Ian Galen Carter - Pregnancy Pages

Welcome to Our Family:
Ian Galen Carter

Born May 24th , 2004

at 2:58 p.m.

Weight: 8 lbs. 8 oz.

Length: 21 inches

APGAR Rating: 9

Ian = God is Gracious
Galen = Illuminated, Lively, Healer, Calm

Mother and Son are doing just fine !!

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Click on the Appropriate Link For Photos

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This is Our Pregnancy and Pre-Birth Webpages

MY SON
© drc 03/02/2004

Thump, Push
Shove, Twitch
My tummy, stretched, begins to itch.

Push, Shove
Twitch, Thump
I'm sitting still but feel that bump.

Shove, Twitch
Thump, Push
My poor innards are feeling squooshed

Twitch, Thump
Push, Shove
Becomes my baby son to love.

Monday, January 12, 2004
~ At 19 Weeks, 5 Days Pregnant ~
The 20-week Ultrasounds Were Done Today.
We went up to Meriter this morning for the ultrasound, and didn't get in until almost 1/2 an hour after our appointment was scheduled. The baby was very active and it was hard to get a stopped picture ... but we did manage to get a few - and without the tech even telling us, it was quite evident ...
The Verdict is IN, and
IT'S A BOY!

He's big enough now that it was difficult to fit the whole of him into the ultrasound for a picture, so we got some profile shots of his head and a few of his body/legs. We were able to get a good look at his feet, but didn't get a print of them. His heart looks great, spine is in great shape ... everything looks really good.

I have again posted the ultrasounds first without, and then with outlines.

This is just a head shot - he's sucking his thumb.
He looks skinny, but that's because of the angle of the shot

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Here's the profile shot of more of his body. The outline is a bit more difficult to follow.
Bent legs on the left (up to knees) right hand over stomach (the dots are fingertips),
left hand at his side, head on the right, facing away.

Everything looks great, no problems.
We have a very active baby boy on the way.

Tuesday, December 2, 2003
~ At 13 Weeks, 6 Days Pregnant ~
Excellent News from Meriter this Afternoon!
(That's where I had the ultrasound/tests done recently)

Generally, the risks for Down's Syndrome pregnancies in women over 40 is 1:53 and the risk for Trisoma-18 is 1:83. The tests they did checked those out, and the risk for this child was dropped... CONSIDERABLY:

Downs Syndrome 1:471
Trisoma-18 1:8,848

How cool is that?!!

The test for Spina Bifida (AFP or Ultrasound) will be done some time between 16-22 weeks. I think (and it's because I want to have another ultrasound pic to add to the files) maybe I'll go for the ultrasound instead of the blood test..

Monday, November 24, 2003
~ At 12 Weeks, 5 Days Pregnant ~
Positive Stuff!

I went to Meriter in Madison this morning for the ultrasound screening. They gave me about EIGHT prints... but I'm only going to post three... and this time, since many people (mostly guys, just as a side observation) said they can't read ultrasounds worth "squat" ... I will show two of each. One with the outline around what's being shown and the other plain. Oh... and before you ask...

It's too early to tell the gender yet

The first ultrasound tech started the ultrasound and commented immediately on how active the baby was. He said that often times he has to shake up the uterus a bit to get the baby to move, but this little guy was movin'! And he said that he wasn't surprised I could already feel it. He could hardly get the baby to settle down enough to get measurements. Had to get some quick still shots and back up.

It's only a half a week since I had the other ultrasound, so the overall profile is not terribly much different:

The specialist who ultimately reads the ultrasounds (and made sure we knew she was one of the top in her field) said that she loves it when she can come in and doesn't have to say anything at all. She came in from another office and told us she'd been watching from the office. She gushed:

"You have a beautiful fetus!
The baby looks wonderful!
There doesn't appear to be anything wrong at all
from the ultrasound perspective."

The nuchal measurement was well within normal range - not even borderline (they are concerned if it is thicker than 3... and it was only 1.7)

And then we went to talk with the genetic counselor who did a little questionnaire for family history on both parents' sides and pricked my finger and made me drop blood into 5 circles on a piece of paper ... and she said they'll put the ultrasound results together with the blood test results and give us a call in about a week with the estimated risk factors involved.

