21 weeks.

I am officially 21 weeks and 1 day today!

Every day my belly just gets bigger and bigger!

This morning was the first time Branson was able to feel him kick. It was awesome! He sure is starting to squirm a lot...mostly at night or after I eat.  

He obviously takes after me if food is making him happy :)

I just recently got back from California where I had some doctor appointments.  We had our big 20 week ultrasound which was where we were originally supposed to find out if baby was a he or a she.  We couldn't quite wait so we found out early.  But the ultrasound took about 45 minutes and they check all the organs and what not to make sure baby is healthy.  

Well, I get a voicemail from the genetics department of Kaiser saying they need me to contact them.

My heart basically jumped out of my chest.  

That's never a good sign....

So, I call the number back and they inform me that they didn't find any major problems on the ultrasound (phew) but they did find a problem with the umbilical cord. Apparently most umbilical cords have 2 arteries and one vein....mine only has one artery and one vein, known as a 2-vessel cord. Ummm...sounds like a big problem to me!! The dr. informed me that this happens in about 1-2% of pregnancies (lucky me!) and that they want to do an echocardiogram (basically a more intense ultrasound) of the baby to check and see if there are any other problems that were missed on the first ultrasound.  I guess sometimes this 2-vessel cord can signify other problems, but the doctor informed me that I shouldn't worry because they didn't see anything on the first ultrasound.  DON'T WORRY!? SERIOUSLY!? Impossible.

I called Branson (worst part is that he was in Chicago when I got the call) and started balling so hard I couldn't get a single word out.  He probably thought we lost the baby the way I reacted...but I couldn't help it.  At that moment I realized how much I already loved this little boy more than anything...

The dr. called me back and told me the soonest he could get me in for an echo was the 27th of June...that means I would have to worry and fret for 2 weeks before I could get any peace of mind. Plus I would have had to fly out to CA again in two weeks and I just couldn't handle that.  Well, Heavenly Father was definitely looking out for me because somehow the dr. squeezed me in for that week, just two days after I got the news.  I was so relieved.

Since Branson was out of town my mom came with me to the echo.  She's a nurse and used to work in the NICU so she knows a lot about this stuff. It was comforting having my mama with me.

 Well, the echo went really well and took off SO much stress on B and I and our family.  The Dr. spent about an hour looking at every organ and every possible complication that there could be.  He did notice that there was some fluid in baby boy's kidneys but he said that is the most common thing they see with 2-vessel cords.  I have to go in at 32 weeks to do another echo just to make sure that the fluid has gone down, but he reassured me that 97% of the time the fluid goes away.  Other than that the baby is perfect.  He has such a strong little heart and I was even told he is measuring a week ahead! That was great news too because they say small babies are common with a 2-vessel cord.  Nope, not our little trooper! He is growing big and strong and is super healthy.  We just keep praying every day that the fluid will go down and that there won't be any more problems along the way.  

It was honestly one of the scariest most emotional weeks I have ever gone through.  So many thoughts go through your head when you hear news like that.  It was especially hard not having Branson there to comfort me and hold me.  But somehow, even though he was thousands of miles away, he was still able to give me that comfort.  He is seriously my rock.  He is so strong and faithful and has such a good attitude ALL the time.  He was so positive through the whole thing and made me feel so much better about it all. I love him so much! 

  OH! The best part about the echo was that at the very end when the dr. was just about to wrap it up, we get a clear picture of the baby's hand and this is what we saw...

It looks more like his pointer finger in the photo but on the actual screen it was so clear that was his little thumb!  It was seriously a little message from God just letting me know that everything is fine.  It almost brought me to tears and I will never forget it.

Wow, that was long winded.  All in all we feel very blessed and just know without a doubt that this baby is going to come out strong and healthy. 

We are so excited to meet him!