Genetics visit last week

I went in last week for my first trimester risk assessment ultrasound and my prenatal lab work at Yale's genetic's department. I told them up front no other testing, no amnio or CVS. Anyways, the blood work came back fine with no elevation in my blood levels for Trisomy 21 or 18. My ultrasound showed that the baby has a thicker nucual thickening around its neck. Average is 3.0mm, my baby's is 3.1mm. When I was pregnant with Joey's his was almost double that that plus no nasal bone is what first made them suspect Down syndrome. His nucual thickening was severe enough to be classified as a Cystic Hygroma, but we were fortunate that it dissolved by the time he was born. This baby has a nasal bone. After ultrasound tech was finished, he went and got the doctor to take a look. Of course, the doctor saw that this baby's nucual thickening is a little abnormal. I was a little mad when he said, "I'm sorry", like he was sorry he was giving me bad news or something. I'm not worried what so ever, if this baby has Down syndrome too then God chose us to have another children with an extra chromosome, so what! I'd feel blessed to have another child with Down syndrome. Neither of us are T-21 carriers and the odd's of this child having T-21 is 1 in 45. The only reason for the odds being what they are is due to nucual thickening being what it was. Without the nucual thickening, the odd's were 1 in 100. I guess more than anything I'm mad at the doctor for saying "I'm sorry", because I'm NOT sorry, I'm happy! I'm 13 weeks pregnant and the baby is healthy. It has a nice strong heartbeat and has 2 arms and 2 legs. What more could a parent want?!

Joey's Birth Story

The FlipFlop Mamma has inspired me to share Joey's birth story with everyone since she shared both of her's last week. And since I went into the hospital one year ago today, I'm posting this today!

Joseph Patrick
March 14, 2006
1:09 PM
5 lbs 8 oz, 20 inches long

Well, I'm actually going to start out 4 days before he was born...

Friday, March 10 started out like any other day for the first couple hours, then I started having contractions. Since they were 7 minutes apart and it was Friday afternoon I figured I better go get checked out since it was Friday. I drove myself to the doctor since my hubby was still at work. Of course I was only 1cm dilated and my cervix was only 50% thinned. Sent home... barely slept that night.

Saturday, March 11, I was still having contractions about 7 minutes apart but they weren't as strong but I was starting to feel very uncomfortable. That afternoon we took our dog Chewie to his new home since he was too wild and hyper to have around a new baby. This broke my heart. I cried that whole night. Chewie had been my best friend since I moved to Connecticut and one of a few friends I actually had. Again, barely any sleep.



Sunday, March 12 was my baby shower over at my in-laws house. I was feeling even more uncomfortable than the day before. I just wanted to get the shower over with so I could go home and lay down. During the shower, I lost my "plug". Slept a little, but not enough...

Monday, March 13 it seemed like my contractions had almost gone away and I got a HUGE surge of energy. I washed all of the baby clothes we received at the shower. I put away all of the gifts. Rearranged Joey's dresser, cleaned the house, I can't even tell you what all I did that day. Around 5pm I was cooking dinner and BOOM, contractions!! About 6 minutes apart this time but the pain was much worse. Since they still weren't exactly 6 minutes apart each time, still irregular, I knew not to call my doctor. Instead, I got in the bath tub and labored in there as long as I could. By then, it was about 10 pm and I couldn't handle it any longer.

Off to the hospital, we get to Yale and the doctor on call checks me out. Still 1cm and only 50%!! I couldn't believe it, I lost it. I started bawling my eyes out telling the doctor how tired I was and how long I had been having contractions. He decided to admit me on bedrest for the night and to give me something to help me sleep.

Tuesday, March 14, about 7 am, I had barely slept at all that night and whatever he gave me to sleep did relax me enough to rest although the contractions were getting very strong and close together. The doctor came in and checked me again. 4cm!! They transferred me from the room I was in up to labor and delivery. Epidural here I come!! A couple house later, the doctor broke my water and by 10 am, I was ready to push.

