20 Weeks - Half way there with baby GIRL #2!

19 Weeks (We haven't gotten around to the 20 week photo yet)

18 Weeks

Baby girl blocking her face with her hand. 

Baby girl's sweet profile.

 

We are officially having another little girl!  It's exciting to know that Penelope will be able to experience the special bond that forms between sisters.  We are also a little relieved to know we won't have to change the nursery or buy a ton of boy stuff.  We are set on girl things!

 

We went in for our sonogram last Tuesday (the 12th) and it actually wasn't a completely smooth process.  We were originally supposed to have our sonogram on Thursday (before my OB appointment), but Kevin couldn't make that so I rescheduled it for Tuesday.  The technician seemed a little less than reassuring.  I asked if everything was ok and she just said, "the doctor will go over your results with you." That's not exactly what I wanted to hear, but we tried to not worry too much.  She never got a perfect shot of little girl's parts but said she was 90% sure it was a girl.  We were excited and went to celebrate with Penelope.  We had cupcakes from Cupcakes a la Mode and then took Penelope to Build-a-Bear so she could make a bear for herself and her little sister.  She thoroughly enjoyed the family "date."

So, on Thursday I went in to the OB and she said that I shouldn't worry, but they wanted to do another ultrasound because the first one had a couple problems.  She was very reassuring but said that they couldn't find the baby's second kidney and there were some cysts on the brain.  She said the kidney just might not have been spotted during the ultrasound and lots of babies have cysts and they don't mean anything.  She said they go away on their own, but they just want to have a closer look.  She said she was also happy to hear that the first part of the genetic testing came back all clear.  I was, of course, still worried because the cysts can be an indicator for Trisomy 18 which is a chromosomal disease that is fatal.  We scheduled a level-2 ultrasound for Monday morning; it's just a more detailed ultrasound.  Then, we prayed a lot.  We were very lucky to have so many great people in our lives praying with us.

On Monday morning we went in for the ultrasound.  The technician was the same lady who had done all of my previous genetic ultrasounds and is great.  She always explains everything and reassures you through the whole thing.  Plus, she seems to be awesome at getting the baby to cooperate so she can get all the shots she needs.  With much relief, everything on baby girl was PERFECT! 2 kidneys, brain cysts were already gone, and she checked every other thing that can be an indicator for Trisomy 18 or Downs Syndrome (at least the ones that can be spotted on an ultrasound) and all came up perfect - no indicators at all.  We got to see little girl sucking on her hand and even yawning.  It was a fantastic experience.  The doctor came in to talk to us afterwards and said that they think that all babies may have cysts at some point in the womb and without any other indicators, they really mean nothing. 

I didn't want to update the blog until we had some results, but it seems everything is just fine with this beautiful girl.  We thanked God over and over for the happy news!