Our OB recommended
that we might want to find out the gender of our baby. She explained that it
might help with conversations that we will need to have in the future and that
it may make it easier to connect with our baby. I wondered what type of
conversations she was insinuating.
We took her advice
and now looked forward to this ultrasound; not to just find out what was
‘wrong’ with our baby, but also to find out if there would be bows or trucks in
our future. Within the first 20 seconds, the ultrasound technician informed us
we were having a boy!!! I couldn’t believe it. I was so sure that we were
having another girl. I thought “finally a boy for our family which is full of
girl cousins, nieces and granddaughters.” Finally someone for my Dad to fish
with! The tech then informed us that his legs and arms were indeed short. She
also found that the femurs and humerus bones were bowed. I racked my brain to
try to remember if that was typical of achondroplasia. I worried slightly about
limitations but assumed this was typical of dwarfism. She noted that the basic
heart functions looked good but the heart was either measuring big or the chest
cavity was small. She noted that his little eyes seemed wider apart than “what she’d
like to see.” This meant nothing to me; surely the eyes being further apart did
not change their function. She said that the brain and spinal cord looked great
which was a big relief since babies with dwarfism could be born with
hydrocephalous (fluid surrounding the brain).
She also pointed out that his torso was bell-shaped which she said was
typical of a child with dwarfism. Truly, nothing she said was alarming. We were
thrilled that we had a boy! She left the room and gave us amazing ultrasound
pictures that we looked at while we waited for the doctor. I could not help but
stare at the sonogram images and think our son is so cute.
When the doctor came in she wanted a couple more views on the ultrasound. Again, I lay back so I could get more aqua blue gel squirted on my belly. She looked for 30 seconds, shut the machine off once again, and took us to her consultation room. This is what we learned. Our original plan for a vaginal birth after caesarian (VBAC) with our OB and hospital would not be a possibility any longer. Surprisingly, the VBAC I so badly wanted now meant very little to me.
The specialist then explained that our sweet baby boy’s chest was measuring very small. So small, in fact, that she was concerned about lung development. If his tiny chest cavity did not start growing wider, there would literally not be enough room for his lungs to grow. This meant that our baby could be born with insufficient lung tissue to survive out of the womb. She said we would have to come back in 1-2 weeks to measure his chest cavity again. She never mentioned a potential diagnosis and did not rule any out. She left us with the idea that time will tell. We left her office with hope that at the next ultrasound his chest will measure wider.
When the doctor came in she wanted a couple more views on the ultrasound. Again, I lay back so I could get more aqua blue gel squirted on my belly. She looked for 30 seconds, shut the machine off once again, and took us to her consultation room. This is what we learned. Our original plan for a vaginal birth after caesarian (VBAC) with our OB and hospital would not be a possibility any longer. Surprisingly, the VBAC I so badly wanted now meant very little to me.
The specialist then explained that our sweet baby boy’s chest was measuring very small. So small, in fact, that she was concerned about lung development. If his tiny chest cavity did not start growing wider, there would literally not be enough room for his lungs to grow. This meant that our baby could be born with insufficient lung tissue to survive out of the womb. She said we would have to come back in 1-2 weeks to measure his chest cavity again. She never mentioned a potential diagnosis and did not rule any out. She left us with the idea that time will tell. We left her office with hope that at the next ultrasound his chest will measure wider.
We chose to name our sweet baby boy Alexander James. His first name after my witty, warm-hearted grandfather that I so admired; James after one of my favorite books of the bible and the book we were studying when I first found out I was pregnant.
[Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. James 1:2-8]
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