Baby update: Mixed news

So I had a "level 2" ultrasound today. The baby is laying sideways in my body. Its head is tucked deep into my right hip. Notice I said its. While it MAY be a girl, because of how the baby is laying and keeping its legs tight together, the perinatologist is not sure. It might be a girl, he could not get a clear shot, but may have seen labia. I have decided that it must be a girl, because it is already acting obstinate and drawing out the drama by not cooperating.

As I have said this baby is being a pain in the ass, literally. (see my sciatic post for more info). The baby is deciding to lay all screwy and not cooperate with the pictures. They could not really get a good look at the baby's spine. The baby is now measuring 16 weeks 5 days, when I am 18 weeks today. The doctor felt this could be because of bad measurements or because of bad angles. He was not too concerned about this. Since we could not get a clear look at the spine, he could not rule out spina bifida. However in the OK shot he saw of the brain, he did not see a defect in the cerebellum that is almost always present with spina bifida. He could not get that great of a look at the brain, because my right hip was in the way. (kind of need that) We tried having me lay on my side, with no luck. He said he is cautiously optimistic about a positive result for the baby. The heart looks good. The heart rate is good as well. The placenta is posterior on my uterus, but the tech said that is OK. The umbilical cord is good as well. 2 arteries, 1 vein.

So another concern other than the non-view of the spine and the small growth, is that there is a close to low level of amniotic fluid. No way to fix this, I asked if I drank tons and gave up Diet Coke if this would fix this and he said no. He also said this is not caused by my stressful job from hell.

So now we wait. I go for my regular check up next Thursday, and then go back to the perinatologist the Friday after that (on February 3). If the baby is at the same slow rate of growth, then the baby will just be a smaller baby, and nothing to worry about. If the growth has slowed down....

Another reassuring factor (according to the doctor) is that my Alpha Fetal protein levels were off the charts. Usually there is a range for intestinal disorders, and a different range for spinal bifida. I am WAY above those levels. This may be related to the early bleeding I had in my pregnancy. If he can't rule in something, we may never know what the cause was.

So that is the news. Wait and see and pray.

I already love this little one and so want everything to be ok. If things are not ok, I know that I will have help from the Lord to deal with this, and it happened for a reason.

Oh, I meet with my boss from hell tomorrow at 1. Should be a BLAST!! Wish me luck on that one.