Ultrasounds

Posted by Liz Hodes on March 9, 2012

Our Perfectly Uneventful Ultrasound

This week, we had our anatomy ultrasound.  My husband and I both pretended as if we were most concerned about whether we’d be able to find out the baby’s sex, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth. As the day of the ultrasound approached, we were both thinking more and more about the 20 week scan with our now three-year-old son — our beautiful, smart, perfectly healthy son — when we left with more questions than answers, appointments for follow-up testing and the terrifying fear that our baby boy’s brain was not developing properly.  We were thinking about all the ultrasounds that followed, when we held our breath and hoped for confirmation that our boy was healthy, confirmation that we finally, thankfully received when he was born and in the months that followed, when he hit all of his developmental milestones on time or ahead of schedule.  (more…)

Posted by Sunny Gault on January 12, 2012

The Gender Dilemma

When you become pregnant, you learn about several unwritten rules you’re not privy to when childless. Apparently, these rules are supposed to be as innate as your “motherly instinct”, which ironically I have yet to discover.

And so today, I’m spilling the beans. Consider this your spoiler alert, if you’ve never been pregnant.

Rule #1    Don’t tell anyone you’re pregnant until you’re in the “safe zone”.
REASON: Fear of miscarriage or other complications

Rule #2   Don’t tell anyone your baby names
REASON: People are rude and they will steal them

Rule #3   Don’t tell anyone if you prefer a specific gender
REASON: As Mick Jagger once said, “You can’t always get what you want”.

I’ve literally broken every single one of these rules. Go figure. I’ve never been one to blend in with the crowd. But lately, my individuality has put me in an awkward situation. And it’s all because of Rule #3.

Let me explain….  (more…)

Posted by Meagan Church on October 4, 2011

The Ultrasound

During my first two pregnancies, I viewed the ultrasound primarily as a way of finding out the baby’s gender. Sure, we also got to see the fuzzy little person growing inside. Plus we got to make sure he/she was growing and developing on schedule. But, that was all routine stuff, right? Just tell me if it’s a boy or girl! Then I had a cousin who during her second pregnancy last year got news she wasn’t anticipating during her “routine” ultrasound. She learned that her baby had multiple birth defects. Suddenly the simple scan was anything but routine.

That ultrasound led to a variety of tests and further scans. The baby was diagnosed with different birth defects, including a congenital heart defect. She was born a few months later at Riley Children’s Hospital, a few hours away from home. She came out fighting and made it through some surgeries, but a few short weeks into her life, she took her last breath. Before she ever got to go home. Before her mom got to spend hours holding her, rocking her, nursing her to sleep, smelling her little baby skin. (more…)

Posted by Sessilee Lu on September 16, 2011

Being Open to a Flexible Birth Plan

I’m coming down to the wire as I have only 3 weeks left in my pregnancy.  This second pregnancy has been different from the first – although not vastly so – there have been clear distinctions.  First, I’m having a girl.  Not sure if this is THE differentiating factor in what I’m experiencing this second time around but it’s definitely different.  Second, I am “healthier.”  While I continue to be reminded that I’m a mother of “advanced maternal age” (41 years old – I was barely 37 when I had my first), this time around, I haven’t experienced any high blood pressure or low amniotic fluid, which was what sent me to to get induced and what led to the slippery slope of an “emergency” c-section with Henry (high fetal heart rate I was told).  Even my low placenta, which was a concern in my first pregnancy seems to have moved up to the arbitrarily so-called safe zone of 2+cm (away from the cervix).

