Show and Tell with the Takalas

I know we're a little late in posting this, but I figured better late than never. It's been a busy week, so Lucas hasn't been able to get to the ultrasound video yet. Once he does, we'll add it to this post. There isn't a whole lot to see, though, because our baby decided that it didn't really want to wake up for this last appointment. Can't be bothered for trivial things like that, obviously. :) I hadn't eaten much for lunch that day, and it had been several hours before the appointment, so the doctor said to make sure that I eat something before the next appointment and also to drink a coke while I'm waiting for her. She thinks that will get the little one moving around. Once again, though, there was a good, strong heartbeat and everything looked good. Our baby is growing!

We elected not to have the Quad Screen done, or any other tests that would give us a possible heads up to anything like Spina Bifida, Down Syndrome, or Trisomy 18. We believe that our baby is going to be perfectly healthy, but even if something did happen to be "wrong," nothing would change on our end. Also, we've had friends get a false positive on this test and it is heartbreaking to have to go through those days of uncertainty until further testing results are received. Our doctor got a false positive on this test for her second child and she told us that it just ruined the joy of that pregnancy and also made her very anxious during her third. We had already made up our mind not to do it, but that just gave us even more confirmation that we were making the right decision. All that to say that even though baby was super lazy, it was laying on it's tummy, so we got a great view of the spine. Dr. Staud was able to measure something on the spine (or at least in that general area) and said that it was one of the things the doctor would've checked for when doing the quad screen. When she measured it, she said it was at a 2, which was perfect. Anything over a 3.5 is an indicator for Down Syndrome, so it was very nice to hear that our number is much lower than that.

After the appointment, we came home and made our announcement to the Facebook world! I also emailed the teachers at my school as well as alot of the ones from my old school to let them know. It was so nice to finally be able to let people know. It makes it much more real. Our next appointment is on March 10th, our anniversary, and at that appointment, we should be able to find out if baby is a boy or a girl!

Here is the best ultrasound picture from our last appointment.