"Trust in the Lord will all thine heart....."

This is what I must do.  I must trust.  In the good and the bad, trust Him.  God is good ALL the time.

Josh and I went for our ultrasound in Halifax yesterday. If you have read my previous post, then you know why we went.  If you didn't, we had an ultrasound to determine if our baby has Down Syndrome (aka DS for the rest of this post).

THE RESULTS:  are inconclusive.  They could not tell us that our baby does not have Down Syndrome or that the baby does have it. Here's what they had to say:

Our baby is a bit small, this could be for a number of different reasons but the reason the doctor thinks is because I may have ovulated earlier than we think (even though we are sure of the date).  Because my body was recovering from Titus, the date of ovulation could have been off even if our calculations are correct.  DS babies are often short, BUT so are normal babies  and with our family history, we definitely have short people on both sides, including myself :) So, this is not a marker to determine DS, but it was mentioned because our baby is small.  Our baby is weighing in at 9 oz now.  The doctor did not change our due date as of right now but this may change later with more observation.

Our baby only has one marker for DS - which is really good.  On the ultrasound we seen a white spot on the heart.  This is not an actual spot on the heart, but it shows up white on the ultrasound.  This is because of the thickening of a ventricular wall.  It could be denser than the other walls of the heart the doctor said. The heart is completely healthy and there is no signs of defect but this mark is one of the markers for DS.  This mark also can show up on normal babies as well. SO, because our baby has a marker, we now have a 1 in 15 chance that our baby may have DS.  We feel like this is a high chance, especially if you view it like having 15 people over for a birthday party or something, 1 in those 15 people will have DS.

They did an extremely LONG and detailed ultrasound of the baby.  They checked for all their markers that they would normally see in a DS baby.  Our baby has one.  Some other markers including a wide neck at the back, the nose is wide and there is something else to do with the nose/nasal bone/septum etc.  They checked the kidneys and head measurements.  I'm sure they checked a bunch of other things as well but our baby is very normal looking in all those departments.

The doctor explained our baby like this:  "If this baby does have Down Syndrome, it's a good looking DS baby".  So, to look at our baby, it may not look like our baby has Down Syndrome.  If our baby does have DS, all the baby's organs and features are working properly and there are no defects - so PRAISE THE LORD our baby is healthy.

We do have to go for another ultrasound in 5 weeks on the Island to make sure our baby is growing.  If at that time there are other concerns, we may have to return to Halifax for further observation.

Because we do not know if the baby has DS or not, the doctor explained the options that we have/had.
Option 1: Amniocentesis - inserting a needle into my belly to retrieve some fluid and this would tell us 100% if the baby has DS or not.  The risk is that I may deliver right now or I may lose the baby in the process. So, we did not want to risk the health of our baby - especially when the baby is healthy and safe.
Option 2: Blood test on me - seems easy enough, except the blood test is only done in the States (I could have it set up to be done here, but it's processed in the States) and it costs $1,000.  It is more than 99% sure that it is, or isn't.  That's a lot of money to pay - especially when our main concern is that our baby is healthy, which we know.
Option 3: Interrupt the pregnancy/Terminate - to have an abortion if we did find out the baby had DS and wanted to.  ABSOLUTELY NOT! God gave this baby life.  He is creating him/her to be exactly the way He wants.  This baby is part of His plan.  He loves the baby more than we do.  We will love and care for this baby the best we know how.

We decided that our baby is safe and healthy and that is what is most important, not finding out if the baby has DS or not.  This baby is loved and we looking forward to meeting him/her in the spring.  We will do some research on DS because we do have that 1 in 15 chance of having a DS baby.  I feel like it might be good to be a bit prepared (if I can be).  But we are definitely not worked up about this.

"Be careful (anxious) for nothing; by in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God"  Philippians 4:6

We are not worried and we are not anxious.  We are praying for this little one and are so thankful for the life He has given.  He knows my cares and I can cast them on Him because He cares for me.  We would covet your prayer for this little one.

The baby was quite active during the ultrasound that it was hard to get a good profile picture of the baby. But here little Hobbish is! Now, I know what you are all wondering,  did we find out the gender? :) Well, we did not. But don't worry, I got an envelope with the answer in it!

Thank you Lord for letting me care for this baby!