I'm back and CRAZY long update!!

Hey everyone! So sorry for my little blogging hiatus, and thank you to everyone who was wondering where I was over on LTB's blog...you guys are the best and I instantly felt terrible that I was worrying all my blog buddies!

Anyways, my life has been a complete whirlwind the last few weeks. Where to start?

House News (good stuff):

Well first off, I noted in my New Year's post this year one of my resolutions was to tear down our house and build a new one. This has always been the plan when we bought our little starter home. Well, in the matter of a month we realized we needed to start now if we were going to be in anytime close to the baby being born (we'll be living with my parents in the meantime...yikes). So we found an architect, made the plans, submitted to the village for building permits, found builders to bid out the project, packed up our entire house, moved in with my parents, and still need to move boxes from our house into the storage unit before demolition! Its basically become another part time job! But we're beyond excited to get going on this and have a brand new home for baby Skooter!

Baby News (bad and then good stuff):

Okay, so our 20 week ultrasound didn't quite go as planned. Hubby and I both took the day off expecting to go downtown that morning, and then celebrate all day with lunch and a couple of baby stores which I've yet to venture into yet. Well we did the u/s first and then you have to meet with your dr. The wait in between literally took an hour and a half!! Finally we met with the dr. and she starts off by saying everything looks great, but there is one small issue. Skooter had a couple small cysts in his/her brain...cue me starting to totally panic and go into state of shock. The Dr. went on to say that they are in no way harmful to the baby, however...they can be considered a soft marker for chromosomal abnormal ties...okay, now I'm totally freaking out in my head but trying to stay calm and hear her out.

She said when they are isolated, meaning they're the only thing they find in the u/s they're almost always found to be nothing. It's when they're found with other markers, such as heart defects, issues with hands/feet they can be associated with downs and more specifically trisomy 18 which is so severe most babies will be stillborn or die soon after being born. She's continues to tell us because we're so young, and all our screens came back negative we really shouldn't be worried, and we don't need to consider an amnio yet...as she's handing me a prescription for a level II ultrasound to get in the next couple weeks. I was in such shock that I didn't even ask any questions because I was just trying not to burst into tears.

So we walk out of the office, and THEN I burst into tears. Hubby and I were just like what just happened in there. We thought the 20 week u/s was supposed to be nothing but exciting and fun...and we felt like we'd been hit with a truck. We went home and I immediately consulted with Dr. Google, which shockingly enough made me feel better and just confirmed what my dr. had stated.

We luckily got in for our level II ultrasound the very next day (thank god cause I wouldn't have survived waiting more than a day), to which she confirmed the cysts were definitely isolated. She said she wasn't recommending an amnio, but that would be the only way to confirm one way or the other. So as much as we left that u/s feeling relieved they were in fact isolated, we still knew that we wouldn't be 100% certain until we either got an amnio or waited until the baby was born.

So for the last two weeks hubby and I have literally been agonizing over what to do. We'd go back and forth like its absolutely crazy to consider an amnio and put ourselves and Skooter at risk (there is a very very small risk of miscarriage). But at the same time everyday at work I was obsessively googling every possible study on isolated cysts, I called my dr. twice to get her opinion, I called the specialist once who did my first and second trimester screenings and got his opinion. As much as everything was saying just let this go, the odds are SO low anything is wrong with the baby...I could not get it out of my head.

I mean truthfully this was probably the hardest decision of my life. On one hand knowing myself I would be agonizing about this until the baby was born. And on that day instead of being 100% excited to meet our little one, in the back of both our heads we'd be wondering if the baby would be healthy when it came out. Then on the other hand we could do the amnio, which I would get same day results and have peace of mind Skooter was in fact healthy, but be terrified for who knows how long about possible miscarrying this baby we've waited so long for who most likely is perfectly fine based on the odds. But then again those are just odds, and you can see how I go back and forth.

To sum it up I decided to make an appt with for the amnio yesterday morning, with the stipulation we would go more for info on the procedure and would most likely back out which the nurse says happens all the time. The appt was yesterday morning and I was literally sick all the way downtown. After meeting with one of the genetic counselors, who told us she wouldn't be worried about the cysts because she sees them all the time, but she also wouldn't be worried about the amnio if she had to get one. And the fact we even made the appt probably meant we needed some peace of mind.

Long story short we decided to go through with it. I was so nervous, and was crying the entire time. The procedure itself lasted about 30 seconds. The dr. who performed it has been doing amnios all day every day for the last 20 years or something, and the nurse said in the last 4 years she's been there, only one person has had an issue post-amnio. After almost fainting in the lobby of the hospital (I have a weird fainting complex that is totally mental, I can go down after bee stings and almost bit it in the RE's office when the nurse was just showing hubby how to do my first shot) I went home and put myself on strict bedrest (even though the dr. said to just take it easy), and got the call that afternoon that Skooter is 100% healthy. I can't even begin to tell you the weight that has been lifted from our shoulders, and I'm just glad we can finally put this behind us.

Its been a tough couple of weeks, and sorry again for worrying you guys!! In other happier news I'm pretty sure I have Dav.id Beck.ham brewing in my tummy. Skooter is kicking like crazy, last night especially and I'm pretty sure he was trying to let mommy know he was okay! My stomach totally pops and hubby and I love watching from the outside...SO crazy!! Oh, and with our level 1, level 2, and amnio ultrasounds we somehow managed to stay strong and not find out the sex and there were no he/she slip ups from any of the techs. So Skooter will be surprising us all when he/she is born in January!