Monday, March 23, 2009

Still another ultrasound

The last ultrasound. I have to admit that I was a little nervous about this one. Lily moves a lot at night when she's squished over to my right side, but during the day, she's not as active. I never know until I feel the next kick that she's still just that--alive and kicking. There was this growing concern: will this ultrasound be the last time we see her alive?

It must have been the ultrasound, but I left that doctor's office with the best feeling I've ever had after leaving the doctor's office. Where do I start? How about the cute stuff? Lily was moving all over the place! The sonographer kept saying how squiggly she was. We got to see her yawn and open her mouth and stick her tongue out. Lily usually seems quite shy. When her knee or foot or elbow is poking out, and you touch it, she quickly draws it back in. But I don't know. With that little tongue sticking out, maybe she has us fooled!

Apparently, she's going to be a little health nut. We saw moves that only the most advanced yoga instructors could pull off.

And attitude! We got some nice 3D/4D views and saw one grumpy face after another. And she seemed to open her eyes.

Now, the physical. Not much has changed, although both the sonographer and the doctor feel as if they saw some presence of the corpus collosum, but they expressed that they aren't the experts in this matter. The sonographer also said that Lily's cerebellum didn't strike her as abnormal, but her program couldn't take measurements like the high-risk doctor's program could. They are still thinking Lily has a pelvic kidney, but her other kidney is still functioning. And we saw one hand open and fingers wave, so maybe one hand isn't clenched.

Lily weighs about 4 pounds 6 ounces right now. She's a little behind in size still, especially in her abdomen. We're hoping she'll go full-term and that this won't matter too much. Her heart was strong. Her heartrate was a little relaxed at 126, but she was pretty chill at the beginning. Oh, and speaking of the beginning. . . she was head down. By the time the doctor got in to see, she had moved around so much, that she was breech! Again, we're hoping that she'll worm her way back around in the next few weeks. We really don't want to have a c-section.

It was so awesome to see her being such a wiggle worm! The funny thing is, though, that I didn't feel much of it. I still have elevated levels of amniotic fluid, so that could be the case. Plus, the sonographer said that she wasn't really kicking back, just squirming. It's just so refreshing!

The doctor was pleased with our birthplan, and he even said he'd like to share it with others. Perhaps I'll post that soon in hopes that it may help others. It was an arduous process, even though we had several examples from other mothers and the trisomy 18 website.

I don't say this in an unrealistic way, and I've told Dave this before, but I can't help but feel that everything's going to be ok. I don't mean that Lily is going to be free of this condition. Maybe I mean that we'll get through this. Really, I don't know what "ok" means. Maybe it's just an overwhelmingly good feeling giving me a false sense of hope. But I have felt this way before.

4 comments:

  1. What a great report on your ultrasound. We had an ultrasound on Friday and it was invigorating for us also. I would love to see your birth plan if you ever decide to share it one day. My doctor just brought up the subject today even though we are three months away. Much love in these final weeks until you meet Lily!
    Shannon Paul (shannon2009)

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  2. Sounds like you had a great and wonderful day. I am so happy for you!

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  3. pictures...do we get to see u/s pictures? I'd love to meet my little cousin.

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  4. Jill, I am so happy you had a great ultrasound! It sounds like Lily has quite the personality - you must be so proud! It makes me smile to think of her sticking her little tongue out!! I too would love to see your birth plan if you decide to share ... we're starting that process now. I'm thinking of you and praying for you all every day!

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