Our Little Lloyd

We met with the genetic counselor on Wednesday this week regarding my AFP screening results. Basically there are four hormones that are in my blood because of the pregnancy. In comparing my numbers in each of the four hormones to the average pregnant woman (1), they've found that when two are higher than 1 and the other two are lower than 1, that it correlates to an increased risk for Down Syndrome. Of the two 'lower hormones' mine were just slightly lower. Of the two 'higher hormones' one was somewhat higher and one was almost to 2. These results are what made my test screen positive for Down Syndrome and increased our risk from 1 in ~500 to 1 in 98 for my age. The test also showed that my results tested negative for the other 3 conditions they were screening for (a very good thing!).

We then had a more detailed ultrasound done in which all sorts of measurements were taken to look for Down Syndrome markers. I got to watch this entire ultrasound with a separate monitor, so it was really fun and interesting to see his anatomy in so much more detail. We tried to video this second ultrasound, but they wouldn't let us for legal reasons (they don't keep video records themselves, so they don't want us to have them either :-P ) Besides moving around a LOT, everything looked normal except his kidneys were slightly enlarged.

Look at that little nose!

The doctor then came in and explained that the larger kidneys (the cut-off for 21.0 weeks is 4mm and Lloyd's were at 4.1mm), were a soft marker for Down Syndrome. Because of this, they bumped our risk for Down Syndrome from 1 in 98 to 1 in 49. However, she also explained that the enlarged kidneys are seen in normal babies and that generally it clears itself up during the pregnancy and if not, the baby has a tendency for urinary tract infections once born. Apparently this trait is also usually seen in boys probably due to the way that their urinary system is built. She then asked if we wanted to have an Amniocentesis to analyze his genes and see if he did in fact have Down Syndrome. And that was pretty much all the information we got. These weren't exactly the results we expected.

We had to decide that day if we wanted the Amnio. We could come back and do the test, but we needed to do it within the next few days because of the timing of Amnio test results. However, after we were done with the doctor and started talking (in the hall by the way), we had a ton of questions, the answers to which would influence our comfort level with the idea of the Amnio. The risk of miscarriage due to the Amnio procedure were 1 in 1000, so definitely something to be concerned about. We also had a lot of questions about soft markers and their prevalence in children with Down Syndrome (do kids that end up having Downs show more than one? are there certain ones that are more commonly seen? is their a separate risk factor for each marker?).

With the information Brad was able to get online through his Mom while we were in the hall, we decided we didn't want to do the test. We then went home and did some additional online research, including searching through peer-reviewed journals. Basically our decision not to proceed with the Amnio, came down to the fact that what was triggering the 'soft marker ruling' was just 0.1 mm. We also discovered that besides soft markers, there are also medium markers and strong markers. We felt that if there had been several soft markers, a single soft marker that had a stronger tendency to be associated with a Downs case, or we had medium or strong markers, then we might think about the Amnio. We also felt pretty confident that since our one soft marker is also seen in normal kids and that it has a prevalence in boys, that it wasn't something we were going to worry about as being overly 'abnormal'. Finally, given the mood of the office (not directive and very protective), we felt that our risk results were being increased more for legal reasons that for actual cause (God forbid they tell someone not to worry and they end up having a child with Down Syndrome).

We feel really good about our decision. This is not something that we are stressed about or are going to worry about for the rest of the pregnancy. Our guts tell us he is just fine. We will, however, likely have a follow up ultrasound in about two months to check on his kidneys, but other than that, it is back to business as usual for us.

And like the previous Wednesday's ultrasound (when we saw The Raconteurs later that night), we saw Sigur Ros later Wednesday night (wonderful show btw!!!). Lloyd seemed to take after his parents and was a big fan of those gents from Iceland and rewarded both of us by letting us feel his first kicks. I've been feeling him moving around a lot more consistently lately, mostly after I eat a meal, but this was the first time Brad's felt him and I've felt him from the outside. He was also funny last night when I went to bed. I noticed that not only was he all the way at the bottom of my stomach (so it looked almost flat above my belly button, but he was all on the right side! I was like - what are you doing, silly!?! And pretty soon, he evened himself out, but for a little while my stomach looked seriously messed up!

Finally, we got the video of our 20 week ultrasound compressed so that you can see it here. It's about 6 minutes long and you can hear the technician (mostly explaining what you are seeing) and Brad and me (being amazed). I think these are so much fun to watch!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend this coming weekend and talk to you soon!

Back from Hawaii!

I returned today from a wonderful trip to Honolulu to see our friend Shan get married. It was such a beautiful wedding (and beautiful bride don't you think!) and everything went perfectly :)

I arrived Thursday late morning and started off the food journey of the trip with a 'plate lunch' from the Rainbow Drive-In followed by freshly made (i.e. piping hot!) Malasadas from Leonard's Bakery. My friend Matt and I spent the late afternoon and early evening on the beach.

On Friday morning, Shan and Brian took us on a drive up to the North Shore where the waves were anything but huge. Turns out the big 60 foot waves roll in during November and December.

