On December 9 I had my monthly OB check with yet another pregnant military doctor, lol. She was due within 3 weeks, so I'm assuming I won't see her again! I took along a little heart-shaped recorder to capture Verity's heartbeat in recorded form. The kids were delighted with this little treasure (part of a keepsake box so thoughtfully sent to us by a beautiful organization, String of Pearls)...a bit too much so! I had to put it away before Rhema or Seanin made off with it! There was not a lot of information to be gained from this appointment, though one of my questions about the previous ultrasound was answered: I had been wondering about the level of amniotic fluid (it can often be high with T18 babies) and learned that it was high but not out of the "normal" range. We decided to go ahead and schedule one more appointment for me at the military base (set for January 9), after which point I will start having my check-ups every two weeks at the university medical center where we get our ultrasounds done.
Our last peek at Verity was December 20. Ted was able to leave work early enough to meet me at the center; he had missed the November ultrasound, but my mom and Charis were there with me that time.
Our tech was extremely bubbly and so sweet! She printed out tons of pictures for us, gave us multiple looks at Verity in 3D, and exclaimed over every little positive thing. She was exemplary in her treatment of us and our little girl! Here are some views of Verity at 30 weeks, 3 days:
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| You can see the cord floating in front of her face, but I love her little nose! Also you can see a bit of fat on her cheeks and those adorable lips. |
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| She is showing us her bicep, lol! Precious little fist up by her forehead. The shadowy thing across her nose is the cord; the tech was able to "erase" part of it. |
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| Did you know you can see hair on an ultrasound?! I didn't! This is the top of Verity's head, easily seen by the outline. But at the back...little hairs! |
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| Verity's profile at 30 weeks, 3 days. The "bubble" over her nose is the umbilical cord. |
In November Verity was measuring in the 7th percentile; this month she was down to the 4th. Obviously this is compared to all other babies, most of whom are "normal." So I was excited that this time, we had some extra information on hand: a "growth chart" of sorts for trisomy 18 babies. It shows birth weights at different gestational weeks, dividing the girls from the boys and showing a ranking within T18 babies. Based on THIS information, Verity's 2 pounds, 13 ounces (or 1264 grams, if I remember correctly) has her weighing in at the 50th-70th percentile when compared to other trisomy 18 baby girls. Granted, the numbers from this pool are pretty small, maybe 25+ babies at the 30-week mark and about 15 at 31 weeks. (We were kind of in the middle so looked at both sets of numbers, but either way Verity ranked in the middle for size.)
The doctor who spoke with us this time was a new face, but he was kind enough...he didn't really give us any new information. I almost feel that we are at the point where WE may very well have more information than our medical caregivers, so I am going to be sure to carry copies of the research articles I've been reading (see previous two posts) to give out as needed. (Our genetic counselor was delighted to see us again and receive copies of them when she visited our exam room just before the ultrasound!)
Next ultrasound is January 13. I was pretty content to have scans done every 4 weeks or so, because I wasn't convinced there would be any benefit to doing them more often. (We aren't monitoring her heart, for example.) However...when I saw someone comment about the importance of weekly scans on the trisomy parent Facebook page I keep up with, I asked why. This is the response I received:
"If the baby has trisomy 18, that means the placenta also has the faulty chromosomal makeup, and often the placenta fails first and then the baby passes in the womb. They will Doppler the cord flow from placenta to baby to see if it's elevated at all or restricting oxygen. If the baby is going to pass in the womb or something go wrong, it can be caught first by watching the placenta to the baby!"
So this has given me something new to consider. So far, however, things have looked very good, and Verity is an incredibly active baby--possibly even more so than my others! Now I'm praying for wisdom to know if we should increase the monitoring in the future. The med center has offered to do more frequent scans, though the doctors have all indicated they don't think it's necessary. (Not that--we've learned--we want to rely on what the doctors think is or isn't necessary for a trisomy 18 baby!)
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