11 Week Ultrasound

Yesterday was the much anticipated and much feared 11 week ultrasound. I had a doctor's appointment first and unfortunately, my doctor was not able to hear the heartbeat on the Doppler. I had been really hoping that she would be able to since that would have alleviated some of my fear prior to the ultrasound. Alas, not to be!

I arrived at the ultrasound with a full bladder and fear in my heart. Luckily Yasmin met me in the parking lot so I had someone to make sure I would actually go in. We were half an hour early and hoping against hope that they could maybe get us in early. Nope! We waited right until 3:30 to get in, although thankfully, no later.

No one at the clinic knew my history so I was unsure how I wanted to go about the visit. Do I feign innocence and ask nothing at all, do I ask a ton of questions without them knowing why, or do I lay the whole sordid story on table? Luckily, the sonographer took the decision out of my hands. As soon as I was getting comfortable on the bed, she asked me why my doctor was asking them to check the anatomy at such an early stage. I briefly explained that I had lost a baby at 20 weeks last summer after a "bad" ultrasound. She understood immediately and started the ultrasound. I had asked her to tell me as soon as she found a heartbeat as that was my main concern at that moment.

The first words out of her mouth were "Wow your bladder is full!" She told me I could actually go and empty some of it as that would make me more comfortable. She quickly followed that with: "Before you go, here you are..." and pointed out the heartbeat to me on the monitor. In plain view was my baby and a solidly beating heart. Needless to say I burst into tears.

During my trip to the washroom, Yasmin was kind enough to fill the sonographer in on the details of Kaycie's brief life. When I was laying back down I mentioned something about it and she patted me on the hand and told me that Yasmin had told her. (Thanks Yaz!) This woman was amazing. She went through each little thing with me. There's the amniotic fluid - me: "does it look like an adequate amount?" Check! Next was to check the heart rate. 171 beautiful bpm (beats per minute)! Me: more tears. The next was the CRL measurement (crown-rump length). This one was huge to me as Kaycie only measured in the 5th percentile at her ultrasound. I'm pretty sure I almost crushed Yasmin's hand during this time. I saw the numbers start to calculate on the monitor and it felt like I was watching Wheel of Fortune and waiting for the wheel to stop. They stopped moving and it was an amazing 5.01cm. Normal for this gestational age would be 4.45cm. More tears from me!

With all the measurements going well it was time for me to put on my big-girl boots and ask the important question: "Do you see a nasal bone?" 75% of all children born with Down's Syndrome are missing the nasal bone at the 11-14 week ultrasound. It can also be an indicator of other problems. Without even a moment's hesitation she moved the wand around on my stomach and zoomed in. There it was, one beautiful nasal bone! My relief was complete. She tried pointing out fingers etc to me, counting all 5 on one of the hands, but at that point, that was just icing on the cake. I asked her from what she could see, and what she could tell me did everything look ok. She told me it looked good!

I told her I did not want to see the radiologist. When I had Kaycie's ultrasound done, the sonographer left the room and came back with "that guy." The first one to tell me there were problems. No way in hell did I want to see a radiologist this time! She explained that she would have to show him the slides and get him to sign off on the results but that I didn't have to see him if I didn't want to. She left to go and get my pictures and talk to him.

I will admit I started to get nervous again when she was gone. I mean...what if she had been lying? What if she came back with him anyway? I'm pretty sure if he had walked into that room I would have fainted. She came back in...alone, and with my pictures. She told me that Dr. (I can't remember his name), the radiologist said to tell me: "Congratulations, get out of here, everything looks great." She made sure to tell me repeatedly that they would have to see a more detailed scan before saying for sure but things looked great for where I'm at. She also hugged me about three times before I left. During the last hug I noticed tears in her eyes. I hope she knows that she made my day. It's nice to know that my story can have an impact on others. I hope she gives her children/grandchildren an extra hug and tells them how special they are.

Before I start to cry and blubber all over again in the middle of my work day, here is a picture of my Little One. The quality is crap and the scan was really dark, but hopefully you can make something out! Here's to at least a few weeks of rest and relaxation before more testing!