What A Difference

The final results for my prenatal screening test to screen for birth defects such as down syndrome, trisectomy 18, etc came this week.  And what a big difference it is this time as compared to the results we got when we did the same screening test two years ago when I was pregnant with Chloe.

The result we got with Chloe was a "screen positive" with a risk assessment of 1 in 130.  That meant Chloe had a 1 out of 130 chance of having a form of birth defect such as down syndrome.  That was compared to a "normal" assessment of 1 in 384 for a woman giving birth at 34.  That shook us out of our seats.  We saw it as our chance of having a baby with a birth defect having grown 3 times the normal.  We were so disturbed by the result that we ended up opting to take a somewhat evasive procedure called a CVS to find out the exact chromosomal makeup of the baby to make sure whether or not she did or did not have a birth defect.  Fortunately, praise the Lord, Buddha, Allah, or whoever is watching over us from above, Chloe's chromosomal makeup came out perfectly normal.  All 46 chromosomes are there.  No more.  No less. We don't know what we would've done if we were to find out she did have "a problem".  We felt, and to this day still feel, very fortunate that we didn't have to ponder such a situation.

Fast forward 2 years later, the result for this pregnancy is a "screen negative" with a risk assessment of 1 in 40,000.  That's right, 1 in 40,000!  The "normal" for a woman my age is 1 in 200.  What a relief it was when we saw the result.  No more early scare in this pregnancy like we had with Chloe.  This is not to say we are completely out of the woods and the baby is guaranteed healthy and normal.  But because our risk assessment in so low, we do not have to undergo the evasive CVS procedure.  But then again, because we are not doing the CVS, we do not know definitively that the baby is normal.  1 in 40,000 is still a chance.  It's just a chance that is small enough to let us temporarily breathe a sigh of relief and not worry about this until the baby is born.  Please I pray to the Lord, Buddha, Allah, or whoever is watching over us from above, please let our baby be healthy and normal.

Useless

I feel very useless today.  A muscle spasm right under my shoulder blade is making it hard for me to drive.  My field of vision is very narrow because I can't turn my head too much and my general movement is slower due to limited use of my muscles.  I don't want to take a chance of getting into an accident, especially with Chloe in the car. On top of that, lifting Chloe in and out of the car is not easy either.  I also don't want to make things worse before I can get some medical help.  As a result, Randy had to drive Chloe and me to the babysitter's/work today.  On top of his busy schedule, he has to carve more time out to be our chauffeur. I've already been of less help at home due to the pregnancy.  He's giving baths to Chloe more often because it's harder for me to lift and squat.  I'm tired often.  And now this.

I need to get this muscle spasm fixed before he heads to the Philippines for business in a few days.  This is not a good time for unexpected situations at all.  *UGH....*


UPDATE (10/21/11):
I went to the chiropractor yesterday.  He was able to reset one side of my neck.  The other side had a nerve that was so swollen that he couldn't reset it.  He told me to ice it every hour to get the swelling to go down and call him today.  The icing worked.  I'm a lot looser today.  There's still a little knot and stiffness but at least I regained a lot of movement and am flexible enough to drive again.  I think everything should be back to normal in a couple of days.

Thank you JMT for offering to help.  I should be fine now.

Bottle Weaning

Ever since her 15-month check up, Chloe's pediatrician has been pressuring encouraging us to wean her off the bottle.  We tried and we tried.  But every time she tastes milk coming out of a sippy cup/straw cup/regular cup, she would spit it out as if it was the most disgusting thing she ever tasted.  For stubborn little Chloe, water and juice can come out of cups, but milk must come out of a bottle.  No negotiations.

This past Saturday, she finally came around.  Before I gave her her first milk that morning, I asked her, "Do you want milk?"  She answered, "Yeah".  I then asked her "Would you like milk in a cup?"  She answered "Yeah".  I clarified with her that I was going to give her milk in a cup and she said "Ok".

I quickly seized the opportunity and served her milk in the straw cup that she regularly drinks water with.  To my surprise, she finished all the milk that was in it.  I had served her milk in this very cup before in the past and she had rejected it wholeheartedly.  I have no idea why she suddenly accepted it this time.  Was it the power of words?  Did she accept it because I had asked her permission first?  She does understand a lot more language now versus at 15 months or even at 18 months.

Whatever it is, I'm really glad we are finally successful in weaning her off the bottle.  Her 24-month check up is coming up in about 6 weeks.  This time we can proudly tell the pediatrician that she is no longer on the bottle.

Preschool - Registered

Back in May when we toured a few preschool prospects for Chloe, our top choice asked us to call back one month prior to Chloe turning two to inquire whether or not they have space for her.  Chloe is turning two in a little more than one month.  I called the preschool last Friday to inquire about their availability and hoped to officially register her for school.  The preschool director told us they only had one opening left and there are a few families interested. In order to snatch up that last space, we needed to go in first thing on Monday morning to fill out a contract and pay our deposit.  We did exactly that and now I'm proud to say Chloe is officially registered for preschool!  Her first day will be Monday, December 5th.  I better get my tissues ready for her first day of school!