I started being able to see the baby move from outside right before 24 weeks- but unfortunately Nick wasn't able to see it until much later. At 24 weeks, I felt the baby hiccuping! It was such a cool feeling- it felt like a slow, rhythmic pulse in my stomach.
We had our follow-up ultrasound at 24w, 5d. The baby was moving like crazy! We saw the hands and feet (along with everything else), and the heartbeat was good (145-ish, jumped around a bit depending on how much baby was moving). The fluid measured great and overall the baby was measuring right on track. The kidneys still had slightly more fluid than they should; however, the doctor was not concerned about it due to the fact that bladder and kidneys are functioning fine as there is plenty of amniotic fluid around baby. She still saw a slight shadow around heart indicating possible fluid, but no worse than last time, which is good. This time the doctor mentioned that the issue with the heart increased our chances for the baby having down syndrome- which of course was not expected and not easy to hear. She suggested an ultrasound with a high-risk specialist to take a closer look to be sure there is nothing else going on (especially with the heart) that she wasn't able to see.At 26w, 1d, we went to see the specialist for the more in-depth ultrasound. They did a much longer ultrasound and took multiple pictures of each and every part of the baby! The baby did NOT like being poked at and continuously kicked at the u/s wand (the technician said she was being "battered" by the baby)! We were able to watch my stomach jump around and twitch like crazy from the outside! The u/s tech was having a hard time getting a picture of the hands because the baby kept grabbing it's foot in his/her hand. :) Baby is measuring right on track as far as growth and heartbeat was 156. As soon as we met with the doctor, her first words were, "Good news!" She said the heart looks great- the shadow our primary doctor saw was nothing but the space between the heart and the wall- completely normal. There was also a spot within the heart that our doctor saw, which turns out is not "white" enough to be anything to be concerned about. If it was brighter or whiter (like the way a bone shows up on an u/s), there would be reason for concern. However, it wasn't as white as the bone which means it was just muscle or a part of the heart- no concerns, heart looks great! The left kidney measured great, the right kidney is still measuring on the larger side of normal. Doctor said this is VERY common and usually resolves itself after birth. We know one kidney is working perfectly because the amniotic fluid around baby is perfect- and one kidney is all we REALLY need. So again, doctor is not very concerned. Although we will be going back for another follow-up in four weeks as standard procedure and to keep an eye on the kidney. The baby will also have to go for an u/s at the first checkup after birth. So while we will need to monitor the kidney, overall there are no major concerns and doctor said baby looks great and very healthy! Needless to say we were relieved to hear all of this.
(Profile view- baby has arm up with hand resting on forehead!)
While we were very worried for a while, we are so glad to be able to relax and continuing enjoying the pregnancy!
Also- people are really starting to comment on/notice my growing belly! I've just recently been having strangers ask when I'm due, etc. Here are some updated belly pics:
23 weeks
25 weeks
Until next time!
Carrie
