Our Little Scare

(All the photos and long story are for our moms and other family who are just as interested in all of this as we are!) 

We have had one of the craziest feeling weeks of our lives!  I feel like I haven’t really let myself breathe, and let me tell you what a headache that is!

Last week, I was informed that a little kid at the school I work at had Fifth Disease, a disease that is very contagious and harmful to pregnant women.  I was super nervous that I may get the virus and our baby could be in a lot of danger (it doesn’t help that I’ve heard BAD stories about Fifth’s).  I called my clinic and they had me come straight in for a blood work test to test me for Fifth as well as for a myriad of other things (Spina Bifida, Rubella, and Down Syndrome). 

            Monday I went in to the appointment by myself while Richard was at class to hear the results.  First mistake.  After having my weight and blood pressure taken, I patiently waited for the doctor to come in, thinking he was going to tell me I didn’t have Fifth’s and everything else was just dandy. Wrong. 

He came in, and began to give me the explanatory examples, “the odds of your baby actually having Down Syndrome are like lining up 51 women and you being the 1 person to have it,” or “It isn’t 100% conclusive, there are other tests we can do to have a more clear idea if your baby does or does not have Down Syndrome, like a level 2 ultrasound or a amniocentesis…” At this point my head was spinning, tears were pricking at my eyes, and I could hardly understand what he was getting at. 

I kept waiting for him to say, “But your baby doesn’t have these risks.  Your baby is fine and healthy.”  But no, what I heard next was, “Do you want to go ahead and do the level 2 ultrasound?” I was in shock from it all. I found myself numbly saying, “Yes, lets do that.” and then I was being set up for an appointment that week in Ogden. 

            The poor nurse who got me all set up for the appointment at Ogden Regional made the kind, but fatal mistake of asking, “Are you okay?” and I lost it on her.  I broke down in a thousand hot tears and was a big fat mess!  I just kept saying, “It’s okay, it’s okay.  Go get Richard at school, it’s okay.”

            Richard got the brunt end of the stick, too.  He came out from class and before he was even in the car I lost it.  Can you imagine his shock and horror seeing his wife balling and not knowing what the heck was going on?!

            To summarize a long, long, emotional story, we spent the next three days of the week, praying our guts out, spending time in the temple, having people pray their little guts out for us, and me, crying here or there because of feeling overwhelmed.

            Thursday, we drove down to Ogden and there met up with my sweet sister, Jena and her boys.  We then went in for the appointment, where they did the most fabulous ultrasound and gave us a bagillion pictures of baby Constantine!  The ultrasound tech was FABULOUS; she got so many different angles of the baby, and was good at telling us the measurements.  She also zeroed in on the baby’s gender… a BOY!!!! I could not believe it! It’s a darn good thing his goods were SUPER out there because I may not have believed her otherwise! haha, I was convinced we were having a little girl.

 

 (The little hand!)

 (Cute little toes and feet!)

After the tech left, the doctor came in and he did some looking around for himself.  He said that our little guy looks great, confirmed his gender, and explained to us that our baby’s chance of having Down Syndrome is 1 in 100.  He told us to focus on the 99% that says he is just fine rather that the 1% chance that he’ll have Downs and I agree.  No matter what, we’re going to love this little guy to the max.  He is our sweet little angel, and we feel super blessed to have him J

It’s amazing just how many emotional ups and downs we’ve experienced this last week.  I’m simply so grateful to be able to breathe now, knowing this guy is going to make it.  He looks so adorable already, and my heart already belongs to him.  It’s bizarre how in love I am with this little boy and he’s only a 6 oz. little wiggle worm! 

I feel so blessed, so watched over, and so thankful that God knows who I am, what I am going through, and what I need.