Growth Ultrasound and ECHO

We had our appointment at 8:45 on Monday morning, and it was great to see Baby Boy again!  (Who, by the way, is still very much a boy!!!)  This was a special appointment, because Daddy Shelton was able to join us and see his little guy in action.  The scan started out similarly to the anatomy scan, measuring the head, belly, and every other inch of the little guy, and then came the ECHO. 

All of his measurements were normal or slightly ahead (which is good, as DS babies tend to be on the smaller side).  He was in the 76th percentile, at 8 inches long and 11 ounces.  And we even got a few 3D pictures of his little face and chicken legs. 

The ECHO was very interesting; we listened to every valve, artery and vessel, watched blood flow and heart rhythm, and took tons of pictures.  The entire procedure lasted approximately one hour, and then I actually fell asleep while waiting for the Fetal Abnormality Specialist to come in and review the results.  He clicked through the images as the Tech shared her findings against my past results.  He said everything looked normal, no soft markers, all four chambers of the heart were visible with no noticeable defects, and that my overall risk was around 1 in 300.  He offered to do an amnio, if I was uncomfortable with that risk, but I said no. 

I arrived at and left the appointment feeling indifferent.  The results of the growth ultrasound and ECHO are a slight improvement from the previous scan and blood screen, but not enough to bring me any extra relief or worry.  And I'm grateful for that, extremely grateful.  We are incredibly blessed to not have to worry about heart defects or other life threatening conditions.  I stopped obsessing over the 0.3% chance that my baby has Down Syndrome after the sequential blood screen.  I pray for Babe every night, but I don't spend every waking minute stressing.  I love you, Kiddo, and you're going to be just fine.

Five little fingers