Oh, the Places You'll Go!: There's a Girl in There!

This past Wednesday we had our 20 week sonogram to check the anatomy and learn the gender of the baby. Based on my recent history of stressful medical news (Cristl, Trafton) and based on the fact that at this appointment with Trafton, all sorts of red flags were placed because only one kidney could be located, it's no secret that I wasn't terribly excited about this appointment. Mostly, just nervous. We arrived at our 8:00 appointment on time and were seen right away. A very nice technician completed our scan in about 45 minutes and told us two great pieces of news - there was a GIRL in there and she had TWO kidneys. Instant relief flooded us at the news of the dual kidneys, and then shock hit me as I realized that we were having a girl! I couldn't believe it. Because of the number of boys in the Beyer family, I really thought we didn't stand a chance! How wonderful :)

When the technician was finished, she said the doctor would be right in. At this point in the 20 week appointment with Trafton, this is what happened: a worried doctor came in and checked my body for two kidneys, which she found. She told us about the risks associated with having a child with one kidney. She then explained that we would have to be seen several more times to monitor this situation. We were sent to see a genetic counselor. We were sent to several more ultrasounds with several more high risk doctors to monitor amniotic fluid and progression of the one kidney. One of our appointments ended with us nervously waiting for a doctor in a 'patient education' room where we thought terrible news awaited us, but it didn't. At this point in this 20 week appointment, this is what happened: a kind older doctor came in, told us everything looked wonderful, we were having a perfectly healthy little girl, we would not need to have another ultrasound or be seen by high risk doctors any more, and wished us the best with the remainder of the pregnancy and delivery. I got a little emotional here. I mean, at no point in the pregnancy with Trafton did a doctor ever say things like that to us. It was a really, really great feeling. Knowing that there's a healthy little girl in there is certainly going to make me enjoy the next few months!