And The Vial Makes Three: Week 12: Guys, There's Really a Baby in There!

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Week 12: Guys, There's Really a Baby in There!

So here we are at week 12 y'all!

Sorry for not posting last week, but not a whole lotta new stuff was going down and I ran out of gifs to properly demonstrate my eternal struggle with nausea and my faithful relationship with dairy. So let's talk week 12! The most dramatic development this week: Reflexes. The baby's fingers will soon begin to open and close, toes will curl, eye muscles will clench, and the mouth will make sucking movements. In fact, if you prod my abdomen, the baby will squirm in response, although I won't be able to feel it (believe me, the ultrasound tech did it a lot). From crown to rump, the baby-to-be is just over two inches long (the size of a kiwi) and weighs half an ounce.

Today we went to have an early risk assessment test done. It is a noninvasive test that combines blood work with an ultrasound of the baby to identify risk for specific chromosomal abnormalities, including Down Syndrome Trisomy-21 and Trisomy-18. Another portion of the test (known as the nuchal translucency) can assist in identifying other significant fetal abnormalities, such as cardiac disorders. #googledit

We were able to see our baby!

On a big screen squirming, waving

and even giving the U-N-I-T-Y fist.

The baby looks good (all the limbs accounted for!), strong heartbeat (164) and both hemispheres of the brain even. They were able to see a slight view of the nuchal translucency, but our little nugget wouldn't lay quite in the right position to get a clear picture (thus the nurse pile driving my abdomen with the ultrasound wand) so they want to get a better pic, which means a return visit this Friday.

Then we wait all the way until June 19th to find out the sex!