the most recent roller coaster

The girls have been sick for almost a month: a nasty head cold that turned into ear infections for both of them. Dave caught the same cold a couple of weeks ago, then ended up with kidney stones over the weekend. That icky cold has attacked me and brought ear & sinus infections. I also got an itchy full-body rash a few weeks ago and can't find anything to relieve it.

However, those things have been the least of our worries over the past couple of days. On Monday I went in for my 20-week ultrasound. We were excited to find out the baby's gender! The ultrasound was beautiful. We're having a boy! His measurements were all on-track for his gestation, and we got to listen to his heart beating strong.

Then came the bad news: they found two soft markers for chromosomal abnormalities: CPCs (cysts, or pockets of fluid on the brain) & a single artery umbilical cord (there are normally two arteries). We panicked when the sonographer said our baby boy had a higher chance of having Down Syndrome. The office offered genetic counseling and we took it. The next day a genetic counselor explained the soft markers thoroughly and told us about the syndromes they might point to: mostly Trisomy 18, not Down Syndrome. Even scarier. We declined getting amniocentesis and left the meeting feeling very informed.

Dave was even a little encouraged. The chances of us having a perfectly healthy baby are 80-90%. But that 10-20% was still very scary. We were told to schedule a fetal echocardiogram because a single artery umbilical cord (SUA) could mean heart defects. And a baby with Trisomy 18 would mist likely have a heart defect. We scheduled that appointment for a few hours later and went to the lab for a last-chance blood test (the quad screen). When the results come back in about 10 days, they will give us a percentage rate of how likely it is that the baby has a chromosomal abnormality.

The echocardiogram reveal NO heart defects! The cardiologist said blood is flowing through the cord properly, and the baby's heart is working perfectly. He said we have nothing to worry about as far as baby's heart is concerned.

We had been told the cysts on his brain were probably nothing to be too concerned over; that they would most likely dissolve in the next couple of months. However, we have to go in for ultrasounds every 4 weeks so the Dr can monitor the baby's growth and the cysts.

We've cried so much we feel our eyes should be dry, but every time we talk about what's been going on we tear up again. We've shed sad and happy tears, tears of worry and confusion, and tears of thankfulness and relief. And while this waiting for the blood test results to come back is already feeling like an eternity, we are doing our best to focus on what we know instead of the what-ifs. If those blood test results show a percentage well below 1%, we will feel more confident that our son will be born perfectly healthy.

The next ultrasound is just before Christmas. We'll get to see our precious son again and let the Dr. check up on his growth. We are praying for great news at that appointment: that the cysts have dissolved and that he's growing normally.