Whew! Twenty-six weeks has blown by. It seems that in no time at all, she will be here, with us, brightening our home, every single day. I can’t wait!
The past couple of weeks have been a little bit of an anxious time for her mother and I. We had an ultrasound about 6 weeks ago, and it turned out that she had a “soft marker” in her heart that showed an echogenic focus, which is a genetic marker for Downs. All of the tests we have had in the past didn’t show any signs of this, so we weren’t terribly worried, but there is always a small nagging feeling there when someone tells you that there could be an issue. We had a follow-up Ultrasound here in Corvallis about 3 weeks later, and got the results. The marker was still there, so at our appointment last week, the doctor we saw suggested we go to the “specialists” in Eugene, where we had our genetic counseling and sequential screening previously. We made the trip yesterday.
Let me first start by saying that I love the people down there. They are so wonderful and supportive of us. When we went before, we saw a genetic counselor, who went over everything with us, gave us the numbers of things that could happen, but also gave us the “probable” numbers, putting our minds at ease. We then went in for our ultrasound, at that time, where the tech was amazing, and very good at her job. She talked us through it, explained to us what we were looking at, and made us feel great about everything. The doctor came in immediately after the tech was done taking the images, and he was awesome. He could be an elementary school teacher if this doctor thing didn’t work out for him. He has got to be close to 6’5” and has the softest, goofiest voice I have ever heard, but he also has the sweetest tone and body language to him. At our first ultrasound, he talked about Finn’s “feetsies” and how she was developing and everything looked great. He made us feel very reassured.
This time was no different. We got there, and saw a different counselor at first. She went over all of the paperwork, all the tests results, basically told us that she didn’t feel that we had much to worry about, based on all the screenings and blood work and all the previous four ultrasounds we have had, as well as Finn’s development thus far. We then went in for our fifth ultrasound, with the same tech as last time. She went over everything again; checking to make sure Finn is STILL a girl, which she is, and checking her anatomy. All is well in that department. She has two kidneys, two lungs, a liver, a heart with four chambers that work correctly, a brain, all her bones, all her digits, eyes, nose, ears, a mouth. She’s a well made kid.
The tech (and I do feel bad that I am blanking on her name) took some pictures for us. She made sure to get another one of her feet for us. We are collecting feet pictures, because at all of our ultrasounds, that seems to be the only part of her that Finn will let us get a good view of, since she is so wiggly! The tech also got a great profile picture for us. She said she was going to show us her face, too. Shannon and I thought it was going to be another “skelator” photo, of her bones and facial structure, which is great. Then she switched the machine over, and all of the sudden, we see a 4D image of our sweet little Finnian, right on the screen! We got a glimpse of our baby and what she will look like! It was so amazing. Seeing my beautiful daughter’s face and what she will look like brought such a wonderful feeling to my heart. My sweet little baby girl, and her little face. It was brilliant. I know she doesn’t have my genetics, but she is so my kid…
After the tech was done, we were waiting for the doctor to come in and were still staring at the pictures. He surprised us a little, as we were discussing little Finnian and how beautiful she is! It was the same doctor that was there when we went in for the first ultrasound. He was as wonderful as ever. He came in and said everything was looking good but was going to have a quick peek at her. She wiggled around a bit, as she hates being poked and prodded, but he finally found her. He made sure she was still a girl, too, and luckily, in the 20 minutes since last checked, she was STILL a girl! He found her little heart, and the chambers looked good. He took a still image of them, and pointed us to the tiny little spot that has been our worry for the last two months. It was a little light grey area, so tiny, that at first I wasn’t even sure what he was talking about. He pointed out that in most cases (these things are apparently very common) these foci are very white, almost the same color as bone on the ultrasound. With Finny’s being light grey, he said he wouldn’t have even called it a marker. That was the best news Shannon and I could have ever heard. Our little baby girl got the pass and is 100% healthy!
I can’t wait to hold her little head against my cheek and cuddle her and protect her. To see what she will mostly look like has made it so much more genuine. Ever since January 17th, it has been real, but to see her, see what she will look like, see her in more than just a 2D form, with no external structure to her, no skin, no anything but bones and organs; seeing her in 4D, with her eye closed and her hand by her face, and her little mouth shut and her cute little nose, it has made it even more incredible than I could have ever imagined. I can’t wait to meet her. We have three months to get ready for her arrival. I just hope we are ready for it! There is still so much to do!!!!