I started pushing and pushing. My nurse, Indie was helping to coach me through the pushes, and was yelling at me to "focus on your rectum" (yeah, you heard me right, which my husband found very funny yet annoying)...after 3 hours of pushing, at 1:09pm we welcomed Joey into the world. I had given the hospital a copy of my birthing plan. I wanted everything to be as normal as possible. I didn't want people to treat my baby differently just because he had Down syndrome. I didn't want him to be taken away for evaluation & testing, I wanted to have my time with Joey like any normal birth. There was a pediatrician there who quickly checked his breathing and heartbeat so he was handed back to me. He was beautiful, so perfect. I didn't care about him having Down syndrome, I knew he was my child and that's all I cared about. He was safe in my arms.



But my story doesn't end there... about 1 hour after I gave birth to Joey and we were transferred to our room, I felt funny. I told the nurse I thought I was peeing. She told me impossible but I argued with her until she checked. I was hemorrhaging!! She yelled for help and after a couple minutes the bleeding was stopped, my stitches ripped out and I had no energy. The nurses checked my blood count and of course, I was low. They started pumping me full of fluids and gave me this nasty tasting pill to help my blood count raise back up. Luckily the pill worked because if it wouldn't have, I would have had to get a blood transfusion.

But you know what, after the days of labor, 3 hours of pushing and the hemorrhaging, it was all worth it. I love Joey and would go through it all again in a heart beat!! (I just hope this next labor isn't as long!!)

Wordless Wednesday

One year ago this week...


For more Wordless Wednesdays, go here.

Weekend update...

Sorry about the lack of posts the past 4 days... I didn't feel very good most of the weekend (gotta love the first trimester!!). Not to mention my allergies have been KILLING me! I was such a mess on Sunday, I didn't even go to church with Patrick and Joey! Our landlord has been remodeling his apartment upstairs and I think a lot of the dust is making it's way down here and doing havoc on my sinuses.

Yesterday, I had my 10 week OB appointment. Things are looking great! The baby has a nice strong heartbeat. Joey stayed at his Grandma's house while I went to my appointment and I just stayed over at my in-laws all day and you know what?! My allergies didn't bother me one bit! So it does seem that I'm allergic to my house! So far today, I've been sneezing and blowing my nose what seems like all the time and I'm ready to go insane! I broke down and took a benadryl so as soon as Joey goes down for a nap, I think I will do the same!

Joey had a pretty good weekend. On Saturday, we went to Babies R Us and I got him a new bathseat. His baby bath no longer holds him and he can't sit up in the water very well so I've been searching online and found this. He absolutely LOVES it!! I'll be sure to take some pictures during bath night tomorrow night. He was so funny in the bath, he was talking up a storm and splashing water everywhere!!

I can't believe Joey is going to be a year old next week! So, this week is going to be full of planning his birthday party which is going to be this Saturday at his Grandparents house. I just need to decide what to get on his cake...

CAN'T STOP

Ok, someone really needs to take these potato chips and french onion dip away from me!! I've not had an appetite all day until I remembered that the dip was in the fridge, and I can't stop eating it!

Gotta love being pregnant!

Baby Bean!!!!!

Everyone say hello to Baby Bean! My ultrasound went good, nice strong heartbeat, arms & legs forming, everything looks good! I've never felt so relieved in my life, I've been so paranoid that something might be wrong, but it looks like I was wrong! Things look great!! Now I can officially be excited!!!!

BUSY weekend!

Well, like I said on Friday, Joey still had his lovely hives so we went over to my in-laws for the evening rather than going out to celebrate my husband's birthday. Yesterday, we didn't do a whole lot during the day. Patrick went into work for a couple hours, and Joey and I stayed home and played. Last night, we went out with Pat's friends to have a couple drinks (non alcoholic for me of course) and Joey spent the night over at his grandparents house. It was such a nice treat to be able to sleep in (thank you Joe & Virginia!)!! We went to 11:30 mass and from there went to the Irish Club for a corned beef and cabbage dinner with our family.

After the Irish Club, we came home and watched the Daytona 500, which was a HUGE disappointment! Dale Earnhardt Jr is my favorite driver and with just a few laps to go, he along with a few other cars wrecked!

