Happy and Sad

First I would like to share pictures of our beautiful baby BOY!!! (haven't decided on a name yet) He is healthy and growing as he should...he measured at 19 weeks today, estimated weight of 9oz (over 1/2 pound!!). Heartrate of 142. Great looking heart & kidneys. He also did a couple somersaults for us too during the ultrasound :) Here he is...

Baby Face

Side profile, 4D...I think he has daddy's nose lol

Baby face 4D...he looks kinda funny in this one :)  That is his hand right by his face on the left

Baby Feet!!!  How adorable is that? :)

Proof....He's all boy!!!!!!

So now for the not so great news.  When looking at the placenta, the doctor pointed out to us that it is abnormally shaped, and it appears that there is an area that didn't grow in the center...he also mentioned something about a cyst, so I don't know whether the spots in the middle were cysts or an actual "hole" in the placenta.  The doctor seemed very optimistic about this, and that it will hopefully take care of itself with time, but there is always the possibility that it won't.  In that case, babies tend to have some growth restriction as well as not being able to tolerate labor as well, so constant monitoring would have to be done during labor, and I'm sure that it would ultimately end in c-section (worst case scenario).  Then the doctor also showed us a spot in the brain that he was slightly concerned about, although again he seemed very optimistic about it as well.  There is a spot in the brain that has not quite developed to the point where it should by now and there is some cerebral fluid that is still being "communicated" between areas which should be closed at this point...he stated that at a 10 week ultrasound scan, this would look normal, but at 19 weeks, it is something to keep an eye on. 

So while the first part of our appointment was extremely exciting, especially when my "motherly instincts" were validated as being true about Baby Pena's gender, the second part was not so fun to hear.  Dr. Roberts is a perinatologist that deals specifically with high risk pregnancies, so I feel like I am in the best care possible at this point.  I am soooo thankful that I chose to go to see him to get the full medical ultrasound scan performed because if I would have gone to just do a gender check with someone else, who knows if they would have found these things.  Our follow up ultrasound with Dr. Roberts is to be in 8-10 weeks, so end of June/ beginning of July. At that time he will be able to reassess the placenta and brain development and hopefully give us a clean bill of health.  Again, Dr. Roberts tried to emphasize that although it's not great news, he was pretty confident that there would be much improvement before our next visit.

Although I am saddened by news I never expected to hear, I am also feeling very optimistic that everything will turn out alright.  As I was reminded today, the Lord does not give us more than we can handle, so I must put my faith in the fact that everything has its purpose, and these things will only make you stronger if you just have faith.

I want to thank everyone for their support and prayers today as this was hard news for all of us, but we will get through and I'm sure we will be looking into the face of a healthy baby boy in September!  Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.  Love you all!