Blessed Cross Rose Birth Announcement
Customize your own unique baby announcements with Shutterfly.
View the entire collection of cards.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
January Checkup
At each checkup there are a series of checks: they check Sarah's weight, listen to the baby's heartbeat, and then measure the baby. It seems to me that this latter test is not very precise; they just hold a tape measure against Sarah's belly and go "eh, it's about 34".
Nevertheless, the last two times we wnt in (December and early January) Sarah measured just above the high end of normal. This last time, the doc was worried enough about this that he had his tech do a brief ultrasound and check everything out.
There are two big results here. First: everything is in order. And second: the baby has hair. See the fuzzy region around the perimeter of her head:
This is big news around my family. Ainsleigh was born bald-headed, as was my niece, my brother and myself. This is the first baby with hair in our family in some time.
Nevertheless, the last two times we wnt in (December and early January) Sarah measured just above the high end of normal. This last time, the doc was worried enough about this that he had his tech do a brief ultrasound and check everything out.
There are two big results here. First: everything is in order. And second: the baby has hair. See the fuzzy region around the perimeter of her head:
The Nursery
We moved into our home in 2008. At the time, we were in a bit of a rush, and we didn't bother to paint. Thus the guest-bedroom/soon-to-be-nursery was plain old builder beige.
We talked about this a bit and decided to paint it a pale green color. With LK being a girl, we have a lot of pink stuff: wall hangings, blankets, stuffed animals, even the lamp shade. With the walls we wanted more of a contrast.
Like I said, pink all hangings; that's a coat/towel rack that Sarah bought in the summer time when my nieces were coming to visit and would need someplace to hang their wet towels. Most of the other hangings are waiting for the furniture to be in place (we haven't bought the furniture yet); I just put this one up so that we could see how the colors look together.
The drapes and diaper hanger match the bedding (which is in the bag, still). It's pink and green with ladybugs and dragonflies.
Much of the actual painting was done by our super-awesome friend Marcoe, who came up the day after Christmas to help out with it. The fisrst night she was here, I said something like "I'm going to go in after dinner and start taping." She said "Tape? Why?" and proceeded to hand-cut around every trim surface in the room: the door, the closet, the window, the baseboard, and the crown molding. It was inspiring.
We talked about this a bit and decided to paint it a pale green color. With LK being a girl, we have a lot of pink stuff: wall hangings, blankets, stuffed animals, even the lamp shade. With the walls we wanted more of a contrast.
Like I said, pink all hangings; that's a coat/towel rack that Sarah bought in the summer time when my nieces were coming to visit and would need someplace to hang their wet towels. Most of the other hangings are waiting for the furniture to be in place (we haven't bought the furniture yet); I just put this one up so that we could see how the colors look together.
The drapes and diaper hanger match the bedding (which is in the bag, still). It's pink and green with ladybugs and dragonflies.
Much of the actual painting was done by our super-awesome friend Marcoe, who came up the day after Christmas to help out with it. The fisrst night she was here, I said something like "I'm going to go in after dinner and start taping." She said "Tape? Why?" and proceeded to hand-cut around every trim surface in the room: the door, the closet, the window, the baseboard, and the crown molding. It was inspiring.
Since November
I see that the last post on here is stamped November 8th. Wow! Time goes by.
Since then, we've had a series of visits with the doctor. At first, it was a lot of nothing to report: Sarah and Lynnleigh are both doing well.
Things started to happen in December. At our checkup in late December, we scheduled LK's birth by C-section for March 1st. (Ainsleigh was born by C-section after Sarah had been in labor for 24 hours; she just wouldn't fit. Between the previous C-section and the reason for it, everyone involved thinks its better to take LK out by section, too.) So while she might come before then, she won't come later.
Also in December, our very dear friend Marcoe came up from Jackson to help me paint the nursery. More on that in a moment.
After the December checkup, we entered the every-two-weeks prenatal checkup period So we back to the doc the first week of January. A separate post on that is coming up, too.
Since then, we've had a series of visits with the doctor. At first, it was a lot of nothing to report: Sarah and Lynnleigh are both doing well.
