Our First Glimpse at Baby #4

Yesterday morning, we got to see our sweet baby for the very first time during my 18 week ultrasound!

Even though I have 3 other children, seeing this baby for the first time was just as amazing, and I immediately fell in love!

Our little sweet pea was incredibly active, and had us laughing through the ultrasound.  Legs were kicking, arms were being thrown, face was being covered, tongue kept sticking out, hands were opening and closing, fingers were grabbing toes, and it was rolling all over the place!  Every time the ultrasound tech attempted to get a profile picture, the baby would roll toward the pressure and stare at the camera! 

We got a glimpse at the less-than-1-inch foot that has been doing all the kicking lately.  I just love baby feet!



The baby measured about a week ahead, which is no surprise considering I grow giants.  Somehow, through the months of throwing up, my babies grow, and grow well!   My belly measures 16 weeks, I'm technically 18.5 weeks, and the baby measures 19.5 weeks.

The baby looks "textbook perfect" in every way except for the fact that it has a small calcification in the left ventricle of the heart.   Which, apparently, Lily has as well.  That was news to us considering nobody ever told us!!!

While this can be a "soft marker" for down's syndrome, the baby had no other markers, and both the ultrasound tech and the doctor told us not to worry in any way.  They repeatedly assured us that they see this very frequently (about 10-20% of people have this and it does not affect them in any way).  It is not a heart defect, and it is common.  The doctor said that if this was his child, he would not even worry about it.

I truly am not worried, but my husband is!  He tends to be a worrier.  The risk of our baby having down's syndrome with just THIS marker is extremely low.  Actually, the risk of miscarrying if we chose to get further testing is MUCH higher. 

The fact that nobody even told us with Lily, and the fact that the doctor didn't press for further testing this time reassures me that it isn't a big deal! 

We did not find out the gender, and the baby's heart rate doesn't even allow me to guess.  Dylan's heart rate was in the 120's, Lily's was in the 170's, and this baby shares a heart rate of 142 with Lexie!  At one point, while the belly was being measured, the baby pulled up it's knees, and I thought I got a glimpse of girl parts, but I could be totally wrong!  For Grant and Dylan's sake, I'm just going to pretend that boy parts may have been hiding out somewhere!!!   We are excited to see if this baby joins team pink or team blue!

I plan to spend the next 4.5 months focusing on my perfect, sweet, active baby!!!  I can't wait to meet our little sweet pea!