Monday, July 23, 2007

So it WAS nothing, but…

He is fine. He is perfectly fine. He is perfect. He has two lips and a nose and all those other facial features that we were missing in the last scan. He was very cooperative for the scan and was constantly opening and closing his mouth. It was awesome, and I could not believe how much clearer everything was—compared to a month ago.

But… There is one minor, tiny, completely insignificant to the big picture “but.” He is measuring roughly two weeks ahead of schedule and weighing in at 2 ½ lbs. The significance of the weight did not hit me until I remembered that my most recent weekly e-mail from babycenter said that the baby should be measuring at roughly 1 ¼ lbs. at 24 weeks. Yowza. The lil dude is twice the size of a normal baby at this stage!

And that’s where having a point of comparison becomes both reassuring and somewhat unnerving. It is reassuring because four years ago, Child’s development during this scan measured roughly a week ahead of time and his legs were measuring two weeks ahead, so obviously growing bigger babies is what my body does. It is, however, somewhat unnerving because Child did end up greeting the outside world at 9 ½ lbs., and this makes me wonder just how big this baby is going to be if he is already a week ahead of his older brother.

Husband and I are not small people: he is 6’3”, I am 5’8”, but our weight is in the normal range (though I have been a bit frumpy from lack of regular exercise over the last few yeas). My weight gain in the second trimester has been above average, but I blame a week of glorious food in Vegas for that.

So being a normal, reasonable woman who is not at all prone to overreacting, I have now successfully self-diagnosed myself with gestational diabetes and sentenced myself to a c-section. OK, I am exaggerating a bit, but those thoughts have crossed my mind. Neither of those two issues would be a huge deal, but I would prefer to avoid both.

I have my glucose screen in less than three weeks, so I will have at least one of the answers then. In the meantime, I feel so blessed and so lucky to be where I am. Just look at him, isn’t he gorgeous?

5 comments:

Sarah said...

what a great picture!!! he's fabulous! he looks like he's blowing bubbles in the fluid without a care in the world.

it is a bit scary that he's THAT big, but don't they sometimes grow at different paces? so maybe he'll be closer to brother's size in another month or so?

i would probably also give myself the same very reasonable diagnoses you have, but i hope you're wrong!

JW said...

Wonderful news, I'm so relieved! And yes, he gorgeous and a real looker!! Better watch out for the girls. x

The Oneliner (Christina) said...

now i feel very guilty. i weighed 9.9 lbs when born. My mother is 4"11 and weighes 90 lbs. For shame.
I have always liked and wanted a big baby! They just say 'health.' I once told a mother that she sure did have a fat baby (it was my cousin) and while i meant it as the biggest compliment, she didn't take it that way.
And yes, he's quite fetching.

Anonymous said...

Wow. Amazing. I hope you can stop diagnosing yourself and just gaze at that photo awhile..

Anonymous said...

I've just discovered your blog today and wanted to say that we're in similar boats, only I'm at almost 30w with twins. Baby A is measuring 2w ahead and Baby B is a half week ahead and I have no sign of gestational diabetes (screen was negative). As for the section, I know a woman your height with a similarly tall husband whose first baby was a 10lb3oz girl, delivered vaginally. It can be done. Me, I'm hooped because I had to have a section with my son and a VBAC with twins is far too risky.

...looking forward to reading more!