Genetics and 3D Ultrasound

04.10.08

Email I sent out to everyone about our doctors visit…
LA and I went to MUSC today for the 3-D ultra sound. We got a lot more than just an ultra sound. We got to have genetics counseling. The genetics counselor drew out our complete family trees with illnesses and basically said “Wow! That’s a messed up tree. We need to discuss some issues…” – just kidding…It looks like the potential for a genetic problem with the baby is low. Nothing in our family histories indicated anything that might have been passed genetically. It’s not 100% but the odds are very low and not worth the risk of performing any additional tests to confirm or eliminate. After about 45 minutes, the counselor asked if I had any questions and I told her “no, wasn’t really expecting this part of the show. We just came down for an ultrasound.”

I have attached the pictures from the ultrasound. The baby would not cooperate and was at the top and would not move or roll over. We did get to see the baby yawn one time. The doctor and ultrasound tech cleared the baby on everything except the heart. LA is just 18 weeks and because of the development thus far and the baby’s position they could not get a good enough view of the heart to clear it. We saw all the limbs, except the feet because they were down in LA’s pelvis. We also saw the kidneys. When we saw the brain the doctor told us that studies indicated that as advanced as our child’s brain is at 18 weeks that those children develop and learn at a faster pace and are in the 1st percentile for learning. He went on to say the studies have followed these children over the years and 99% of them have become doctors, lawyers, accountants, engineers and clinical researchers. I knew we were going to have a genius. J

As you probably can tell if you have already looked at the pictures, they are not 3-D. That was kind of disappointing but it still is exciting. These pics really don't do justice to how the baby looked...she did a horrible job picking out the ones to put on a disk for us. There were a few that were really good and you could see so much more of the baby...I guess she just wanted to give us certain ones to show certain features. Next time we go, we will make sure that we get some good ones to share!

The baby is about 5.5 inches long and 7 oz (mostly brain weight).

The bad news of the day was that they didn’t clear the heart. The good news was that we get to go back for another ultrasound in 5 weeks (23 weeks). I think it is a ploy so they can charge more money – schedule for 18 weeks and make them come back for another. Really, the reason we went at 18 weeks was for the genetics counseling and if we wanted to do any additional tests and then potentially abort but we weren’t doing that anyway.

LA is looking pregnant now. She was concealing it pretty good until the past two weeks. She is getting a nice little bump.

So to summarize – LA is great and looks great, baby is great and were having a genius.

Love ya,
KC and LA
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PS – The genius stuff is just a joke – right now – give the baby a few years.
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PSS – If you want to know what were having, email LA or me (don’t call us).