Oh and Friday, I went to meet with the nurse practioner at my OB and I will be going this week for my first ultrasound. I'm very excited to see my little baby bean. I've been trying so hard not to get too excited until I see that little heart beating for the first time. But the more I think about it, the more excited I get. I went ahead and got out my maternity clothes already. My jeans were getting a bit snug so I've been wearing a couple pair of my maternity jeans that are smaller.

I also spent a lot of time this weekend cleaning and going through things. I actually put together FIVE TRASHBAGS full of clothes to give away to Goodwill! I went through my closet and pulled out anything that I hadn't worn in a year and my hubby even let me go through his clothes too and together we got rid of some of his things too! Not to mention, I finally got my kitchen floor mopped!!!

Oh and did I mention that Joey's hives are finally gone?!

Surprise... new ticker!

Take a look at my new ticker below Joey's 1st birthday ticker! I wasn't going to say anything for a while, but it was all of you who got me through losing Kiera so I can't keep this exciting news from you!!! I just found out Friday afternoon so say lots of prayers for this time to be a safe and healthy pregnancy!!!!

My little bean

I forgot to post on my doctor's appointment on Wednesday (Thanks Steph for reminding me)!!! Anyways, I'm only 6 weeks pregnant. The ultrasound showed my little bean. The doctor is having me back in 2 weeks for another ultrasound just to double check how far along I am. Plus by then we'll be able to see the heart beat and something that resembles more of a baby.

It was so funny though. My OB office has a group of about 8 doctors. I primarily try to see Dr. B and Dr. A. Well, I was walking out of the office when I saw Dr. L who helped me through the first 12 hours I was in the hospital having Joey. Needless to say, I was a pain in the butt, so he remembered me. He was tickled to see Joey and how well he is doing. Then asked if I was there for a checkup. I laughed and said "Kinda, you're going to be seeing plenty of me for a while... I'm pregnant again!". The look on his face was priceless!

Wow, I didn't realize it's been since Friday that I've posted last. I go tomorrow for an ultrasound to see how far along I actually am. I really hope I'm more like 10 weeks than 5. That means one less one to go! We'll see tomorrow!

I haven't gotten much done around the house at all. I've been so tired. Not much in the way of morning sickness except for some evenings I get nauseated. And not to mention today I ate a bowl of cereal and drank a glass of milk and threw that up. When I was pregnant with Joey, the only thing I wanted was milk but NOT THIS TIME!

I got a call from one of my best friends, Eric, from back in Ohio today. He's coming December 7-10 to see us. I'm so excited! Since we're not going back to Ohio for Thanksgiving or Christmas, it's going to be so nice to see one of my friends. My parents are coming up for Christmas, but it's still not going to be the same. This will be my first Christmas not in Ohio.

Onto a Joey update! He's still not sitting, but getting very close! He's sitting for about 20 seconds at a time and he really seems to want to sit on his own. He gets so frustrated! It seems like everyday he turns into more of a little person. His personality keeps coming out and he gets funnier each day. He's getting new facial expressions and says new sounds all the time! Not to mention he's rolling so much now! It also seems like he's wanting to crawl. He lays on his belly and his little arms and legs move so fast but he goes no where. He still needs more strength to get up on his hands and knees.

Ohhhh!! And today Joey turns 8 months old! I can't believe my baby is 8 months old! The time has flown by!!

Well, I guess that's it for now!

Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go right now!

So it starts... the never ending trips to the bathroom to pee! One of the many highlights of being pregnant!

It's so funny, I never imagined that I would be pregnant again only 8 months after having Joey. I admit, I've been wanting another child, but I didn't expect it to happen that easily! But I'm so excited!! I go to the doctors on Wednesday for an ultrasound. We're not sure how pregnant I truely am. In October my period came 2 weeks early and was very light & short, so there's a possiblity that I was pregnant then. So I'm either like 5 weeks or 10 weeks.

Well, I want to write so much more, but Joey is calling, so I'm off for now!

My story

I just realized that I haven't written a post on October being Down Syndrome Awareness month! For me, it's not only a month to promote awareness, it's almost like an anniversary too. I decided to write about when we found out that Joey has Down syndrome as my way of celebrating Down syndrome awareness .