Waimea Bay

After making a couple stops to take beach photos, including the famous Waimea Bay, we went into town for shave ice at Aoki's - yum! I had pineapple, melon and lilikoi with ice cream on the bottom.

After that we headed to one of Shan's favorite beaches which was actually one of several small bays within a very lovely resort. We hung out a bit here and even went for a swim:

20 weeks - on the beach

That afternoon we met back up with our friend Susan who flew in that day and made it to a super yummy 'friends' dinner at Phuket Thai.

Saturday Susan and I spent the morning and early afternoon helping Shan put together the favors for the wedding...which were super yummy brownies. We were also going to help her uncle with the flower arrangements but he was just too fast! Once we headed back to Waikiki Beach, Susan, Matt and I made a mad dash (literally!) to hike Diamond Head crater (before it closed at 6:00).

View of Waikiki Beach from the top of Diamond Head

We hiked up through the bowl of the crater and made our way through two of the steepest stair cases I've ever seen as well as a really neat tunnel. When we reached the summit we could see over the whole city from on top of an old WWII bunker.

I also took a little video of the 360 view:

Here's a view of Diamond Head from Waikiki Beach:

Sunday morning to afternoon was the wedding at the Halekulani Hotel, complete with some really great food (including a whole Kobe beef thigh!) and cupcakes for the wedding cake, which made me very happy. We spent the rest of the afternoon lounging around the Halekulani pool (our hotel pool was under renovation so we were allowed to use the pool across the street...which was way better!)

Monday we were able to get a late check out so we were back at the pool for the morning and early afternoon, then it was shopping and walking the city until our airport shuttle arrived for our red eye flights back to the 'mainland'.

All in all a very wonderful trip! Lloyd was also a trooper and except for reminding me a couple times that I was squishing him, he seemed to have a good time as well. He was particularly fond of Red Mango frozen yogurt and would wiggle quite a bit after I had some...and I did have it on a couple occasions ;) This trip also marked the first time total strangers asked me about being pregnant...so I guess it must be obvious enough now!

Lloyd is a...

a Lloyd!! That's right, our little baby is a boy! Now we have the fun job of picking out a name :-)

We had my regular 20 week ultrasound this morning. The technician said everything looked good, but our doctor will go over the specifics of all the measurements she took at our next appointment. We are still scheduled for the genetic screening and follow-up ultrasound next Wednesday, but I know we both feel really good after the preliminary comments from today's scan. One thing I forgot to ask - how big is he?

Here are some of the shots from today's ultrasound:

Full side view of Lloyd on his back

Full side view on his tummy
(you can see his spine in the top middle and his legs tucked under on the left)

Frog legs :)
I LOVE this photo, we could see him stretching out and kicking around

One little foot

We have about 6 minutes of video of the ultrasound that we are in the process of loading and shrinking so that we can either email it out or upload it here. But in the meantime, I am off to Hawaii tomorrow morning! Talk to everyone soon!

Ugh

Today I'm sick. It sucks because I haven't been sick in a long, long time. And the worst is that its because someone came to work sick. I could hear her coughing last week and avoided her. I took my Emergen-C, but I still managed to get stuck in the break room with her on Thursday for about 10 minutes. Unfortunately, that is apparently all I needed. Ugh.

Yesterday, I just felt stuffy but functional, today I feel crappy. I am however super glad that I came down with this sickness this weekend, since I am flying to Hawaii for Shan's wedding on Thursday. I'm sure if I take care of myself, I will be just fine by then, but it sucks that I will have to make the call of going in or staying home tomorrow (since I am already scheduled to be out for a week for the wedding and I'll need to take some time for the ultrasound appointment once I get back) because I sure as heck don't want to give this to anyone else...

I also wanted to share that I finished my first knitting project for Lloyd. You can see photos here. I'm almost done with another sweater as well, but my cold has slowed the progress on that one as well...plus all the sewing I had planned for this weekend.

Boy or Girl?

In anticipation of our ultrasound...that now looks like it won't happen until October 1st...I added a little pole to the side bar at the right. Please make your best guess! I'm curious if it will be biased more than the 50:50 odds it should have.

Kinda Scary

I got a call from my OB today (which honestly was at first very shocking in and of itself - I kept thinking that she doesn't exactly seem like the kind of doctor who calls her patients). Then she told me that they received back my AFP results. She said that normally someone my age should have a 1/4% risk for Down Syndrome. My results said my risk was 1%. Still low, but enough that she has referred me to a specialist. So next week instead of my regularly scheduled 20 week ultrasound, we will instead be meeting with the specialist. I will have some sort of genetic screening and then the ultrasound. Ugh.

The good thing is that apparently these tests have a high rate of false positives. And not only the nurse, but also the doctor said that there was no reason to 'freak out'. That most of the time, everything is just fine, we just have to go through the hoops of double checking - hoops I have no problem going through!

No Hurricane in San Diego

In the wake of Hurricane Ike, its amazing that our part of the country can be so radically different. Here are a couple photos from last Sunday's trip to the park.

fallen yellow blossoms under a tree

Jenny's tongue

Brad's parents and his aunt and uncle were able to ride out the hurricane with only minor plant life casualties. Very fortunate indeed!