Happy New Year, Everyone! I hope this will be a good one for all of us.
It was pointed out to me that I left out some vital info about Annelies, mostly because I was so glad that her health is so good...
At birth she weighed 8 lbs. She was born at 40 5/7 weeks of gestation. She was 19 3/4 inches long.
At 4 weeks (on Dec 30), she weighed 9.6 lbs and was 21 3/4 inches long. These stats put her in the 80-90 percentile for baby girls. The Pediatrician suggested we can keep her on the regular charts until her growth changes, then we can use the ones generated especially for people with Ds. I am good with that, I know that she will not be expected to be as tall as I am, but maybe she will be tall for a person with Ds. Even with my son, I checked him on the charts really closely the first year or so, then I started to relax about it. As long as they eat healthy (Marco likes vegetables and fruit) and are active, I don't want to be too freaked out about their growth & weight.
Since I was 37 when I became pregnant, I did the first trimester triple screen. I was well aware of the stats for Ds, because I went through the testing with Marco. (Marco will be 2 on Jan 21st). The triple screen came back with 1 in 470 odds for Ds, and 1 in 7000 for T18. (With Marco they had been similar). Odds at my age alone would be 1 in 130, so I felt really good about the new numbers (they had been similar for Marco). These numbers gave me no reason to do an amnio (besides, I heard that an amnio carries risks with it in itself). The 20 week echo revealed nothing wrong, all the measurements were normal. I had 2 heart echo's also, this is due to a heart issue my Dad has that I disclosed on my medical information. Annelies had no heart problems (At that time I had no idea that heart problems happen to such a large percentage of kids with Ds).
Back in the fall, I was watching election coverage on TV (there was nothing else on) and I remember seeing Sarah Palin with her little guy. I remember wondering how in the world she could be so upbeat and positive, and thought: "If I had a baby with Ds I would NOT be able to handle it". The next thought was (as I looked at my stomach): "What if you DO have a baby with Ds?" Then: " Nah...the tests came back so well...one never gets dealt more in life than one can handle, so I REALLY don't have to worry about it." Now I look back and think that this was some kind of gut feeling. Really weird and interesting.
I guess no matter how you vote, it was nice to see Ds be brought to the mainstream public vision a little bit more, and I hope to see more of it (and will find ways to work on that).
With the tests the way they were, I just know Annelies is meant to be here. Had the test results been squirrely, we would have had such a difficult time, especially because neither Aaron nor I knew a thing about Ds. If I allow myself to think about it, it freaks me out that I might have let myself be swayed towards a decision I could have regretted for the rest of my life. The way she 'squeeked' under the wire with all the tests just shows that she was not only meant to be here, but determined to be here.
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