August was a long month because unlike June and July where we were had appointments often, we had only one set of appointments in August. Our appointment with the specialist was first. We saw Dr.
Issada on August 25
th in the morning. This appointment was set up for our options for the Down Syndrome and
Trisomy disorders and to check on Baby
Rapp. The first step for this appointment was the ultra sound. It had been quite sometime since our last and we knew the baby was to have changed a lot and boy were we right. Right away we got to see little baby, that was no longer a bean! During the ultrasound we got to see him/her moving around, waving, kicking, doing and doing somersaults. We could she his/her little arms/legs, hands/feet. He/she had a little head, tummy, bum, little beginnings of ears, eyes, nose and mouth. He/she was very active and a bit hard to get clear pictures of, so unfortunately there are no pics of the little one for this visit. we of course could see him/her clear as day, however all the pictures taken by the tech were just not very clear. O, and he/she was no longer standing on its head this time and laying down comfortably in its little humble abode.
After the ultrasound Dr.
Issada came in to look at the images and check me over, he then performed a bit more of the ultrasound himself in an effort to measure the baby's neck. The reason he did this was to look for signs of the
Trisomy disorders and Down Syndrome. Brian and I were then left alone to decide if we wanted to have the test ran to see if there is a chance the little one may have Down Syndrome or any of the other
Trisomy disorders. It did not take Brian and I long to make our decision. We of course understand that many may disagree but I'll share my opinion because I know some may want to know what we decided and perhaps why. We elected to not test for Down Syndrome and
Trisomy disorders. The baby's neck had a good measurement so that it always (per the doc) the first "sign". Knowing by all statistics so far that the baby seems in good health, we truly believe that what will be will be. Whether or not the baby may have Down Syndrome or
Trisomy disorders is not something we as it's parents have any control over. So no matter who you believed in, God or another higher being then ourselves, or true belief is that it's in the Lords hands. There is no treatment for prenatal care for the
Trisomy disorders or Down Syndrome, so even if something was wrong and our child did need to lead a life with a disorder, there is nothing we can do until after the baby is born. Furthermore, the tests that they run to confirm if the baby has Down Syndrome or a
Trisomy disorder has a high rate of false positives. If the test comes back positive there is further testing to be done, either an amniocentesis or chronic villi sampling (
CVS). Both are invasive procedures and neither are ones that I would do unless forced to by the doctor. So with the thoughts that our baby's life and health at this stage are in the Lord's hands, the fact that the test has a high rate of false positives and even if we decided to do the test, I would not do any of the follow up testing, we determined it was not something we wanted to do. We have prepared ourselves as much as one can for all the what
if's and determined we are ready for anything and of course will love our child and support our child no matter how our baby arrives.
Later in the day we were to meet with Dr.
Kil. He happened to not be in the office so I got to meet with another Dr. in his office Dr.
Stadulis, I will be honest, I was not happy that I was not seeing Dr.
Kil and had to see another Dr. Of course this was fueled by not being seen until almost 4pm when my appointment was at 2:30 and never being informed that Dr.
Kil was not in and that the office was running more then behind. Thankfully Dr.
Stadulis was nice and the receptionist and nurses lack of communication to the patients was not her fault (can you tell I'm still a bit '
issed). Dr.
Issada checked me over, checked the baby's heart beat and refilled my prescriptions for me. Dr.
Issada was to call over and speak with Dr.
Kil so they could correlate my treatment plan and make any changes if they so felt it was necessary. Since Dr.
Kil was not in,
Dr.
Stadulis dismissed me from my appointment and advised that she would contact Dr.
Issada to discuss my current treatment plan.
Dr.
Stadulis contacted me that evening at home and advised that she had spoke with Dr.
Issada. The decision made was that the Progesterone was no longer needed after September 7
th which was the end of my 13
th week of pregnancy, beginning of the 14
th week, but that I would be on the
Lovenox injections for the life of the pregnancy until shortly before I delivery. She advised at that point, the current plan is to switch me to Heparin and plan to induce me. My next appointment was scheduled with Dr.
Kil for September 22
nd, and my next appointment with Dr.
Issada has been scheduled for October 23rd.
I have no idea what will take place at my next appointments aside from the basic check ups, I'm sure a glucose test will be done eventually to see if I will have prenatal diabetes and on October 14
th, I'll be 20 weeks so at that point we may be able to schedule a separate appointment to check out Baby to see if we will be having a boy or girl!!! We will let you know when we are scheduled to find out the gender and of course be putting up poll for everyone to vote!
Now that I have wrote 3 or is it 4, enormously long entries about Baby
Rapp you are all updated. The second trimester is off to a much better start. I have a bit more energy and have not be sick even a fraction of the time I had been in the first trimester, things seem to be getting a bit easier. I still have restrictions as far as not allowing my heart rate, blood pressure or body temperature elevate over a certain amount and still am considered high risk. I still have to take the injections but again, I'd do anything for our little one.
