August Isaac {part one}

This is the story of our son, August Isaac. You can find the rest of his story here: part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4

We found out about our sweet baby on March 3rd. We were surprised and delighted to discover that we were pregnant so quickly into our marriage. Just two months and we were being blessed with a little soul that was ours. Half me and half him. Our baby.

We told our parents. So much joy and excitement and surprise. A baby? already? Yes, our baby, already!

I felt good, no nausea, just tired all the time and hungry. I was bloated and waking up early to use the bathroom. We started coming up with names for Baby and started calling the baby Asparagus, based on an inside joke between J and I. We looked at houses for our growing family, and reconsidered travel plans we had tentatively made.

At our first ultrasound, they gave us an official due date of November 18th. The Sunday before Thanksgiving. Perfect, I thought, we’ll have one very sweet little thing to be thankful for. But they also saw a little spot on the ultrasound. A subchorionic hemorrhage, nothing to be concerned about, it’s small, it’ll resolve on its own, come back in four weeks and we’ll give it another look, they said.

They didn’t seem worried, so why should I be?

Four more weeks went by.

Back again for another ultrasound. But we were 11 weeks and I felt good and my belly was starting to be less bloat and more ‘maybe a baby?’ and so we started sharing our happy news with our extended family. A baby? already? Yes, our baby, already! What joy, such joy, this little lime sized babe was bringing to us.

11 weeks. How much will Baby Asparagus have grown? Do you think we can hear Baby’s heartbeat? Gosh, I can’t wait to see our Baby.

The tech brought us back, hi, this’ll be quick, we’re just looking at that spot again today, no, I won’t be measuring the baby today, we did that last time.

Okay, no worries. Just watching Baby move around. Watching the little heart beat. Wait, is she measuring something? We looked at each other, she’s definitely measuring something on Baby. Oh, we’re done.

Waiting for our doctor to come in. Waiting. Waiting. Okay, I have to pee again, I’ll be right back. Walked by our OB on the phone referring someone to a specialist. Back in our room.  J, she’s on the phone. Something’s wrong with someone else’s baby. We can be patient for her to make that call and be with that other patient.

She walked in. Asked how I’ve been feeling. Nausea? cramping? feeling good? Good. Well, the subchorionic hemorrhage is gone.

Yay! All is well. right..?

Actually, we found something else. It’s what we call a cystic hygroma, a fluid filled sack on the back of the baby’s neck. We’re sending you to the MFM doctor, the high risk specialists, they’ll be able to tell you more. They’ll call you and make an appointment. But it means there is probably a chromosomal abnormality with Baby. You turned down testing last time, but maybe this time you should go and check it out. Just to see and know. Here, here’s the script for the lab. Here’s the word written out for what we found. It could mean nothing, it could resolve, but here.

Just wait for them to call. Do the labs. We’ll figure it out.