So, am I in the clear to have a VBAC?  Not really.  One of my goals this pregnancy was to try for a VBAC since I never experienced real childbirth.  With Henry, I was induced, on a pitocin drip for 12 hours, yet, still never felt any true, active labor.  Heck, we weren’t even sure if my water had broke!  My belief is that I ended up with an emergency c-section because the doctor-on-call was getting off shift and just wanted my baby to come out (I checked in at 7am and delivered at 12:15am the next morning).  (more…)

Posted by Meagan Church on July 27, 2011

Baby’s Heartbeat… Hearing That Whoosh, Whoosh Once Again

My stomach has given up. When I was pregnant with my first two and nursing them for their first years, I remember saying, “I can’t wait to have my body back.” It took some time (and patience on my part), but finally I was getting back to where it was beginning to feel like mine. It wasn’t looking the exact same, but I had gotten onto a decent workout track and I was starting to feel better about my body again. And then we decided to have another baby.

I swear the moment I became pregnant, my belly just gave up and popped out. With my first, I began showing somewhere in the fourth month. It happened a bit earlier with number two. But number three has made it difficult for us to keep our pregnancy a secret through the first trimester. (more…)

Posted by Sunny Gault on December 18, 2010

Pregnancy in the Digital Age

Posted by Mary Hurst on October 5, 2010

Big Reveal: Twin Sexes

Twins are intriguing. They can be identical or fraternal and either both girls, boys or a combination thereof.  The most common twin pair is fraternal boy/girl.  You may not think so because you don’t notice them as frequently as you would identical twins or same sex twins.  Did you know that Kiefer Sutherland has a twin sister and Scarlett Johansson has a twin brother?

Twin incidence has increased dramatically with the rise of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) and women waiting until they are older to give birth.  Identical twins are still exceedingly rare despite that increase.  As my extremely dry OB told me, “Identical twins are a birth defect.  The egg is not supposed to divide.”  Hmm, I hope I’m not having identical twins then, Doc!

Fraternal twins are the variety that run in my family and I did not receive fertility treatments or take any fertility enhancing medications.  At previous ultrasounds, my doctor noted that my twins reside in separate amniotic sacs and have separate placentas – both evidence of fraternal twinning or an extremely early egg split.

My much anticipated anatomical ultrasound occurred on a day when my husband was busy, so I went alone.  We have a daughter already and had been “trying” for a son this pregnancy (according to internet lore of positioning and sex timing according to ovulation).  So, I was very much hoping that at least one baby was a boy.

The ultrasound tech had me booked for a full hour.  There are so many things to measure and catalog in a singleton, twins only make things more difficult by being crowded and potentially pushy with each other.  I made it clear I was hoping to find out the sexes and she didn’t make any guarantees, but said she’d try.

The first baby (Twin A – closest to my cervix) was very active and didn’t want to show any private parts right away.  The tech made a bunch of measurements, found the necessary 4 chambered heart, stomach, brain, etc, etc before getting to the good stuff.  After a good 25 minutes, it was determined that Twin A is a girl.  I said, “Well I love girls, but I hope she has a brother in there.”  We have a daughter and are thrilled for her to have a sister.  It’s also nice that we already have a ton of girl clothes and won’t need to buy more!

With baby girl’s credentials established, the tech moved on to Twin B.  Twin B was super chill, ready for all photos and measurements without a fuss.  The tech immediately discovered this baby’s sex - a boy!  He’s a boy and he’s not shy about it.

This was exactly as I’d hoped – one of each is just perfect.  My sisters are my best friends and I wanted my daughter to have a sister.  I also really wanted to have a son.  Before I had my daughter I thought I only wanted boys.  Girls are so complicated and boys seem easier by comparison.  It also seals the deal on our family – we have both types and don’t need to add any more to the mix.  A party of 5 we will be, just slightly estrogen dominated.

Now I just had to figure out a way to tell my husband the good news.  We have a balloon magic helium tank for our daughter, so my mom suggested making blue and pink balloons.  Of course he came home while I was in the middle of the process and didn’t quite get it at first, but soon enough he was ecstatic.

We are continually awed by this pregnancy, it’s amazing how in tune with my body I have been.  I thought it was twins before they were confirmed and thought they were boy/girl as well.  Luckily it’s just as I’d hoped!  Now if I can convince them to deliver quickly and pain-free, I’ll be a genius.