.:Heartbeat Check:.

We had our first heartbeat check today. (Don't worry, I won't update after every one, but thought today merited some mention. {And hopefully there won't be many more of them!})

First we were able to just sit down and have a chat with my doctor about what we learned last week at the ultrasound. I think we were just taking the news in, plus dealing with tantrum Remi, and didn't ask as many questions as we would have liked.

My doctor said that what the baby is experiencing is called premature atrial contractions. Basically the upper part of the heart is beating too soon sometimes, which doesn't allow enough blood to flow back out into the body. The problem that can arise over time, if it gets worse, is that because not enough blood is flowing through the body, things start to back up. She said the good news was that the ultrasound doctor did not see any evidence of any build up anywhere in baby girl during the ultrasounds. My doctor said that it is actually quite common, and that pregnant women experience this often due to the increased stress on the heart, as well as just everyone else; when you feel like your heart skipped a beat, that's probably what happened. She was very good at reassuring us that it really is most likely to resolve on its own. She said it's very rare that it doesn't, but if for some reason it doesn't, medication is probably the first option for treating it.

We also asked her a little about the bowel. She said we can't 100% rule out down syndrome; the only way to tell that for sure now was with an amnio, and there's no way anyone is sticking a needle in my belly. But she did say that it is a great sign that so far, with the two more detailed ultrasounds, there haven't been any signs of anything like that. And that we get to have another ultrasound that will do another detailed check again. With cystic fibrosis, we could do blood work, but she didn't really feel like it was necessary. She said that is a disease that would be in every cell in your body, and therefore, the entire bowel would probably show up white; not just a small sliver of it.

So it was good to chat through things with her. She definitely helped ease my mind quite a bit. We listened to baby and you could definitely hear the irregularity in her heart. It is a little disconcerting, of course, but my doctor said it is good to hear that she just regulates it back so quickly, and it stays in a normal range. I go back in next week for another listen, and we'll just keep going from there. Who knew I would start my weekly appointments at 24 weeks!

The last five weeks have been kind of overwhelming and scary. Everyone tells you not to worry, but who wouldn't worry? I'm grateful for the news we've received so far, and hope we continue on an upward trend. It is what it is, and I can't change anything, so my goal now is to just try to relax a little bit and start enjoying this pregnancy. It's been overshadowed with the results and the waiting, but it seems like everything is going to be okay. Our little lady is growing perfectly as she should be, and she is quite the little mover in there, and we just love her so much already!

And because blog posts are boring without pictures, let's do a little comparison for fun.

24 weeks with Remi (holy tank!)

24 weeks with baby girl #3