21

We made it. The 21 week scan! I think every milestone for a pregnant woman is somewhat a relief and an achievement because unfortunately as we all know things can go wrong at absolutely any stage. But we’re here safe and excited to see baby on the scan again today.

For those who don’t know the 21 week scan is called an anomaly scan and what they are looking for/doing is measuring the baby and looking for any abnormalities like a cleft pallet, missing arm leg or foot or anything along those lines. Aswel as all that they can also determine baby’s sex! But we already know I’m having a girl so hopefully no blue suprises for me today!

The scan was scheduled for 3pm at the John Radcliffe up in Oxford so I had the morning to take Rex out and do a few bits that needed doing. Off we headed for the hospital which took about an hour because of traffic! *sigh* for anyone visiting the JR just a heads up they have a new parking payment system which actually works out a hell of a lot cheaper then it used to be! And you do it all from your phone.

Anyways up on level 4 in the women’s Center we went. Unfortunately for us they were short staffed which meant our appointment was an hour later than it should have been. Which didn’t do my bum any favours sat in one place for that long waiting and waiting to go in. Whilst waiting we had a research student approach us asking if we’d be willing to donate some of the baby’s blood to a research study for a really rare disease that affects baby’s. Doing this can help early detection and save baby and children’s lives so of corse I said yes after reading the information booklet.

Then finally it was our turn to go in! Yippee! Up on the table I jumped leggings pulled down past my fanny so they can shove some paper towel down there, cold jelly applied and I was raring to go! The sonographer told us not to talk or ask questions whist she was scanning because she needed to concentrate which was really awkward because the whole way through she kept talking telling us what she was doing but we couldn’t answer.

It’s incredible what they can tell from these scans. Me being the total novice obviously just saw blurry lines. The sonographer on the other hand was looking into baby’s brain, heart and kidneys, she found fingers and toes, blood vessels and did indeed confirm it is a little girl. They can tell which way the placenta is laying and all sorts. Seriously clever stuff. Anyway the scan was done and baby is all fine which is always a big relief. Me on the other hand not so much. She did indeed find a problem with one of my arteries that leads to the baby and actaully it shows that my artery isn’t open enough which means the baby gets less blood which could result in baby not growing how she should. OH SHIT! I knew it was to good to be true. Anyway we had a chat I asked some questions and it turns out the technical term for this is called Uterine artery Doppler ultrasound measurement. The good news is that it could mean baby being small or absolulty nothing could happen. It also turns out that If id been at any other hospital I wouldn’t even have known because the John Radcliffe are the only hospital in the county to scan for this certain artery. Which just makes me love this amazing hospital even more.

So the plan is I need to have 3 extra scans (Which have already Been booked) plus extra appointments with my midwife just to check baby is growing correctly . I won’t lie I felt the fear of god go into me when they told me, just the word artery was enough to frighten me into next week my first thought was blood clot, blood loss and god knows what else. But now I have the facts and reassurance I feel alot better. I just need to keep my fingers and toes cross baby starts growing in the right direction.

And that ladies and gentlemen is 21 weeks pregnant.

Z

Xxx