Things started to happen in December. At our checkup in late December, we scheduled LK's birth by C-section for March 1st. (Ainsleigh was born by C-section after Sarah had been in labor for 24 hours; she just wouldn't fit. Between the previous C-section and the reason for it, everyone involved thinks its better to take LK out by section, too.) So while she might come before then, she won't come later.
Also in December, our very dear friend Marcoe came up from Jackson to help me paint the nursery. More on that in a moment.
After the December checkup, we entered the every-two-weeks prenatal checkup period So we back to the doc the first week of January. A separate post on that is coming up, too.
Monday, November 8, 2010
For Your Consideration
This is a purely speculative exercise, of course; Lynnleigh's's face is still thin, and doesn't have much the muscle or fat that will give it shape yet. But even wild speculation is fun. Here she is, side by side with her sister:
Follow-Up
We went back to the perinatologist today. Last time everything looked good, but her heart was just the size of a quarter, so they couldn't see all the details they wanted to see. This time they had a closer look at the valves in her heart and the arteries leading into and out of it. The news is all good: everything looks as it should.
Pictures:
With that, we're all done with the perinatologist, and back to just visiting our local OB. That probably means these are the last pictures for a good long while. But that's OK; Sarah can feel the baby move every day now, so we have some constant reassurance that she's still in there and doing well.
Pictures:
With that, we're all done with the perinatologist, and back to just visiting our local OB. That probably means these are the last pictures for a good long while. But that's OK; Sarah can feel the baby move every day now, so we have some constant reassurance that she's still in there and doing well.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Perinatologist
At our last appointment with the fertility doc, he suggested that we look into having a fetal echocardiogram done around Week 18.
Backstory: Our first daughter, Ainsleigh Brynn, was born with a "constellation" of heart defects that ultimately combined to kill her. There's about a 5% recurrence rate for congenital heart defects. That's not a lot, and there's little to be done about it in utero anyway. However, we live in a small town; our hospital doesn't have a NICU and the nearest pediatric cardiologist is at LeBonheur in Memphis. So, the thinking is: find out if there are any problems, so that we can be prepared --- where in this context "prepared" means, crucially, that we'd arrange to have the baby in Memphis at a hospital that can support the baby.
Our OB agreed with the fertility doc, and so referred us to a perinatologist in Memphis. We had that appointment yesterday, October 11th. It went very well.
The ultrasound itself lasted about an hour and a half. The tech told us baby is a girl first thing.
Then she checked out the baby in every dimension. For instance, she counted all the fingers and toes.
There were lots of other checks, too. She confirmed that baby has two umbilical arteries (this is the correct number; Ainsleigh only had one), that her kidneys are in place a supplied with blood (she can watch blood flow through the renal arteries), that her spine is properly formed, and more.
One thing they do is estimate the baby's size. The tech takes three measures: the circumference of the head, the circumference of the abdomen, and the length of the femur. Each measurement is used to form an independent estimate of baby's weight. These estimates are averaged; the average comes to 10 oz. This figure is looked up on a chart ; it corresponds to the average size of a baby at a gestational age of 19 weeks. Given that baby was 18 weeks 5 days at the time of the ultrasound, she's right on time.
In addition to the 2-D images taken at a particular depth, they can rapidly scan through depths and use the computer to construct a 3-D portrait of baby:
It's imperfect, of course, but you can see her pretty well here.
As to the purpose of the visit: her heart looks great. They spend a great deal of time on this. There are a number of techniques involved. A simple ultrasound can show the heart moving as it beats, and the valves opening and closing. The machine can also detect the movement of blood through the major blood vessels as well as between the chambers of the hearts. Finally, they can zero in on and listen to the various components of the heartbeat: this or that valve opening and closing in rhythm. The amount of detail that can be gleaned is really impressive, given baby's heart is about the size of a quarter.
Put all these approaches together and you get the result you want: baby is healthy, and her heart is in perfect working order.
Backstory: Our first daughter, Ainsleigh Brynn, was born with a "constellation" of heart defects that ultimately combined to kill her. There's about a 5% recurrence rate for congenital heart defects. That's not a lot, and there's little to be done about it in utero anyway. However, we live in a small town; our hospital doesn't have a NICU and the nearest pediatric cardiologist is at LeBonheur in Memphis. So, the thinking is: find out if there are any problems, so that we can be prepared --- where in this context "prepared" means, crucially, that we'd arrange to have the baby in Memphis at a hospital that can support the baby.
