Wiggly Worry Wart...

Today we had our 20 week appointment for our little Sprout to talk about her progress and how the ultrasound went the other day. We met with the newest addition to the Samaritan OB/GYN group, Angie Chisholm. She was very nice and very focused on her job. She hadn’t had time to go over the ultrasound results before meeting with us, so she took a few seconds to look it over while we were sitting in the room with her.

She said that everything checked out and looked good, and then came the “but”…the word that no parent wants to hear. Finnian has a single echogenic focus with her left ventricle. Angie didn’t really explain what it was, and didn't seem worried about it, because all the other test results were normal. She told us not to worry about it much. Yeah, right...according to some research we’ve done, here is what Wikipeadia says:

Echogenic intracardiac focus (EIF) is a small bright spot seen in the baby’s heart on an ultrasound exam. This is thought to represent mineralization, or small deposits of calcium, in the muscle of the heart. EIFs are found in about 3-5% of normal pregnancies and cause no health problems.

EIFs themselves have no impact on health or heart function. Often the EIF is gone by the third trimester. If there are no problems or chromosome abnormalities, EIFs are considered normal changes, or variants.

Researchers have noted an association between an EIF and a chromosome problem in the baby. Types of chromosome problems that are occasionally seen include Trisomy 18 (Edward's syndrome) or Trisomy 21 (Down syndrome). In the case of an isolated EIF, and no other ultrasound findings, some studies show that the risk for a chromosome abnormality is approximately two times a woman’s background risk. Other studies report up to a 1% risk for Down syndrome when an EIF is seen on a second trimester fetal ultrasound exam.

Considering little Sprout has had nothing but great results on all her other tests, I think everything will be fine, and she will grow out of it. But it doesn’t hurt to pass on some good thoughts and energy to our little Finny if you wouldn’t mind. We could use all the help we could get. It takes a village, after all, and we really need our village right now.

Finn’s heart and development are great. She just has this little hitch in there, that is most likely nothing, but it could be something we need to keep an eye on. We will go back in a few weeks for another ultrasound to check it out and see if it has corrected itself, which we fully expect it to have done so. If not, we will have more tests to do, and we will do what we can and what we have to and do the best for our baby and help her in any way we can. She is healthy and strong at this point, and we fully expect her to continue to be. It doesn’t mean we won’t worry about her, but we know she is a strong little nugget, and she will be just fine.

As we were sitting in the car, I asked Shannon if this is how it is going to be the rest of our lives—worrying about our little baby girl. It’s a 24/7 job now, and, though I know little Finnian will be just fine and dandy at our next ultrasound in 3-4 weeks to check on her little abnormality in her little tiny, strong heart, I am still going to worry about her health and wellbeing every day until I turn to dust.

I love my little girl. I can’t wait to see her in October. I gave her a little pep talk, and told her that if the Boston Bruins can make it to the Stanley Cup Finals, she can do anything she wants to do! We just have to concentrate on getting her solid and well and ready to meet the universe!

Sugar and Spice...

And everything nice. That's what our little Finnian is made of. We are having a girl! We found out yesterday that our little Sprout is going to be a little girl, bringing pink and frills to our home. We couldn't be more excited about our little bundle of joy. She is growing right along, and all is going well. Her size is great, as is her heart rate. Everything seems to be healthy and strong. We have her 20 week appointment tomorrow, and will get more details that the tech doing the ultrasound couldn't give us, but we expect only good news.
We spent an hour yesterday, in the ultrasound room, looking at our little wiggler. She didn't sit still the entire time, so it was hard to get a good photo of her, and also hard to get good measurements. The tech, Rachel, had to be super fast at taking pictures so she could get the measurements she needed. She waited until near the end of the appointment to have Shannon roll on her side so she could get a better look at Finn to see if we would have a James or an Ivy for the middle name. Turns out, we got an Ivy! She showed us the three tiny little lines indicating "girl" and didn't see anything else, nor did we. We would have been happy either way, but we are very excited for our little girl and can't wait for her to enter the universe when she is fully baked!
After our appointment, and after we texted our families, we went and grabbed some lunch and showed the pictures to my dad. He was very excited at the news. Shannon drove us to her work, as I called my grandma to tell her she was going to have another great-granddaughter. She was tickled pink with excitement! It was really cute to hear her over the phone. I then went to work, and showed my mom the pictures of our little Sprout. She was excited, too! Babies tend to bring out excitement in a lot of people.
Apparently the only person not excited that Finn is a girl is my nephew Caden. My sister told him "Cousin Finny is a girl!" and he responded "No, No girl!" We are going to have to get him used to little Finny being a girl. Though she'll be a tough nut, I am sure, and I am sure he'll come around. I think part of the problem is he is sick of girls, since all of his playmates are girls! We call them his harem. Everywhere he goes, there are little girls after him. Andi and Brian are in trouble!
I picked Shannon up from work, and we went to sign our new one year lease on the house we rent. We love living there, and love the house and location. It is a great place, and a great neighborhood, right next to my folks, who are very excited they will be near their granddaughter, and we are excited to have babysitters so close (wink wink). As we were signing the papers, the property manager asked us about how we like living there and how we like the house. We told him we love it and it's great. He asked if we had thought about buying, and Shannon told him we were going to use this year to get our stuff in order and look into it. He then told us to talk to him first if we were interested in the house we are living in now! How nice would it be to not have to move?? SO NICE! Shannon and I have had many conversations about the changes we'd make to the house (painting, windows, counters, adding a sink in the bathroom, etc), and to have him say that this could be a possibility is a dream come true. Now we just have to get our crap in order and hopefully things will work out! Fingers crossed for a year!! Come on, Lotto!
After we did that, we went to the store, and picked out Finnian's first outfits together! It was so fun! Shannon found her some little Sesame Street creepers that have the character faces on them. They are quite adorable. I, of course, went with Super Girl sleepers. I mean, come on, it's Super Girl. The only odd thing about me picking them is...yep, you guessed it...They're PINK!!!  AAAHHH! I got my little girl something pink. Gross, I know, but the only thing that is saving them is the giant silver "S" in the middle of the chest, and the wicked awesome utility belt on the belly. My kid is gonna rock that sleeper! I am going to have to make her a cape so she can run real fast, like cousin Caden!
Now the fun stuff begins. I am going to begin many projects, like fixing up the changing table, making it safe for our little one, and for us. We have some shelving units for the wall that need to be sanded, painted, and hung up. We have some major cleaning out of the garage to do, and of the nursery to do. There is some decorating, including hanging up the awesome Owl kite Finn got from Caden. We have lots of washing to do from all the clothes, blankets, burp cloths, and other stuff Auntie Kelly has given us. The list could go on...and on...
As for now, we are just enjoying the time we have together, and enjoying our little wiggler. She is a very active little thing. Shannon can feel her moving all around in there, and I was lucky enough to feel her last night at dinner. She has strong little legs, and big feet. I am looking forward to getting her into Lil' Kickers when she is old enough. I think she is about ready to start now, with the way she is kicking around in there! She's going to be something special.