There she is! How beautiful is that face? I just want to kiss those little cheeks.

Isn’t ultrasound technology amazing? It seems a little like cheating to see her face so clearly before she’s on the outside.

So, some of you may be thinking. An ultrasound at 30ish weeks? Why? I know a 20 week ultrasound is normal, so why the extra?

See, that’s the other thing about ultrasounds, sometimes they reveal too much…

Earlier in this pregnancy, at the 20 week ultrasound actually, the technician found an anomaly named Persistent Right Umbilical Vein (PRUV from here on out to save both my brain and my fumbling fingers). Without going into too many science-y details (just for you Jess) babies start off with two umbilical veins, and around week seven, go down to just one.  Who knew? The umbilical cord generally has one vein and two arteries. In most babies, it’s the left vein that sticks around, but in our sweet little girl it is her right (thus the persistent part of the diagnosis).

In isolation, PRUV is not a big deal. In combination with other “markers” (heart defects, cleft palette etc) it can be an indicator for a chromosomal disorder.

Mind you, this was all explained to us by our doctor via email. I would certainly have preferred a phone call…But, much to the detriment of face-to-face (or even ear-to-ear) patient/doctor interactions, email is another great technological advance of our society.

Anyway. Between our initial scan and our rescheduled ultrasound we prayed. We prayed hard. We asked many of you to pray. We prayed that our hearts would be open to any outcome. We already loved this little girl so much. Ultimately, we arrived at the perinatologist’s (at-risk baby doctor) office with a sense of peace.

And, as most of you know, everything was fine. Our ultrasound tech was chatty and lovely, willing to indulge all our super nerdy science questions. And ultimately the doctor said PRUV was the only anomaly. “Probably, before we used ultrasounds so frequently, many babies were born with this condition, and we didn’t even know the difference.”

See how I’m bringing this back to the beginning?

The ultrasound today was just to double, triple check that Baby is fine. And she is. She’s growing like crazy and is above average for head circumference (no surprise there!). Her estimated weight is 4lbs 7oz, and she’ll double her weight in the next 9 weeks. That giant head plus weight guesstimate has me thinking ouch! So, we received the all clear today and are officially a low-risk pregnancy…again. Well, turns out, we were all along…

Side note: can you imagine if we could double our weight in 9 weeks? I’m pretty sure we would die… Babies are amazing!

At this moment, I can gaze lovingly at these pictures and see the beautiful baby girl we truly adore…But, several months ago, I was an emotional wreck while we waited for answers.

So, ultrasounds…I love ’em. But I hate ’em.  

And, yes. I can hold two conflicting beliefs in my brain at the same time. I’m going to blame that on preggo brain. I am also blaming preggo brain for locking my keys in the car day before yesterday. Luckily Mo was already out and we were at the library. If you’re going to be locked out of your car, the library is a great place to be.

And the company wasn’t too bad…minus the kicking and screaming when we had to leave, but I think that comes hand-in-hand with the cuteness…

(No, this picture wasn’t taken at the library, it’s Mo trying to carry all of her “peeps” at a time, and too cute not to post…I think that’s chocolate on her face, or maybe dirt…)

PS Bob and Julie, thanks for the AAA membership! It would have taken Andy a long time to get to us by bus.

I can’t end this post with Mo-bug because it’s supposed to be about #2, so here’s one last (little bit fuzzy) 3-D image of her cute little face. We’ll be able to compare these pictures to the real thing in T-minus 8-ish weeks. Oh man, all of a sudden that doesn’t seem like a very long time. I better go clean something…or eat some ice cream. Hmm…She does have quite a bit of weight to put on…I definitely choose ice cream.

PPS Thanks for your prayers and positive vibes. We certainly felt and still feel them. Feel free to keep ’em coming. This journey is far from over.