22 Weeks to Go!!

Yup, I'm counting down already!! :) I usually start counting down around week 35 :) Never have liked being pregnant, even when I had easy pregnancies.

Since everyone keeps asking how the pregnancy is going figured I better update on that too. All is well, no reason for concerns. I spoke to soon about feeling better, but now we're on a more rocky road, some days good, some not-so-good ... but at least they're not all not-so-good anymore. Lately the tired gene has kicked in. I've been very thankful that I have not been tired (exhausted would be a better word) like my other pregnancies, but I can definitely say I've been more tired lately and I better learn to go to bed earlier or I'm gonna hit exhaustion.

So I had an ultrasound and OB appointment today. Blood pressure and sugar levels have been fine lately. Ultrasound showed baby's size is good and placenta is in a good position. One thing that they did pick up on the ultrasound is that the baby's kidney(s? ... I'm not sure if just one or both) was on the large size. This is no cause for alarm, but on a personal level it does send us small little warning bells. I asked if they could see the spleen, but he said they couldn't on such an ultrasound. Enlarged liver and spleens are a symptom of LPI and the kidney's have to be watched for kidney failure.

For me this was just a little bit of a wakeup call. I can't say I've put much, if any, thought into having another child with LPI, but this made me realize that maybe I should mentally prepare myself a bit more for this possibility.

I spoke with our Genetic Doctor this afternoon. He said that the enlarged kidney really wouldn't be any sort of way of saying that the baby has LPI and could mean nothing or even balance out in future ultrasounds. That wasn't the reason I was calling him tho. I wanted to talk to him about Cord Banking. I remember hearing about it before, but we never put much thought into it. I came across some readings on it recently and began to wonder if this was something we should consider, especially in light of recent blood work showing some of James immunology to be a little out of line. Banked cord blood is more useful in cancer cases, but can also be used in some genetic disorders and immune system disorders (that was the one that prompted us to wonder). We had previous rejected the idea of prenatal screening, but upon seeing the cost just to register for cord banking (and then yearly storage fees) we thought that screening might give us a better idea of if we needed to bank the blood. So I discussed both of these with him. He felt that Cord Banking would not help in our situation, his only hesitation was that if this child is completely LPI free (meaning not a carrier either) then the banked cord blood could possibly help James down the line. He also pointed out that if the child has an inheritted disorder it's possible the blood is already "contaminated" (can't think of a better word right now) and would not be of any use anyways. In the end our decision was made easy when we were told that when doing prenatal screening there is a risk of 1 in 200 that you can lose the child. So we won't be doing any screening and unless our Genetic Doctor thinks of a good reason that the Cord Banking would be worthwhile I think we'll leave that idea behind too.

James did relatively well today. He didn't start off very good this morning. His was cranky and clingy and I made it worse because I didn't have time for him. I figured once we got some food in him (he had only had 2 small feeds yesterday so he was a hungry boy) and got out of the house he'd cheer up. It seemed to work because when I dropped him off at the sitters the sparkle came back in his eyes as he ran after Rebecca to go play, which made me feel better, especially considering it was not a place he's familiar with. He was so tired when I picked him up that he dozed off a few seconds down the road. This afternoon he had a bit of a fever and his breathing was rapid, but tylenol seemed to level it out and he carried on, just need some extra snuggles and one on one time.