Our OB agreed with the fertility doc, and so referred us to a perinatologist in Memphis. We had that appointment yesterday, October 11th. It went very well.
The ultrasound itself lasted about an hour and a half. The tech told us baby is a girl first thing.
Then she checked out the baby in every dimension. For instance, she counted all the fingers and toes.
There were lots of other checks, too. She confirmed that baby has two umbilical arteries (this is the correct number; Ainsleigh only had one), that her kidneys are in place a supplied with blood (she can watch blood flow through the renal arteries), that her spine is properly formed, and more.
One thing they do is estimate the baby's size. The tech takes three measures: the circumference of the head, the circumference of the abdomen, and the length of the femur. Each measurement is used to form an independent estimate of baby's weight. These estimates are averaged; the average comes to 10 oz. This figure is looked up on a chart ; it corresponds to the average size of a baby at a gestational age of 19 weeks. Given that baby was 18 weeks 5 days at the time of the ultrasound, she's right on time.
In addition to the 2-D images taken at a particular depth, they can rapidly scan through depths and use the computer to construct a 3-D portrait of baby:
It's imperfect, of course, but you can see her pretty well here.
As to the purpose of the visit: her heart looks great. They spend a great deal of time on this. There are a number of techniques involved. A simple ultrasound can show the heart moving as it beats, and the valves opening and closing. The machine can also detect the movement of blood through the major blood vessels as well as between the chambers of the hearts. Finally, they can zero in on and listen to the various components of the heartbeat: this or that valve opening and closing in rhythm. The amount of detail that can be gleaned is really impressive, given baby's heart is about the size of a quarter.
Put all these approaches together and you get the result you want: baby is healthy, and her heart is in perfect working order.
Movement
Sarah started feeling the first movement about three weeks ago, during Week 15. (This writing is at the end of week Week 18.) Since then the movement has gotten more frequent and more noticeable. Now Sarah can feel movement several times a day. Frankly she enjoys the Hell out of it.
I think I felt the baby move very early on, in Week 16 or so. I had my hand on Sarah's stomach and felt a soft but definite rolling --- sort of like baby had been under my hand and then rolled out from under it. Since then, I haven't been able to feel anything. Occasionally Sarah will say "come her, the baby is kicking" and I'll run over and put my hands on her belly, but then baby always immediately stops kicking. Oh, well; it will come in time.
I think I felt the baby move very early on, in Week 16 or so. I had my hand on Sarah's stomach and felt a soft but definite rolling --- sort of like baby had been under my hand and then rolled out from under it. Since then, I haven't been able to feel anything. Occasionally Sarah will say "come her, the baby is kicking" and I'll run over and put my hands on her belly, but then baby always immediately stops kicking. Oh, well; it will come in time.
Some Limited Excitement
The sonogram on 17 August really wasn't supposed to happen. As previously discussed, we 'graduated' from the fertility doctor on Monday, August ninth. Thereafter we immediately made an appointment with Sarah's regular OB here in Oxford. That appointment was on August seventeenth.
This appointment was meant to be a meeting. But halfway through the meeting, the doc was called away to do a delivery. So, he had his tech do an ultrasound to keep us amused while he was gone. There was nothing terribly informative about the resulting pictures, but it was nice to see the baby, as it always is.
Five days later, on Sunday the 22nd, Sarah had some bleeding. There wasn't a terribly huge amount, and she didn't have any cramping or pain with it. Nevertheless, Sarah was very scared and called the doc. He told her not to stress out about it, to take it easy the rest of the day and come in first thing Monday morning.
By then, the bleeding had stopped and we were starting to settle down. But, they did an ultrasound to peek in on baby anyway. As expected, all was in order.
This appointment was meant to be a meeting. But halfway through the meeting, the doc was called away to do a delivery. So, he had his tech do an ultrasound to keep us amused while he was gone. There was nothing terribly informative about the resulting pictures, but it was nice to see the baby, as it always is.
Five days later, on Sunday the 22nd, Sarah had some bleeding. There wasn't a terribly huge amount, and she didn't have any cramping or pain with it. Nevertheless, Sarah was very scared and called the doc. He told her not to stress out about it, to take it easy the rest of the day and come in first thing Monday morning.
