The Rest of the Story ... part 3

After the first ultrasound, we talked about doing an amniocentesis.  If finding out would have made a difference in labor & delivery or postnatal care, we would have opted to do it.  As it was, the amniocentesis wouldn't make a difference one way or the other for Ben's care, so we decided against it.

I went back for two other level II ultrasounds.  Both times, I was only able to see the ultrasound tech and not the doctor.  Both times, I had to wait for hours to get into the appointment and then no one talked to me about what they saw.  It was frustrating.  They asked me to come in for another ultrasound "to check fetal growth" but I refused.   I spoke to the nurse about the ultrasounds I had done so far, and she confirmed that (1) the echogenic bowel had resolved (2) the baby was measuring fine  and (3) my amniotic fluid and placenta looked good.  They had seen no further signs of Down syndrome - or anything else - so I felt comfortable not going back.  My OB/GYN's office could do follow up sonograms.

The last few months of pregnancy were good.  I was tired a lot, and the kids and I watched a ton of Phineas and Ferb, but we also went swimming several times a week and took a trip to visit family in Hawaii.  I loved feeling the baby move!

I nested.  I cleaned out our closet (halfway) and set up the pack and play.  I washed all the baby boy clothes that people gave me, sized them and put them in bins.  I dug through boxes in the garage to find baby toys and bottles.  I made one trip to Babies R Us to grab some pack and play sheets and bottles.  Evan and Corrie each picked out one toy to give their new baby brother.

And his name!  We had no idea what to name the baby.  Emmett and I went out to breakfast one morning and looked through a baby name book.  We came home with a list of 8-10 boys' names that we liked.  I stuck it on the fridge and we discussed it occasionally.  Whenever guests came over, they would weigh in with opinions.

It's funny to me now, but I kind of stopped thinking about Down syndrome.  I knew that the screening tests have a lot of false positives, and everything on the sonograms looked good.  I didn't do any real research or anything.  I just figured things would be fine.  And in the grand scheme of things, Down syndrome didn't seem that bad.