we’re having a baby! again!

You’ve really popped out! Unless it’s the clothes… no, you’ve popped. How do you feel?

Huge.

You still have a few months left, don’t you?

A couple, yep. If I make it that far. If I don’t explode in a shower of baby.

Thus went the second of three conversations I had at work today regarding my girth. I get it, I’m enormous. Believe me, it hadn’t escaped my attention. I ACTUALLY LUMBER.

So a while back I said I’d explain stuff. I didn’t say when (I like to leave myself an out where possible) but if I don’t do it soon I’ll start feeling all guilty about not giving #2 the lead up I gave #1.

Let’s do this QA style.

When did you find out?

Say, remember when we had a really sick cat and also bought a house? The test came back positive the day before we went unconditional. Stress is awesome.

How did you know?

Pretty much the same way as with Amelie. Irregularity means nothing to me, but when I found myself eating pretty much constantly… Oh, I thought to myself. Crap, I thought to myself.

Due when?

July 21. Ish.

Exciting?

In all honesty, at first there was far faaaaar too much going on at once and I barely thought about it. If I wasn’t such a lumbering uncomfortable hulk currently I’d probably still forget it’s happening.

How’s the being pregnant going?

I’m not glowing, put it that way. Indigestion kicked in early and hasn’t let up since. I have sore bits that weren’t sore the first time round. My skin is crap. This thing churns like a waking kraken and I swear sometimes it just needs to extend a wee bit more and it’ll punch through the skin, alien-style. I’ve found stretch marks. I’m tired and waaaaay more hormonally bitchy than I was last time. I already weigh more than I did when I had Amelie (and I feel every kg of it). My hair is great though. ;)

So why the big mystery?

Well.

It’s kind of traditional to tell people at around the 12 week mark. At that stage you’re out of first trimester, miscarriage rates drop, and there’s a handy scan scheduled round about then where you get to see your spawn up on the tv. In the absence of tails or tentacles (or at least in the presence of an acceptable number of each), you make the big announcement and everyone congratulates you.

But the other point of the 12 week scan is to measure the nuchal translucency (it’s a fluid pocket behind the neck – no idea why it’s there really. Intelligent design pssh). This, combined with a maternal blood test and the mother’s age, gives a risk factor for chromosomal abnormalities – mainly Down Syndrome but it can be indicative of other Trisomy conditions, congenital heart problems, viral infections… generally bad stuff.

Anyway, the upshot of all of that was our scan revealed a larger than average NT. Not good. I’m 35, which is considered kind of elderly to be reproducing in the first place. Not good. My base risk, calculated on age alone, is 1:350. A good scan and good bloods can drive that down. My final risk factor came in at 1:15.

Hmm. Let’s investigate!

They got me in early for further testing so we ended up having a CVS not an amnio; same deal really but the risk of miscarriage is a bit higher. I suspect the specialist we had is a tiny bit insane, but I felt in good hands so that’s about as much as you can ask. His miscarriage rate is currently 0 so as he said ‘it can only get worse…’ +1 on the feeling great about this metre.

My bloods were apparently normal and no other markers were found in the scan – the nasal bone was present, which is usually a good sign it isn’t Down. The risk was high enough we qualified for the faster FISH testing for no cost, so at least the wait for results was short.

We started the CVS with another US; the NT measurement had reduced but was still on the high side, and the spawn was swishing around happily enough (the doc guessed boy…) The CVS itself wasn’t so bad – the local was typically needly and the big needle only really felt pinchy stingy weird uncomfy once it hit my squishy insides. I watched the end of the process on the monitor but mostly I had my eyes shut, trying not to jiggle. Or breathe.

Then, all over. Yay.

A couple days later I finally got a ‘initial results normal, waiting for the next results’ txt, which I assumed meant the FISH came back clear. Cautious yay… A few days later I missed a call and the message was ‘Good news! All results normal. I’m on leave this weekend…’ Slightly more optimistic yay…

We followed all that up with a couple of anatomy scans to check for heart problems, but none were immediately evident. Actual, if small, sigh of relief.

So the upshot of all that is: they don’t (yet) know what caused the unusual measurement. It could be genetic – so something that didn’t get tested for in the CVS. It could have been the result of a virus I unknowingly contracted (either of which may have caused other issues we have no way of knowing about) yet. Or it could be nothing. Nothing would be nice! But we basically have to wait and see.

Do you know what you’re having?

That’s the thing about chromosomal testing – they also test the sex chromosomes to make sure there’s not a wacky number of those. Spawn#2 came back with an X and a Y…

Names?

Probably some kind of boy name. Not Socrates.

How do you feel about having a boy?

I didn’t know I wanted a girl until I found out I was having a boy! I think it’s mainly that I know how girls work and our toys ‘n clothes ‘n junk are somewhat girl-oriented. Plus two girls could share a room like, indefinitely. But Sam’s over the moon and I’m coming around to the idea… not that it’s 100% helpful to be told ‘wait until Amelie starts the mind games, then you’ll appreciate having a boy.’ Eep.

Are you all organised?

Noooo… no. No. Did I mention Lisa is preggo too, due a month before me? And that I passed a lot of our baby stuff on to her when Nessy was born? I still have a list of things to get, but it’s not like he’ll go neked if we get caught short (we still have pink clothes on hand).

Photo?

This?

I co-ordinate!

Well, OK then. 30 (ish) weeks. I am somewhat grateful my boobs are no longer the same size as my gut. >.>

HULK SMASH!

Because people care about this stuff, here’s 30 weeks with Amelie.

From this scientific research we conclude that gestating boy babies makes you fatter. I have a midwife appointment tomorrow and if I’ve gained any appreciable amount of weight in the past two weeks you will read about my rampage on the news. Or I might just give up completely and go get a Double Down.

The end.

eccentricangel