9/22/08

Just wanted to let you know I had my level 2 ultrasound today and it went pretty well. My blood work came back with a Downs risk of 1:42. The maternal fetal doctor put my risk at 2%. The ultrasound did show a "white spot" on the baby's heart (echogenic foci for you techies) which doubles my risk to 4%. It is not a heart abnormality, it is basically a calcium spot on the left chamber of the heart and most often just fades away. It is considered a soft (or weak) marker for downs, and given that all the baby's other measurements were within normal ranges I'm feeling pretty comfortable with the odds. I need to go back in 4 weeks to see if it is still there. If it is my risk stays at 4%, if it has faded I go down to 1%. That is as good as I'm going to get without an amnio.
He is definitely still a boy and now I have 2 pictures to prove it. Mike is still in sort of a shock that he has finally produced a male heir and so he still hasn't picked a name. I'm not really known for my patience, so he better get crackin'. The baby weighs 11 oz and as far as we can tell right now all is well.