The BIG Ultrasound

After a restless night, Aaron and I dropped the kids off at our fabulous, supportive sitter and headed to get our ultrasound.  On the way to the appointment. we decided that our little one needed a name.  If we got our baby girl, she would be named Brenley Hope.  If we were blessed with another boy, his name would be Kenton Joseph.  We both were trying to be as calm and cool as possible, but I must admit, my nerves were getting the best of me.

The ultrasound seemed to go rather smoothly.  We got A LOT of pictures of the baby's spine (which to us looked okay, but we're not professionals by any means) and tried to get a few pictures of the baby's face.  However, he/she was not properly cooperating for a good, clear picture. 

After the technician left, she came back two more times to take more pictures of the babies lips and palette, my liver, and my ovaries.  We were feeling okay with everything when she initially left; however, two follow-up visits for more pictures left me very uneasy again.

We were then introduced to Dr. Ponke, a fabulous doctor who truly cares about her patients.  She took the time to sit down and discuss the initial quad screen results, as well as the ultrasound findings.  With the quad screen, they are looking at multiple levels in my blood.  When they draw my blood, they not only get my blood, but also are able to get some of the blood flowing through the baby.  The protein levels in the blood draw, which should be around 1.0, were elevated to a 7.5.  With the protein levels being so high, this put the baby at 1:8 chance of having spina bifida.  The good news - the ultrasound showed NO evidence of the baby having spina bifida.  This is why she had the tech come back and take more pictures ... why were the protein levels so high?  The good news - all of the follow-up pictures looked good as well.

So, what could it be?  Could it just be a false test result?  Could it be spina bifida that the ultrasound just didn't show?  Could it be a problem with the baby's kidneys?  Could it be that the baby has a rare skin disease?  Could I be sick and we just not know it?  So many unanswered questions.

After much discussion and deliberation, we decided to draw more blood and re-run the test.  However, this wouldn't tell us conclusively if there is a problem with me, is it with the baby, or is there really a problem at all?  We also decided to do an amnio so we could hopefully get more conclusive results.  While we were waiting for the amnio, the lab re-ran the original blood work, just to make sure there wasn't a mistake.  They came back the same - 7.5 protein level.

After the amnio, Aaron and I grabbed some lunch and headed home.  I laid down and took a much needed nap while Aaron went to work.  I was ordered to take it easy for the next 24 hours and to drink plenty of water.  We would hear about the blood work in a couple of days, some inital amnio results in a few days after that, and then the final results in about two weeks time.

Let the praying and waiting begin ... for Kenton Joseph!