By then, the bleeding had stopped and we were starting to settle down. But, they did an ultrasound to peek in on baby anyway. As expected, all was in order.
Catching Up
Apologies are in order. I started a new job last month, and I've been extremely busy. Since the last posting, we've had three sonograms. In the last (no use trying to build suspense when I've already colored the blog pink) we found out: baby is a girl. Now, in order, pictures from each sonogram, and some other stuff.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Travel Notes
From our initial consultation on March 1st, I count 19 round trips to the fertility clinic. Per Google Maps, the clinic is 75.6mi from home; that's a total of ~2870mi for this cycle. Put another way, at 1.5hr each way, it's 57hr in the car.
Graduation Day
We had the last of our early ultrasounds yesterday. First, the picture.
My usual annotated copy.
Baby is head-down and facing to your left. From head to rump, baby measures 3.03cm. That's 1.19in, and corresponds to an age of 9 weeks, 6 days. As of yesterday, baby's actual age was 9 weeks, 5 days (this moment in hyper-precision brought to you by in vitro fertilization!), so we're right on schedule. Live, you can see baby's heart beating and his/her arms and legs moving. The heartbeat, at 175 bpm, is right where it ought to be. The arm and leg movement has triggered a running gag around my house about baby waving to us, and then kicking in a "OK, I said hello, now get out of here" motion.
With all these right-on-schedule measurements, our IVF doc has decided to turn Sarah over to her regular OB. So we're all done with the fertility clinic for this go-round. We don't expect to return to the clinic until the biannual "baby party" at Mother's Day next year.
My usual annotated copy.
Baby is head-down and facing to your left. From head to rump, baby measures 3.03cm. That's 1.19in, and corresponds to an age of 9 weeks, 6 days. As of yesterday, baby's actual age was 9 weeks, 5 days (this moment in hyper-precision brought to you by in vitro fertilization!), so we're right on schedule. Live, you can see baby's heart beating and his/her arms and legs moving. The heartbeat, at 175 bpm, is right where it ought to be. The arm and leg movement has triggered a running gag around my house about baby waving to us, and then kicking in a "OK, I said hello, now get out of here" motion.
With all these right-on-schedule measurements, our IVF doc has decided to turn Sarah over to her regular OB. So we're all done with the fertility clinic for this go-round. We don't expect to return to the clinic until the biannual "baby party" at Mother's Day next year.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Other News
After Monday's ultrasound, we also met with our doctor. The results of that meeting:
1. No more shots; Sunday's progesterone injection was the last shot for this cycle.
2. The other hormone supplements are to be stepped down over the next two weeks.
3. We go back for one more sonogram and meeting with Dr. Ke on Monday August 9th; this is expected to be the last trip to the fertility clinic in Memphis.
4. We're to be handed over to our local OB effective August 17th, when we have our first appointment with him.
So all is well, I think. Did I miss anything?
1. No more shots; Sunday's progesterone injection was the last shot for this cycle.
2. The other hormone supplements are to be stepped down over the next two weeks.
3. We go back for one more sonogram and meeting with Dr. Ke on Monday August 9th; this is expected to be the last trip to the fertility clinic in Memphis.
4. We're to be handed over to our local OB effective August 17th, when we have our first appointment with him.
So all is well, I think. Did I miss anything?
Monday's Ultrasound
We had another sonogram on Monday the 26th. A picture, shot with my iPhone:
A marked-up version so you'll know what you're looking at:
Baby is still doing well; 1.34cm in length, with a heartbeat of 166bpm, and a very recognizable person-shape. (Here, picture a baby laying on his right side.) All signs are good.
A marked-up version so you'll know what you're looking at:
Baby is still doing well; 1.34cm in length, with a heartbeat of 166bpm, and a very recognizable person-shape. (Here, picture a baby laying on his right side.) All signs are good.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
One Baby
Last Thursday, we went and had an ultrasound to settle the critical "one baby or two" question. Here is the result of that test:
Unhelpful, right? Like a snowy TV, really. Here. let me give you a hand:
The picture shows one baby (because that's what we're having: one baby). Don't be tempted to think the little peanut-shaped bright structure (the yolk sac, labeled here) is the baby; it's not. The baby is a darker mass up from and left of the yolk sac. I know this because, from inside the room, you can see the baby's tiny heart beating right in that area. The heartbeat was good and strong --- a particular concenr of ours, given our personal history.
