hit his butt on the edge of the pool as he went in. That scared him a bit and he cried some. We stayed away though and he calmed down and enjoyed the rest of the class.

We are just so proud of how well he did!

Some videos

It's a ....

Guess what color is inside the cupcake that Luke is eating?


It's a boy!!!!


We had our big ultrasound today and were over-the-moon excited to find out that we're having another boy!

Hello out there!


Two perfect little feet


Side profile - he was trying to suck his thumb!


And the money shot. There was absolutely no mistaking that he's a boy. :) He was actually quite proud of it. She had no trouble getting these pictures - trying to get a good one of other areas was a different story. Little turkey just didn't want to cooperate.


He's measuring in the 61st percentile at the moment. It came to right at 20 weeks (I'm 19 weeks, 3 days.) For comparison, Luke was measuring about 21-22 weeks at this point. I'm hopeful this one will be a tiny bit smaller at birth! He waved at us, sucked his thumb, got mad and hit back when the ultrasound tech tried to jiggly my belly to move him around ... :)

We had a fun dinner out to tell our families. Famous Dave's barbeque has recently opened near us and I have been craving it in a major way. I made cupcakes yesterday and even though everything was running behind today, still had time to get one of them filled with blue icing. (Ok, so some weird store bought blue icing, not the homemade icing dyed blue that I'd intended - oh well, it worked!)

We gave Luke the cupcake to eat right after we ordered and everyone was dying to see what color would appear! So much fun!