Built in Shelves!!

After months of waiting (a slow, but good contractor) has finally installed our built in shelving & crown moldings! We are really excited with the way they turned out. We put crown molding in the dining room & living room with the shelving. We've got him on another project already in our masterbath, but I assume it will be months before that comes to fruition!

For good measure I put in a photo of what the wall used to look like!

Fetal Testing

Well...the Integrated Screening test came back with great results! It was negative (meaning no increased risk) for the following:

Neural Tube defects: less than 1 in 10,000
Downs Syndrome: less than 1 in 10,000
Trisomy 18: less than 1 in 10,000

It is only a screening test, which means it doesn't say "no the baby will not have Downs". It just means my risk is much lower than it would have been for someone my age having a baby (which at 36 is 1 in 294). For all chromosomal abnormalities the risk is higher at 1 in 156. For comparison purposes a 22 year old's risk for any chromosomal abnormality is 1 in 500. So we aren't "safe" necessarily, but it certainly gives us piece of mind & prevents me from needing any additional & more invasive testing (like amniocentesis).

So now it is the countdown until the December 8th appointment....20 days....when we find out the sex. I haven't felt any fetal movement yet which is another thing I'm waiting for. My doctor said this is normally between 20-24 weeks for someone in their first pregnancy, so we've got a ways to go. She said often time it can be felt earlier, but it is often confused for...gas. Lovely. For those of you who have been pregnant, you know how that story goes. If not, well...(not to be crass), but gas is one of the things that accompanies every pregnancy.

All for now, but wanted to share the good news!

OB appointment today

Today's OB appointment went well. It was the 16 week appointment, though technically I'll be 17 weeks on Sunday. Everything looks good so far. No ultrasound done at this appointment, we'll have the next (and last) u/s done at 20 weeks on December 8th. That is also when we will hopefully be able to find out the sex of the baby.

I had some blood work done today that was part of a test started 4 weeks ago. Its a "screening test" for Down's Syndrome. That means that the test will not tell us if the baby will or will not have Down's, only what my risk factor profile looks like. We'll get the results early next week. Keep us (and the baby) in your prayers that everything looks okay. The test itself is called the Integrated Screen which uses the ultrasound done at 12 weeks & 2 blood tests. They look for the thickness of the fluid behind the baby's neck (called a nuchal translucency or NT) as a risk for Down's, Spina Bifida among a few disorders. The NT at 12 weeks looked normal, which is good.

If the test delivers a higher than normal risk profile, I will have to meet with a geneticist, have an ultrasound, and meet with a high risk doctor. I'm not too worried about it, I'm not sure if my serene feeling is indicative of a healthy baby, but I sure hope so! I'll post an update here after we get the results.

We were able to hear the baby's heartbeat today (or I was anyway...Tom was a tad late due to work). The baby's HR was 146 which is completely normal. I have gained 4 lbs total, which is normal.

Well, that is all the baby updating for now!

Titan & Fletcher are TV stars!

Our fur children made the news about their blood donations tonight. Here's the link for the video: http://www.komonews.com/news/problemsolvers/69927047.html?tab=video

Just click on the "watch the story" under the picture of the dog to watch the story that aired tonight on the 6:00 news (when you've clicked on the link)

Baby Malchow photo

12 week ultrasound picture.