The Anatomy Scan

Trevor was born 5 weeks early on March 10, 2015. When we shared the news on social media that he  had Down Syndrome, we didn't say much more about it. I'm sure some people were wondering if we had already known. The answer is yes and no! Here's a little bit about what happened before he was born.

On August 9, 2014 I took a home pregnancy test and found out I was pregnant. I was SO excited! On Pinterest I had been pinning away for cute reveal ideas I could use when I wanted to tell Braxton. Wellll..... all that flew out the window! He was working from home on the computer at that time and soon as he was off, I called his name from the bedroom and when he came in I help up the test and just smiled and laughed. Needless to say he was so happy, too :) The rest of that day was perfect as we spent it celebrating the marriage of one of Brax's really good friends (Love you, Kegan!). It was so special to be in a sealing room of the Salt Lake Temple for these friends just hours after we'd found out.

I went to doctor in September when I was around 10 weeks along. Side note: My OB/GYN is a good family friend- you may think this is strange, but I promise it isn't! And with how everything ended up turning out, it's been the biggest blessing :) ANYWAY... that first appointment we heard our tiny baby's heartbeat and saw his little body. It was just magical and everything was great!

I went back for a check up at 14 weeks and my doctor sneaked us in to one of the ultrasound rooms and had a nurse figure out the gender! As soon as we hear it was a boy we just cried and couldn't wait to meet our little Derek or Trevor! We announced the pregnancy AND gender on social media around Halloween last year. I was so proud of our costumes ;)

A few weeks later it was time for the 20 week anatomy scan. I was pretty nervous for this one because I knew it's when they check thoroughly to make sure all was well. The ultrasound tech mentioned little things here and there about his limbs, heart, and briefly mentioned that something about some part of his neck was normal so that really ruled out any big chances of Down Syndrome. I didn't pay much attention to it at the time. My doctor said he'd look over the results and only call if he needed to talk about something. I pretty much skipped home haha :) Everything was fine as far as I knew!

My doctor called me a couple of days later- I think it was around November 18th. I was at work and didn't see he had called until I was off a few hours later. His message was something NO pregnant woman wants to hear. He said that he saw something minor with the baby's scans, and that while he really didn't want me to stress about, he also felt it needed a little extra attention. I panicked and left him a message and waited for him to call back. WORST 2 or 3 hours of my life! When he called back he explained that my baby boy's lateral ventricles in his brain were slightly enlarged. Hmmm... what? Help me please haha! So the ventricles are filled with cerebrospinal fluid, which provides cushioning for the brain while helping to circulate nutrients and remove waste. My doctor said that a normal measurement for these ventricles is up to 10mm, and Trevor's were measuring at 11mm., and anything from 11-15mm is considered mild ventriculomegaly. Anything above that is bad. He said that worst case scenario, my baby would need a shunt sometime after birth to drain the fluid. He also stressed over and over it wasn't anything to lose sleep over and that it usually resolves itself. But to be safe, he had me make an appointment to see a specialist at the Maternal Fetal Medicine office at IMC in Murray.

That night was terrible and I cried a lot. Braxton was worried too but tried to be brave for me (what a good guy!). That's when all the stress started and I honestly didn't know if it would go away for the rest of my pregnancy or not. Little did I know that it would get worse, MUCH worse, but eventually subside... I made the MFM appointment ASAP, for the week after Thanksgiving. For days thoughts of my little man possibly being diagnosed with thinks like Hydrocephalus and Spina Bifida at any time during my pregnancy ran rampant through my mind.

I posed my first "bumpie" to facebook that week. "Almost 21 weeks and finally looks like there's a baby inside!" It was fun to post it, but no one knew what was going on inside/emotionally that week (the perfect example of how social media can hide real life and it's raw experiences and emotions to make everything seem perfect). I tried to stay Thankful for my little guy and remember how blessed we were to have him, but it was an awful and long 2 weeks. But I finally made it, and we went in to the Women's Center at IMC to Suite 100 on Tuesday December 1, 2014 to find out more.