It was one year ago that we found out that Joey has Down syndrome. There I was, only a couple months pregnant and went in for my First Trimester ultrasound. The ultrasound technician was such a pleasant lady showing me different parts of my baby's body when she suddenly got this look of concern on her face. She finished up the ultrasound and left the room. I laid there on the bed confused, "why did she make a face like that? I heard my baby's heartbeat and saw it moving, what could be wrong?" She came back in with the doctor a couple minutes later and the doctor started doing another ultrasound. He went directly to the neck then the face. The doctor looked at me and told me that my baby had a cystic hygroma on it's neck which was a fluid filled sac and that it's nose was smaller than most babies' noses at that gestation. I was so confused, he then proceeded to tell me that there was a good chance that my baby has Down syndrome and that I should go talk to their genetic counselor.

I laid there on the table confused and started to cry. I knew when he told me that, that my baby had Down syndrome. I just had a feeling. I was shaking and didn't know what to do. The ultrasound technician led me into the genetic counselor's office. I sat there in the chair and waited for her to come in.

Once she arrived, she proceeded to advice me on getting my baby tested through CVS or amniocentesis. She also advised me that if my baby did have Down syndrome that I had the option of terminating my pregnancy. I didn't even have the diagnosis yet and they were already talking about ABORTION! There was no way I would ever abort a child. I told the counselor that I needed to go home and talk with my husband before I made any decisions on testing.

I left with a pile of various articles on genetic testing, and down syndrome. When I got out to my car, I went into hysterics. This was going to be our first child and it most likely has down syndrome. I thought that only older woman had babies with DS. I was only 24 years old! I called my boss since I was suppose to go back into work and told her what happened. She told me to go home and take it easy. Then I called my husband and told him, then called my mom and really lost it.

I finally calmed down enough to drive home. I walked in our house and was greeted by our dog. I sat on the couch and I don't think I did much else until my husband got home. We sat down after he got home and talked. We knew the risks with genetic testing but since this was our first child, we decided to go ahead with the CVS.

I went in around the first of October and had the procedure done. And BOY DID THAT NEEDLE HURT!!!

It took less than a week for the results to come in. I had just gotten home from work when the phone rang. My husband wasn't even home yet. I looked at the Caller ID and saw that it was my OB and he was calling from his home. I knew before I picked up the phone what he was going to tell me. He told me that my baby had Trisomy 21 and that it was a boy.

I hung up with the doctor and sat still for a minute before I reacted. I went into complete hysterics. I was uncontrollable. I tried calling my husband, no answer. So I called my mom clear out in Ohio. She made me call my in-laws right down the road so I wouldn't be alone and then tried to calm me down. I finally calmed down a little and got my husband on the phone. In the mean time, my father in law and sister in law came over so I wasn't alone. My husband finally got home and the four us of us sat there and didn't know what to do or say.

I got online and started looking up websites on Down syndrome. The more I thought about it, the less upset I was and I started getting excited, then I realized, "IT'S A BOY!!!" We wanted a boy so bad and we were getting him! Down syndrome or not, it was going to be a boy! We had picked out the name Joseph Patrick after my father in law. He had actually asked me if we were still going to use his name,I asked him if he still wanted us to and he said, "of course!" My father in law has always been our number one supporter and adores Joey with all of his heart. I couldn't ask for better in laws. I love them dearly!

I started reading more and more on Down syndrome. I wanted to educate myself, along with our families as much as I could before Joey was born. I read every article I could find and bought every book I could find. (Of corse, I look at those books now and laugh- they're useless. All of our children are so different, the books barly did any good!)

I found the Connecticut Down Syndrome Congress and we joined immediately. Luckily, we hadn't missed that year's convention yet. We registered and went to it a month later. That day we met so many other parents of children with Down syndrome and realized we weren't alone.

Right after I had Joey, Rebecca from Always Chaos found my blog and that leads me to now. I've made so many online friends through this blog that I can relate with. Thank you Rebecca for finding me!!!!!




I look back on how silly I acted, almost thinking that it was the end of the world and almost laugh at myself. God chose us to have Joey and I wouldn't have in any other way. I have started to dedicate my life in becoming an advocate on Down syndrome and to being the best mom I can be for Joey and future children we will have. I love Joey with all my heart, extra chromosomes and all!