Baby Update!

I wanted to put a small update up about our upcoming addition. When I last commented on it I was only about 13-14wks pregnant. Well, we're up to 28wks; the third trimester and coming into the home stretch. So let's back up a few weeks.....

Around 16wks I had one of the many blood tests done. It's called the AFP test and measures some protein the baby releases. It's generally used to help determine if there might be a problem. Well, mine came back slightly elevated for neural tube defects. For those who don't know I have MTHFR (it's abbreviated and I'm not spelling out the big long word) About 40% of the population is at least a carrier of some mutation of this particular gene. I unfortunately received two copies of this mutation. Because of that I don't metabolize folic acid properly and therefore I don't have any in my body. You need folic acid for many things; most of them involve the heart and blood clotting issues. But, for women we need folic acid from literally the instant that egg gets fertilized. Folic acid helps to build the brain, spinal cord and nervous system of the baby; a.k.a. neural tube formation. Without it, the baby doesn't form properly, or at all. Hence, all my problems before Bug. We're lucky we found out it was something that in general can easily be fixed.

Now I take mega doses of folic acid, B-vitamins and baby aspirin to help combat this problem. I may not be absorbing the excessive doses but the theory is the baby will. So, having an elevated AFP level for neural tube defects scared the daylights out of me. Neural tube defects aren't minor. They're major. The two most common are spina bifida and anencephaly. Treating spina bifida luckily has come a long way over the years and there are many things they can do. I honestly would have been able to deal with this one. The one that scared me was the anencephaly. Basically the brain and skull don't form properly or at all and I'll let you deduce the rest from there.

Well, we got to go and visit the perinatologist again (I saw her during my pregnancy with Bug for low amniotic fluid levels) The baby looked perfectly fine. :) They couldn't see anything wrong. What a relief. However, the peri did tell me that the only thing they can deduce from the elevated AFP levels is that the placenta isn't working properly. (This can be an indication for future issues; like growth-restriction, or pre-eclampsia, or again low fluid levels, or pre-term labor.) So, once again I'm being watched closely. We go to see the peri every 3-4wks to check on the baby's growth mostly. The next few months will really determine how the baby's growth is, and how my fluid levels are doing b/c space is starting to run out.

We've had a few other little hiccups along the road the most recent being that I'm not allowed to vacuum anymore b/c it causes me to have contractions; and my blood pressure is finally at a point where I'm supposed to discuss with our peri the next time I see her what she suggests we do. Technically I'm only "borderline" at the moment but we still have 2 months or so to go and things have plenty of time to change. I did ask how far my Dr. wanted to go with this pregnancy and she said "as far as we can get you." So who knows. I figure if we can get to 37 wks we're in good shape. (That's about the last week in August.....)

And if you're wondering think Pink because it's going to be another little girl for us. :) It's been confirmed 3 times and she hasn't been very shy about sharing that information. We're excited that Bug gets to have a little sister. She's been going to the Dr.'s appts with me and initially thought that when we listened to the baby's heartbeat it was mommy's tummy making that noise. Recently though I think she's starting to pick up on the fact that it's the new baby who she's hearing and not mommy's indigestion. Having another little girl does make things a bit easier to prepare for since we have tons of girly stuff around our house. (There's a few things here or there to get in the way of clothes to account for the offset of seasons but not much.) We're still wondering how Bug is going to adjust to having to share us (read: David) with the new baby. Just think how fun the teenage years are going to be; doors slamming, crying, emotional bursts, pouting, pms, boyfriends.....



Poor David......