A Concerning Ultrasound

There are certain words a pregnant woman does not want to hear during an ultrasound by a high-risk doctor.  Words like "very concerning" and "genetic abnormality."  But that's what I got yesterday.  I went to my appointment, a little anxious about how my recent diagnosis of gestational diabetes is affecting the baby.  That wasn't what the doctor was worried about.  I seem to be doing fine so far with my glucose, and though I've had an increase in amniotic fluid it's still within the normal range.  But when Dr. M. started to take measurements of body parts, she started talking quietly with the ultrasound tech.

At my last ultrasound a little over a month ago, Dr. M. commented on how Baby Girl has a large head and small legs.  It was just an observation at the time.  Neither is surprising: Ben had a big head in utero, and shortness runs in my family.  But when Dr. M. measured the legs again yesterday, she said they had not grown much in the last month.  That, in combination with the large head, points to a possible problem.

Dr. M. said it could just be that we'll have a short kid.  But there is a significant chance that Baby Girl has a genetic abnormality that is affecting her bones.  First on the list of possibilities is dwarfism (achondroplasia).  Dr. M. explained that  we wouldn't necessarily see it in our family history since so many cases result from spontaneous genetic mutation.  She also asked if we had any family history of "soft bones" because that disease could also present itself in this way.  

She said that genetic testing can be done to attempt to determine exactly what is going on, but it would be best to wait until after delivery - nothing can be done about it in the meantime anyway.  I was already scheduled to go in for regular non-stress tests starting next week; now I'll also be having weekly ultrasounds with Dr. M. so she can continue to monitor Baby Girl's growth and keep an eye on her.  Because we don't know what's going on with her, there's a chance she'll have to be delivered early, depending on what all the monitoring shows.  But assuming nothing distressing happens, she'll be delivered by c-section on Nov. 22nd.  Dr. M. said that attempting to deliver her naturally could be quite damaging if she has skeletal problems.

Thankfully, Mike was at the appointment with me.  When he asked Dr. M. if he needed to change his work plans to stay in town for the next 6 weeks until delivery, she put it this way: There's a chance that Baby Girl will have to come out early, and there's a chance she could be very sick when she's born, so the closer to home Mike can be, the better.  He is in the process of talking with his squadron leaders right now to see what they can do.  So far they have been very supportive.  (Mike goes on the road a lot, and fall is a busy season...he was supposed to go on tour in a different part of Europe and then go to the states for training at the end of the month.)

Dr. M. explained that if there is an abnormality, it is only physical and doesn't involve any kind of mental retardation.  She emphasized that there is nothing we could have done to prevent this, that these things just happen.  She also emphasized that she does not have a definite diagnosis yet but we need to be prepared and watchful.  And while a baby with short legs might just be short (or start out that way), the fact the her legs don't appear to have grown in many weeks is a big red flag.

I think I was kind of in shock hearing all this at the appointment.  Mike was of sound enough mind to take the rest of the workday off to stay at home.  Which was good, because the first thing I did when we got home was to google "dwarfism" - not the best thing to do.  I started reading about all the different types, including a fatal one (which our baby does NOT have) and the different physical ailments that come along with that diagnosis.  I was not at all reassured by reading about sleep apnea in infants and hearing loss.  But I did learn some things, and have come up with questions for when I see Dr. M. next week.

The good news is that much of the ultrasound was fine.  Besides the head and leg measurements, the other body parts are normal: spine, heart, kidneys, and most importantly there's no hydrocephaly (fluid on the brain).  And when Dr. M. went to scan the face (which was a tough one last time) she got some great shots.

 

 

So now we wait.  My first non-stress test is on Tuesday, and then I'll have another ultrasound that Friday.  And I won't be Googling any more medical terms between now and then.

The "J" is Silent

 Benjamin has become very independent.  He wants to do everything himself.  He tells us this by saying "Benamin" when he wants us to let him do something without our help.  For example, one night he wanted to pick out his own pajamas.  He chose his monkey pants and his Elmo sweatshirt (not a typical part of his nighttime wardrobe).  This morning he insisted on walking down the stairs without holding my hand.  That wouldn't bother me except that he slipped on the stairs yesterday and would have fallen if I hadn't been helping him.