For scale, I've labeled the gestational sac, which is 1.7cm in length. The baby here is about 0.3cm in length -- the size of a small coffee bean. For this reason Sarah briefly took to referring to baby as "Latte Hopkins."
Unhelpful, right? Like a snowy TV, really. Here. let me give you a hand:
For scale, I've labeled the gestational sac, which is 1.7cm in length. The baby here is about 0.3cm in length -- the size of a small coffee bean. For this reason Sarah briefly took to referring to baby as "Latte Hopkins."
Friday, July 2, 2010
Twinning
Because it's come up in a couple of Facebook comments, I want to say a word or two about the upper bound on the number of babies Sarah might be carrying.
The short answer is: two. The doc transferred two embryos. If they've both survived, then Sarah's carrying twins; if only one has survived, then it's just one baby (for this time).
The longer answer is: well, it depends. There were two blastocysts on Day 5. Most identical twinning is thought to happen at the blastocyst stage between Days 4 and 8. The astute reader will note that 5 is more than 4 but less than 8; this means it is at least possible for a day Day 5 blast to split into monozygotic (identical) twins after the transfer. So it's possible, in the strictest sense of the word, that Sarah's carrying quads, in the form of two sets of identical twins.
Setting aside what is and isn't possible, the likelihood of Sarah carrying one, two, or more babies is subject to the usual rules of probability. On transfer day, Dr. Kutteh told us that the probabilities broke down by thirds: one-third of women in Sarah's situation would have twins; one third would get a single pregnancy; and one third would get no pregnancy. Two weeks on, we know we're not in the "no pregnancy" group. So there's a ~50% chance that we're in the singleton group, and a ~50% chance we're in the dizygotic twins group.
Beyond that, probabilities get small. Identical twins account for about 3 of every 1000 pregnancies. That's 0.3%. So the probabilities break down like this:
49.85% one baby
49.85% fraternal twins
0.15% identical twins
0.15% triplets, composed of 1 set of identical twins and a fraternal triplet.
The probability of quads of any kind is too small to register at this number of sig figs. And of course the identical twinning numbers here are too big: some identicals form between days 1 and 5, and we know that didn't happen. But this is a good rough guide to the possibility of tour taking home more than two babies this go-round.
The take home message is: because identical twinning is always rare the odds are slim; but because identical twinning does happen and can't be ruled out on the basis of the transfer day, the odds are not zero.
The short answer is: two. The doc transferred two embryos. If they've both survived, then Sarah's carrying twins; if only one has survived, then it's just one baby (for this time).
The longer answer is: well, it depends. There were two blastocysts on Day 5. Most identical twinning is thought to happen at the blastocyst stage between Days 4 and 8. The astute reader will note that 5 is more than 4 but less than 8; this means it is at least possible for a day Day 5 blast to split into monozygotic (identical) twins after the transfer. So it's possible, in the strictest sense of the word, that Sarah's carrying quads, in the form of two sets of identical twins.
Setting aside what is and isn't possible, the likelihood of Sarah carrying one, two, or more babies is subject to the usual rules of probability. On transfer day, Dr. Kutteh told us that the probabilities broke down by thirds: one-third of women in Sarah's situation would have twins; one third would get a single pregnancy; and one third would get no pregnancy. Two weeks on, we know we're not in the "no pregnancy" group. So there's a ~50% chance that we're in the singleton group, and a ~50% chance we're in the dizygotic twins group.
Beyond that, probabilities get small. Identical twins account for about 3 of every 1000 pregnancies. That's 0.3%. So the probabilities break down like this:
49.85% one baby
49.85% fraternal twins
0.15% identical twins
0.15% triplets, composed of 1 set of identical twins and a fraternal triplet.
The probability of quads of any kind is too small to register at this number of sig figs. And of course the identical twinning numbers here are too big: some identicals form between days 1 and 5, and we know that didn't happen. But this is a good rough guide to the possibility of tour taking home more than two babies this go-round.
The take home message is: because identical twinning is always rare the odds are slim; but because identical twinning does happen and can't be ruled out on the basis of the transfer day, the odds are not zero.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)