weeks 16 to 18 were filled with more waiting, but more “life.” here’s a look back at those weeks while we moved, prepared for an amniocentesis, and house hunted!
week 16: on july 27, we headed to our perinatologist in Oakland hoping to be able to have the amniocentesis done this day. i was freshly 16 weeks pregnant and just barely into the window of time where they can perform an amniocentesis. basically, they want the amniotic sac walls to be fused before they perform an amnio. this typically happens as early as 16 weeks, but is not the case for everyone. surprise, surprise, this was not the case for me.
the first half of the appointment consists of the ultrasound where the sonographer takes tons of pictures of baby to measure, track development, look for potential abnormalities or defects, and check if the amniotic wall has fused. then you meet with the doctor to go over the results. little bug (our nickname for this baby) was looking good and happy. per usual, he would not sit still for his pictures! then the doctor came in to talk through the results. things we learned this day: 1) i would not be getting the amnio unless we wanted to risk an unsuccessful procedure (we decided to return in 2 weeks) 2) there were a few areas of concern – there were signs of a hole in his heart, a potential brain defect, and a potential echogenic bowel 3) he was happy as a clam and gave us the thumbs up – like don’t worry mom and dad, i’m going to be okay 🙂 meet little bug ❤

it seemed like we were getting more and more bad news at every appointment. we had to keep in mind, however, that all of these potential health concerns were all considered normal for a baby with down syndrome.
week 16 was also filled with some fun things – house hunting! well, house hunting from afar. we looked at listings online from our agent and compiled a list of homes we wanted to see the following week when we arrived in Atlanta!
week 17: this week was a blur of life things. i think we toured almost 20 potential homes, striking out with them all. then we had a friend’s wedding in the North Carolina mountains. it was a much needed break from “life.” a weekend away baby-free (thanks to my father-in-law for keeping Landon), where we could reconnect with our east coast friends, relax, and semi-forget all of the stresses in our life.
we had a rude awakening back to reality after the weekend. Mike flew back out to California to handle the movers and returning the keys to our place. he flew back late Wednesday night to be at work bright and early Thursday. then i flew back to Cali on Thursday afternoon for my amnio procedure the following day. woof. this was a week!
week 18: week 18 started with me flying back to California for my amnio. due to insurance reasons, i had to come back to Cali. truthfully, i wasn’t too disappointed! we planned a girls weekend with my friends out there and basically had a weekend-long sleepover! besides the actual procedure part, it was a really fun weekend 🙂
the amnio. man, was i scared. there was the pain part that scared me… no pain medication or numbing creams to help with a needle going through my belly. then there was the risk to our baby that scared me. we already knew our baby had down syndrome (even though all the tests were not a true diagnosis), so was it worth the potential risk to baby just to find out the answer to the Klinefelters? i wanted Mike with me, but it just wasn’t possible.
one of my best friends stepped in for Mike and took me to the appointment and was my nurse for the rest of the day. the ultrasound showed the amniotic walls were fused and the procedure could take place. i think the entire procedure took all of one minute. it was definitely uncomfortable and not something i would like to do again. we had to wait two weeks for the results.
the rest of the day was spent relaxing and binge watching Bachelor in Paradise.
as with all things, everything seems to pile on at one time. we submitted an offer on a house the same day as my procedure (i did not see said house in person, but loved it from the pictures and trusted Mike to make the ultimate decision after he saw it) and went under contract the next day. life was definitely not slowing down for us anytime soon…