We've been getting all Ben's old baby stuff out of storage to put in the nursery and around the house.  Ben remembers every single thing.  He loves sitting (and standing) in his baby bathtub.

One of my shower gifts was a Boppy pillow.  Ben thinks it's for him.

My boys.  Ben absolutely loves his Lightning McQueen pajamas, and anything related to the movie Cars...but he's also recently discovered Toy Story and Toy Story 2, so Buzz Lightyear has become another favorite.

This week Ben found my tea chest.  He thought it would be great fun to take every teabag out of its paper wrapper and throw away all of the wrappers.  To distract him from trying that again, I let him open a new box of tea and remove the teabags...which weren't in wrappers to begin with.

One of the first really chilly mornings here, a week or so ago.  Fall here is really pretty.

Gartenschau

This week we went to the Gartenschau in Kaiserslautern, which is pretty much a big park with seasonal flower displays, dinosaur sculptures, several playground areas for kids, and a bunch more stuff.  Plus right now they're having a Noah's ark exhibit with animals made of pumpkins & gourds.  This was our first time there.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves (because I'm too tired to write captions).

We spent less than two hours there and didn't even cover the entire grounds, but we found a ton of stuff for Ben to see and do.  I look forward to going back in the spring.

Bedtime Reading

 

This is a great example of how distracted Ben gets when we try to take a video of him.  He has many of his bedtime books memorized and "reads" them himself but we have yet to capture it on camera.

Sneak Peek

I have had more ultrasounds with this pregnancy than with my first one because I've been seeing the high risk doctor this time around (trying to avoid another run-in with preeclampsia).  This week they surprised me by printing out some 3-D pics of Baby Girl's feet and hands.  Here is a foot, with the other foot hooked behind the ankle.  The umbilical cord is on the right.  The cord was always in the way of the face, so no face pics this time.

 

Here are both feet with toes up, and on the left is a hand.

Here's a face pic from two months ago.  I love being able to see her eyes...but I'm still hoping to see a 3-D view at another appointment!

Everything seems to be moving along fine for now.  No blood pressure problems (yet) and they're keeping an eye on me to make sure I don't become diabetic.  They took a bunch of measurements of Baby Girl from the ultrasound.  All the numbers are within normal ranges, but they said she has short legs and a big head.  Since Big Brother also had a big head, we're not surprised!  But that means there's a very good chance I'll have to have a repeat c-section instead of attempting a VBAC.  My doc has indicated that I'll probably need to deliver before Thanksgiving.  Better get moving on the nursery!

August

It was a pretty hot summer here.  When the weather was mild enough, Mike took Ben out to the parks to play (aka "park play").

Climbing the steps all by himself...

...and going down the slide by himself, too.

He always has to find the "Ben spot" under every slide.

Enjoying having the tire swing all to himself.  Some days the parks are packed, other days he's the only kid around.

He used to avoid these springy seats like the plague.  Until he found out how much fun they are.  He's hit his forehead on the handlebars several times.

Teasing Calvin with a new cat toy.  At first Calvin got bonked on the head a lot by the toy fish, but Ben is figuring out better ways of playing.

Unfortunately for Calvin, Ben is easily distracted while still holding the cat toy.

This is the "suitcase game."  Ben invented it.  I don't think I need to explain.  Oh, he does like us to close the flap on him, and then he pushes back open and yells, "here I am!"  Or "there he is."  He parrots everything we say lately.

Polar Bear joins the suitcase party.

At a squadron picnic, hanging out with Uncle Drew.

There was a dunk tank at the picnic.  Ben desperately wanted to be involved in some way.  He got to play with one of the softballs until he had to be removed from the line of fire.

Playing with Miss Meredith.  They are looking at an old bottle of bubbles that has Winnie the Pooh on it, one of his favorite characters.

At the end of a particularly long day, he just wanted to eat a big bowl of spaghetti (hence the sauce-face), curl up under a blanket and watch a DVD.

Ben's ABCs