Update...

This is a very long post, I know, but like I've said all along, I'm using this Blog as a way to record the happenings in our lives and as a memory for me.

So I know I left you hanging, but I decided to close the blog for a bit to let my thoughts settle and to see how the whole situation plays out! So I left you with the results of our last ultrasound when they only saw one of the "soft markers" for Downs. Well, that was on a Friday and I knew I wouldn't hear anything from the doctor about it until the following Wednesday. Well, she called Wednesday and said that due to the brightened bowel, also known as an Echogenic Bowel, our risk factor elevated to about a 1/10-1/15 chance that the baby has Downs. She said that Echogenic Bowels are often seen in children with Downs but that it could also be nothing, however, given the blood test findings and this finding in the ultrasound, our risk was increased. She also talked to us some more about an amnio. She was not trying to sway us one way or another, she simply wanted us to understand that they only way that we could know for sure was through an amnio. However, if we wanted to wait, that was totally our choice! Before this call, Stephen and I had basically decided we were not going to go ahead with an amnio, our chances were still so small that they baby could have it and there were risks to doing an amnio. So we left it at that with the doctor, I told her I'd call her and let her know if we changed our minds but that we'd want to talk about it and pray about it before going ahead with it. So for the next couple of days I was an emotional wreck! I was constantly praying and asking the LORD to give me a peace that only He could give and that I would just fully be able to hand it over to Him! I had basically convinced myself that our baby did have downs and it was not healthy for me. I started having some mild contractions due to the stress and so Stephen and I talked and prayed a ton more about the amnio and decided that we should go ahead and do it. We talked with the doctor about it a lot more and just expressed that my health and stress would probably not be good for the baby so we'd like to go ahead and have an amnio. We scheduled the amnio for the next week (this past Wednesday) and went from there. Well... for any of you who have ever had an amnio before... let me just tell you that mine went about as UN-smooth as it possibly could! First off, when I was younger... I mean...up until like a year ago, I always thought that an amnio involved sticking a needle through your belly button!! Haha... I don't know why, but that's what I thought...thankfully that was not the case. So we go in Wednesday morning and they start by doing a quick scan of the baby on the Ultrasound... everything looks great! The bowel even lightened some and was even lighter than the bone...this is a very good thing! That was still the only "soft-marker" that could be seen on the baby. She said everything looks great and healthy! She even flipped it onto 3-d for us to see the baby. Oh my goodness! We didn't do a 3-d with Sofia so I was soooo excited that she did that. I think she did it just to calm me down b/c I was SOOO nervous!! So then, they take the ultrasound and find a pocket of fluid to extract...so she finds a good place, nowhere near the baby and puts a mark on my stomach. The Dr. then proceeds to use a local numbing shot to locally numb the area where she'll place the needle. Let's just say...she said..you'll feel a pinch and then burning...um...that was worse than burning! It hurt sooo bad. So she then pokes me again with that needle and then goes in for the amnio. She places the needle all while watching what is going on in the ultrasound. She then goes to put the suction on the needle and I start contracting so she's not able to extract any fluid. Um, not cool! They told me that it would take about 20 seconds once the needle was inserted... however... 4-5 minutes later, the needle is still in me and she's moved it around a bit, but nothing was coming out! So then she says those dreaded words... "Jaclyn, I'm so sorry, I'm going to have to move the needle completely." Um, yes, she did, clear to the other side of my stomach! So she numbs me again and places the needle and finally is able to get what she needs. I am pretty confident when I say that this whole process was worse and more painful than any of the laboring process while I was in labor with Sofia. I'm not kidding! I'm so thankful it's done! So...the doctor tells us it'll be about 7-10 until we get the final results but that they can do a fast test to just check for an abnormality...it doesn't give a complete breakdown if there is one, but it'll tell if there is one or not.

So today I went in for my regularly scheduled monthly visit and she had the preliminary test results back for us. She was so happy to tell me that they came back normal. I started balling and she gave me a big hug. I know she completely thinks I'm a psycho but that's ok. So, our little squishy appears to be healthy and sure is a cutie. We will have the final results back next week but she said these are pretty solid results and that she'd be completely shocked if they came back different.

I'll go back in a month for a follow up ultra-sound to check on the bowel but other than that, we're back to our normal schedule of care.

I feel like I have changed and grown so much in the past two weeks. The LORD surely was working on my heart about a lot of issues. I found that I have a completely new appreciation for Sofia! I learned so much about myself and about my relationship with the LORD. I've been listening a lot to David Crowder Band's "How He Loves Us" and this song basically got me through the last couple of weeks. The LORD loves us SOOOOOO much and I'm not sure I ever realized just how much and how deep that love for us was. We are truly blessed and are so thankful for our family of four. We're so excited to find out in March what our little blessing number 2 is. Sofia keeps saying it's a boy...no idea why, but she does. I'm kind of leaning toward a boy as well, just for all the trouble he/she's given us already :)

So that's the scoop :)