19w+2d: Anatomy Scan Level 2 Ultrasound

I feel like I've been waiting forever for my Anatomy Scan! In reality, I haven't been waiting very long. I do have to admit that I get a bit nervous every time I have an ultrasound. Yes, I'm excited to see the baby -- but at the same time I get so worried they'll find something wrong. Will the fear ever go away? Maybe not... 

The Anatomy Scan is a Level 2 ultrasound. This is where they look at everything and measure everything on the baby. Mine took about an hour, then we had to look again at a few things -- so total took maybe 1 hour 15 minutes. 

We started off looking through the abdominal. At first I was worried because I didn't really see baby boy moving and couldn't really see the flicker of his heartbeat. So, I held my breath. Then I saw him wiggle away from the probe as the ultrasound tech put pressure on my tummy. Baby boy is in a breach position and was vertical with his bottom sitting on my cervix. 

After we got all the shots they can get abdominally, we switched to a vaginal ultrasound -- where you get really good images and can see baby much better. 
  • Measured his head/brain 
  • Looked at his kidneys/measured 
  • Looked at his bladder 
  • Measured the size of his torso 
  • Measured his arms/legs 
  • Looked at the blood flow from the umbilical cord to the placenta 
  • Looked at his heart and the blood flow in the chambers 
  • Took another look at his boy parts 
What's interesting is that you can "see" the bladder. If they can see it, that means that baby is drinking the amniotic fluid and peeing it out, which is all good. 

I noticed she paid special attention to the brain, the kidneys, and the heart. She looked at the heart a lot. They didn't say anything was wrong and said everything looked good - they didn't see anything. But it was curious to say the least. 

What was interesting is the positions that baby boy was in! There were times where he was bent and his legs were up by his head! Flexible little guy. He crossed and uncrossed his legs. I also saw him touching his face with his hands. He was sucking his right thumb! Which was really cool to see. I even got to see him yawn and stretch. Pretty amazing to see all of that. 

The ultrasound tech did say that my tilted uterus has "come forward" but it's still leaning towards my back, which is why I haven't really "popped" yet and I don't look pregnant at all. She said it should happen in the next month or two. Will see I guess. My uterus is all the way up to my belly button right now. 

She confirmed that my placenta is not covering my cervix, which is really good. Also re-confirmed that I have an anterior placenta. She measured my cervix and they're going to keep looking at it. They're not sure if it's gotten shorter or not. She got different measurements at different angles. They like to see it above 2.5 and I was between 2.75 and 3.15. They'll keep checking at each of my monitoring appointments. 

Baby boy was extremely active and it was really hard to get any good pictures of him! 
  • Fetal Heart Beat at 142 bpm 
  • Measuring 4 days ahead (I thought it was 2 days originally but I misheard) 
  • He's weighing in at about 11 oz right now -- which is double what he weighed at the 15 week u/s (5 oz) 
  • He's at about the 78th percentile, which they say is good 
No soft markers for anything. 
Nothing concerning on the ultrasound. 

My MFM was a little concerned that I may have had some Braxton Hicks contractions. I was very tired over the weekend from my son being sick and I felt some tightness in my tummy one night. I was too tired to pay too much attention to it. MFM wants to monitor me every 2-3 weeks to check my cervix and baby boy's measurements. If I have any Braxton Hicks-type of contractions, I'm to call her immediately. 

I also had some adjustments to my insulin: increase Humulin N dosage at night to 38iu. Overall, my blood levels looked amazingly good! Yay for that. She had NO complaints about them, which is totally awesomeness! I did get some more blood drawn to check my A1C, which they'll check every few months. The last time they checked in November, my A1C was 6%. She'd like to see my levels below 6%. Let's see if I'm there, I think I might have managed to get it below that amount since I've really been watching what I eat (for the most part). 

All in all, I'm feeling REALLY good about my anatomy scan! Baby boy is such a miracle baby to me and I am just so grateful that he's doing ok right now. I just can't wait to meet him and my heart is just overwhelmed with love and gratitude that right now -- all seems well with him. It's been a rocky journey so far in this pregnancy and getting good news is such a relief. 

My MFM did talk about when I should be delivering the baby. She said with pre-existing diabetes she doesn't like to go past 38 weeks or maybe 39 weeks, but she was very firm on the 38 weeks. If things go in line with that, Baby boy will be born at the end of May/first week of June. Which... I think I've kinda thought he would arrive around that time. Will have to see how it all plays out. 

A few other random things: 
  • I reserved a daycare spot for baby boy at my son's daycare. 
  • I am getting a Prenatal Kit from one of my benefits at work. Yay for free stuff! 
  • I've registered for a hospital maternity ward tour in April. 
I need to make a more thorough "before baby comes" checklist. But part of my to-do includes: 
  • Going through 0-3 month clothing (my son was born in December so not sure I'm going to have the right seasonal clothes, so need to figure out what will work and what I will still need to get for the baby) 
  • Go through crib bedding, blankets, receiving blankets, bibs, socks, hats (I have so much -- need to pick out the right seasonal items for June) 
  • Buying a new dresser/chest for the baby's room 
  • Buying my son a bed frame -- trying to decide if I want to invest ahead of time on bunk beds for the boys or let them keep separate rooms... Long term planning here 
  • Look into birthing classes and register 
  • Look into other hospital classes (like lactation classes, newborn care class, etc)  
Just to mention... looks like I've picked up on my son's strep throat...!!! UGH. I go to see the OB tomorrow to get tested and see if there's any medicine I can possibly take while pregnant. 

Ok, I think that's it for now. Long update! 

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