Baby Update!

I'm here and alive! It's been a while since I've given you an update and I am very sorry for that. I'm here now to give you a great update! :)

First off...we went to Precious View here in BG to find out the gender sooner than we could at the doctor. We were excited to find out that we are having a...

BOY!

 We had decided on a girl's name definitely. We were up in the air on a boy's name. It was between Raylan Green and Lincoln Green. We decided on Lincoln! I love calling him by name when I talk about him now. It almost makes it all seem a little more real.

Gift from my friend and co-worker, Neesa

How far along: 17 Weeks and 4 Days

Baby is size of an ONION!

Symptoms: Today I had a major headache and my allergies have been just horrible. I think that could be a coincidence.

Movement: YES!! :) The first time I felt him move was last Friday night. Matt and I went down to Nashville to watch our friend Brent play music at Exit/In. We were standing and watching Brent and I felt him. I wasn't sure at first so I kept standing very still and I felt him again. I wasn't exactly sure that this is what it was, but I was almost positive. I have felt him move several other times since, so I know that's what it was! He must already love to dance to some good country music!

Cravings: No specific cravings. I have moved on from Butterburgers. My waistline thanks me. I could eat my weight in fruit right now. I am especially loving strawberries!

Food Aversions: I can eat some chicken now. Usually if I order something that has chicken, I can make it through a few bites and then I have to scoot the chicken to the side and eat whatever else I have.

Sleep: I have been waking up around 3 am lately. Really, I still wake up all through the night to use the restroom, but I feel like I sleep walk, get back in bed and go right back to sleep. When I wake up at 3, I am unable to go back to sleep until around 5. It's terrible! I am really getting to know those anchors on World News Now.

Best Moment of This Week: I have not told very many people any of this. If you are one of my close friends that I didn't talk to about this with, I am truly sorry. It isn't that I don't want you to be involved or know what is going on. It was simply that I was scared and didn't want a lot of people asking me about it or talking about it. Each time I thought about it, I would become emotional. We had a doctor appointment last week. Everything at the appointment was great! They sent me down the the lab afterwards to draw some more blood, as part of the first trimester screening. This was something that they had to wait a few more weeks to do, so they couldn't do it with the initial part of the screening. This appointment was early in the week. On Friday I got a phone call from my doctor. She had some bad news for us. The blood work came back and my Alpha FetoProtein (AFP) levels were high. This is a protein that the baby produces. This could mean several things, but the main thing that it comes back as is that the baby has spina bifida. After she said those words, my mind was spinning. I started crying (of course), and I had to step out of my classroom and go to my car. She was so reassuring. Dr. Mangold kept telling me that she knows this is a scary thing to hear, but that they see more false positives with this test than anything and that when I go for further evaluation, things could be fine.

Well, if you don't know me IRL or very well, to have to wait until the following Wednesday is not a good thing for someone who is a pessimist with anxiety problems. It was all I could think about. I couldn't get my mind on anything else but my poor baby and how something could cause him to have a more difficult life than other children. The wait until Wednesday was hell. I told a few friends and some family, so that I could have a small support system. I couldn't bring myself to tell everyone, though.

On Wednesday we went for an ultrasound. They measured him everywhere, including his spine. They looked at everything. He was barely moving around and his little legs were tucked under his bottom like he was sitting Indian-style. After the ultrasound, we got to speak with the doctor. She told us some great news! Everything looks fine for now. They are going to continue to monitor Lincoln, because they couldn't get a good look at his hands and feet or his heart. I go back to this specialist for another ultrasound in a month. He does not have spina bifida. There are, however a few things that the high level of AFP could predict. This could mean that he will have a cleft pallet (which my Great Grandmother had). It could mean that his growth will be fine through the second trimester and then could drop off drastically during the third trimester. And it also means that there is an increased risk of stillbirth. There are a few things that it could mean for me, such as hypertension and a few other things. They are going to continue to monitor me and I have to go for ultrasounds more frequently than I would if my AFP levels came back as "normal". Which, by the way, normal is below 3. My level was a 3.1. Really?!?! While this is great news at this point, please continue to pray for us and that we have a healthy pregnancy and that Lincoln is born a healthy baby boy.

Missing Anything: I am missing sushi. I just want a spicy tuna roll, please!!!

Looking Forward to: Feeling him move even more and it to be harder. I am also looking forward to my friend Maegan's bridal shower this Sunday! I can't wait to celebrate her and Anthony getting married!!