Do I know how to leave you hanging or what?

Last week we had our much-anticipated visit at the perinatal center. I have to say those were some of the coolest ultrasounds ever. Extremely high-resolution and awesome to see the baby so clearly (and we got some 3D peeks which I'll share!)

The news is that we do have the two-vessel cord that they thought we did. I guess the official name is Single Umbilical Artery. Basically, umbilical cords are supposed to have three vessels, one feeding the baby and two taking away waste. We only have one of each. The complications from this can be zero or bad. Usually though, they end up being slight. According to both of our doctors, the most common complication can be low birth weight. Another common complication are urinary tract problems that have to be corrected after birth.

But, like I said, most times the problems don't exist. Our ultrasound looked good. The baby is still measuring a week ahead and everything appears great. The only problem they saw is some possible fluid in the kidneys. But, it is too early to tell if it's actually problematic or just normal waste showing up in the ultrasound. So again, lots of monitoring.

Again, the doctor sounded positive. Although the two-cord and kidney issue could indicate something serious as Downs, he didn't think it was an issue for us (we've had other testing done in this pregnancy that has come back negative on any abnormalities). He didn't think the markers were strong enough to recommend an amniocentesis, so we took that as another positive.

Basically, it's too early to tell much. We'll have regular ultrasounds and monitoring from here on out and that means lots of looks at our little guy, which is great! From this end, pregnancy has finally smoothed out and is mostly a non-event. The baby moves much and often which given our "special circumstance" is super-duper reassuring.

(Did I mention this particular condition affects only 1% of pregnancies...aren't we lucky?!)

So....that's that! I hesitated even talking about this on the blog, but since this blog has been the major journal of our life activities, I knew I'd want to remember what we were going through with this now. Plus, I truly think everything will be just fine. Just one more thing for an already stress-prone person to deal with. I'm dealing. Thank God for Kevin. There's a reason I'm married to the calmest person on the planet.


Oh yes, and we have a name...but aren't sharing just yet! :-x