It's (another) Boy!

18 Weeks, 6 Days

Yesterday was the much anticipated anatomical survey/gender reveal ultrasound! It was just as exciting as it was the first time around. I woke up pretty early in the morning with butterflies in my stomach. I went in early to get blood drawn, and Vicente met me at the hospital around 8:45 am.

The sonographer did her thing for about 30 minutes: taking measurements of the arms, hands, head, brain, stomach, heart, kidneys, umbilical cord, etc. Everything looked great! About halfway through, she asked us if we wanted to know the sex. We said yes, obviously, and she got to the tail end of the baby. A 50" TV screen was hanging on the wall in front of us, so we had a good view of everything the sonographer was seeing on her monitor. She showed us an image that included the two thigh bones and the baby's bottom. I could instantly see the scrotum and penis and called it out: It's a boy? And it was!

I'm so incredibly happy to have another baby boy. I love being a boy mom, and can't wait for Vicente IV to have a little brother to bond with.

The doctor came in after the sonographer wrapped up to look at everything. She said everything looked good, but she wanted to check something on the heart. She saw a "bright spot" on the heart, which she insisted was a normal variant and very commonly seen on ultrasounds. Essentially, it is a calcification, which doesn't cause any health problems. The only reason she was obligated to mention it was that it is a soft market for Down's Syndrome. However, with my previous testing for Down's, I'm already at a very low risk of 1 in greater than 10,000. The "bright spot" on the ultrasound brought my risk down to about 1 in greater than 5,000, which is still the low risk category. SHe ensured us that we shouldn't worry, but it's still going to nag at the back of my mind until the baby arrives. Praying he's a healthy, happy child!