She pointed out that this test does not tell us for sure that the baby does or does not have a problem, it only tells the probability of there being a problem, and the percentage of that probability. I can handle that.

I feel a bit better every time a test comes back with good results.

Next scheduled ultrasound (barring complications necessitating any in the meantime) will be the morning of January 12th. It will also be done at Meriter.

Wednesday, November 19, 2003
~At 12 Weeks Pregnant~

More spotting. Went to the ER ... just because I didn't want to risk anything, and it was taking forever to hear back from the doctor on call.

They told me I was absolutely right to go in... and it wasn't "crying wolf" but that they couldn't find anything wrong. Everything looked good. They couldn't explain the spotting. So, I'm off my feet, no housework, taking it easy until I talk to my OB (they said to call her tomorrow)

They did a bunch of tests, and a physical exam, and another ultrasound. They said they'd try an external doppler ultrasound, but they'd have to use a catheter and fill my bladder up... and at only 12 weeks, it wasn't very usual to be able to see the heartbeat already, so they might have to do an internal.

I kind of asked them if it would be possible to do the ultrasound without the catheter. They asked the tech, and she said she could.

They wheeled me down to the ultrasound room and she said she'd try the external one first.

There he was (I use "he" only because that's the "feeling" I get - no confirmation yet) Plainly visible on the external ultrasound. He was moving like there was no tomorrow. He kept turning over so she had to keep moving around.

"Look at him dancing!" the ultrasound tech said to me, as I watched him moving his arms and legs in a free-float. "He's very active!" I replied, filling up with relief.

"He certainly is!" she agreed.

She had to try a few more times from a few different angles to get one of him "lying down" at all!

(for those who are not used to reading ultrasounds) going from Right to Left within the dark circle... The arrow is pointing at the baby's head, about to his eye level. His right hand is sticking up, about where his nose is (look carefully and you can see fingers), then his tummy, and you can see one of his legs (bent at the knee) and a shadow of his foot on the left.

Yes, you could see his heart beat: 156 bpm
She measured and re-checked the estimated due date: May 27, 2004
LOL!! (Told you the date keeps moving forward!)

This pregnancy is such a roller-coaster.
I'm glad everything's okay.

When I was wheeled back in to the ER room from the ultrasound room,
I remembered a quote from "Much Ado About Nothing"

"No, sure, my lord... my mother... she cried...
but then there was... a star...that danced...
and under that... was I born..."

It made me go all mushy inside.
Not only is he okay right now,
despite my symptoms,
despite my tears
and fears and worries
...

He was dancing!

~ At 10 Weeks, 6 Days Pregnant ~
Excellent news all around!

All that extreme and uncharacteristic irritability and paranoia and frustration and all these things that I was attributing to pregnancy, were actually hyper thyroid symptoms. My levels were off the chart by half again as much as the entire chart worth... yikes! So after my GP appointment, we decided to lower the levels which helped immediately.

Today the OB did another internal ultrasound.

The baby is upside down -- big head LOL!! (the head ends where the brighter light is) You can see the two "lights" above on either side are the arm "paddles" the body in the center, and at the top... is the baby's rump. LOL... and she did a quick check on a due date... June 2. She just laughed. She said we'll stay with the first one, even though every time we measure, it gets closer. She told me before it'll probably be a May baby.

Anyway, she said everything looks great - and nothing looks worrisome at all. And I'm already feeling GOBS better after dropping my meds to 50 mcg instead of 75.

~ At 8 Weeks, 5 Days Pregnant ~

Everything looks very good, according to the OB. She's a great OB! (Of course it doesn't hurt that she's been to Ecuador and loved it there)

We decided to opt out of the CVS or Amniocentises, because there's a 1:200 chance of miscarriage and I'm not going to risk even that much. However, we will be going some time in the next month, up to a high-risk pregnancy center about an hour away in Madison, to get a more in-depth ultrasound done to check for possible chromosomal problems, since in pregnancies at my age, the risks for Downs is 1:83 and for other genetic problems is 1:53 ... to be prepared just in case, you know?

So, next appointment with the OB is in 4 weeks, and some time in between, I'll be having another indepth ultrasound instead of the CVS/Amnio.

Wish I was a bit further along, but it was good to see that little heart beating, and know that everything is "so far so good" right now.