Phew

We finally got the amnio results today. He's perfect!

I don't think I realized how nervous I was about it until I got the call and felt such an overwhelming sense of relief. The genetic counselor was great, and I'm sure enjoys giving good news. I can't imagine having to deliver bad news to couples, and it makes me catch my breath to think what getting that news must be like.

It seems that I'm now out of excuses for keeping news of this pregnancy to myself. I was pretty good at coming up with reasons not to tell people earlier, and then once we had the amnio it seemed silly to tell people before we got the results.

So here I am at just about 20 weeks, more pregnant than I've ever been before, with a healthy boy growing in my belly and only one thing left to worry about -- making him stay put. It makes me almost giddy!

Things are going surprisingly well

It seems that when things are going well I don't have much to say. Guess that's a good thing!

I'm now 18 weeks, still working in the office five hours a day, had a really indepth ultrasound yesterday along with my amnio. We'll know for sure all is well in a couple of weeks, but the ultrasound didn't give us any indication that he wasn't developing perfectly well. And we did get confirmation he's a he.

The craziest of all is the length of my cervix. When I had my cerclage placed 3 1/2 weeks ago it was about 2.5 centimeters long, and now it is 5.3 centimeters. The doctor had to zoom the ultrasound out to see it all. INSANE. But great. I'm sure there will be additional fluctuations in the length, but considering I'm heading in to the danger zone, I couldn't be happier.

For those of you who have IC, my perinatologist believes that infections cause many changes in the cervix that are incorrectly identified as IC. At 12 weeks my cervix was quite short and was already opening. He tested me for a couple of things, one came back positive. I took antibiotics for a week and now am infection free with a long, closed cervix. I'll continue to be monitored every 2-3 weeks for infection. The cerclage probably helped, and again, my cervix may continue to fluctuate, but I really believe he is right about infections. If you do have IC, I urge you to ask your doctor to do regular vaginal cultures for Ureaplasma (which is what I had), E-coli and Strep B. The tests are simple, as are the treatments.

I'm a week away from when we lost our first baby so that is causing some anxiety and stirring up some horrible memories. I'm just glad that all is well with this one and that my doctors are really paying careful and close attention so we avoid a similar outcome. I feel really fortunate to have such great doctors.