{a cleft journey} Ultrasound

Yesterday afternoon my Mom and I drove from the San Bernardino mountains all the way down to San Diego to the hospital where we met with Dr. Paquiadio for an ultrasound. This ultrasound was a follow-up from when I had my amnio a few weeks back as she wanted to take a closer look at Brayden’s facial structure. During the visit the very first look she took of the face showed a small tear on the right side of the face. It was very visible even to me that the tear comes down from his right nostril to the lip. The doctor said that we have it a little better than many she has seen since as of right now the tear is measuring around 2 mm wide. She tried capturing a few additional images and when she got to the top view of the palate she could also see a tear in the hard palate that was also measuring around 2 mm wide. The tear in the palate is also on the right side so it further validates that this was mother natures mess up. Earlier today I received a phone call from Amy in genetics telling me she had even better news that my amnio results came back negative for any genetic diseases, etc. She also stated that they are still running a test on chromosome #22, which is routine for cleft babies to further rule out if the cleft is genetic or not. We should have this result in a few days. Once Amy receives that result she will be making an appointment with the cleft doctor who is down in Otay Mesa for us to meet and go over all of the preparatory details when he arrives. I have a few additional routine appointments this month along with the much anticipated glucose test in two weeks. In one month I meet with Dr. Paquiadio again for another ultrasound. We will meet a few more times before he comes just to keep checking on Brayden as he gains more fat. 

After yesterday’s appointment I feel a lot better and when I saw my baby I didn’t have any resentment towards him or myself. I know this all might change as we get closer to his arrival date but for now I am just going to take in being pregnant and all that it has to offer. I also have a better relationship with Dr. Paquiadio and Dr. Ching, they have been super understanding and reassuring so I pray that one of them is scheduled on November 1st, granted I make it to the 39th week. Because I really cannot picture delivering this little man with another doctor. 

The ultrasound pictures below are kind of confusing. For whatever reason the 4D images came out really fuzzy so I attempted darkening them a bit so you can see what in the heck I am talking about. You can probably click on them to enlarge to see in better detail. 

When she took this image I saw Payton, I actually giggled to myself because they really look a lot alike. 😀

This one was just for fun. The doctor thought it was really cute that he was giving us his pointer finger, the pose actually reminds me a lot of Jim’s signature dance move or even like he’s bobbing his head. . . 

There was another image I chose not to scan, but as Dr. Paquiadio was looking she stopped and the way the image froze he looked like a pterodactyl. I laughed at loud and said, wow! he looks like a pterodactyl and she said she was thinking the same thing. I only cracked up because ever since Payton was a newborn we have said her scream has sounded like a pterodactyl. ha! Oh, the stories I am already forming in my head. 

Until the next update my friends. . .