Ultrasounds

I completely forgot to say what made our recent ultrasound so wonderful....

Never mind all that boy/girl stuff. It was the first time in four children we had a completely clear ultrasound the first time with no need to come back. With all of the others, there were questions or concerns that required us to go back for more investigation. Leaving the office right away knowing that everything was fine was like walking on air. Made us enjoy our new little girl that much more.

#1 - She had an unidentified object in her stomach. This wasn't just some unidentifiable blip on the unclear screen somewhere in her belly. The tech was taking pictures of each of the organs and got to the stomach - the actual organ of the stomach - and there was a definite object there. She looked at it from different angles and it was still there. It was obvious enough that I, having never seen an ultrasound before, said "What is that?" and she didn't know. I joked that I had just eaten a bowl of Cheerios and she must have gotten hold of one. She took a few pictures from different vantage points for the doc. The doctor called me a day or two later saying we had to head to a perinatologist to figure out what was going on. I was so panic stricken that I called everyone to ask for prayers. The prayers worked because when we went in to the experts, it was gone and the stomach was empty and clear. I am convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that whatever was there was prayed away. I know what we saw and it was definitely there one moment and gone another. Born healthy at 8lbs!

#2 - This one had a two vessel cord. Another scary moment for those lacking experience with the matter. This tech got up mid-ultrasound to leave the room and come back with her supervisor. There was pointing at the screen and then "see, that's where it atrophied." NOT words you ever want to hear at any moment. I asked what was going on and they explained. Normal umbilical cords should have one vessel and two arteries...mine had one vessel and one artery. The other artery had atrophied (as I had just heard). This condition can cause it's own issues in pregnancy as well as be an indicator of other issues. This time my doctor was the head of OBGYN at that particular hospital and was the best they had to offer. He assured me that he had seen so many of these cords and that they were very rarely a problem. One of the most common issues with this condition is low birth weight (not enough blood flow to support growth), but that turned out not to be a concern for us as she was born at 8lb 3oz. :-)

#3 - This time I had placenta previa - where the placenta is very low and possibly covering the cervix. If the placenta does not move far enough away from the cervix, it's an automatic c-section. Not necessarily the end of the world, but having had all natural births so far, not what I wanted. They hoped that as my uterus grew, the placenta would move just far enough up to clear the cervix. At my follow up ultrasound, they found that it had. This lovely was a big 9lbs 7oz with no c-section necessary. (A couple problems at birth that cleared up relatively quickly, but this is about ultrasounds. :-)

#4 - Tech: "Everything looks good."

Us: "WHAT?!?!"

Tech: "I don't really see anything here that would make the doctor call you back."

Us: "Um, okay. So, do we just leave now?"

Definitely a new experience for us, but what a relief!