Today was pure anxiety and pure bliss all at once.

Since we began with our genetic testing drama at 10 weeks,  I’d been told around 22 weeks I’d need a fetal echo to rule out any heart defects.

This was because what they saw on the initial ultrasound (and what I was being tested up the wazoo for–increased nuchal translucency) could sometimes be related to a heart condition. (Ironic, given my role as the community manager for the American Heart Association, no?)

Today (though I was just 21 weeks, 2 days) we were scheduled for that test with a pediatric radiologist.

We went this morning as planned and fortunately everything looked GREAT!

It’s soooo amazing to see her wiggling about and to see how much she’s grown since the 15 week ultrasound — literally, she’s doubled in weight! (She weighs about 14 oz. now and is, if she wasn’t curled up, about the length of a carrot–love those analogies!). She also pursed her lips a little for us, and was moving her hands quite a bit.

Her little heart was beating beautifully, had all the appropriate chambers/valves/arteries and everything seemed to be operating well. Still, my perinatologist would like to see one more ultrasound at 32 weeks just to be sure nothing was missed, but they seemed confident in the initial results (the full report will come later this week). So I feel a ton better and though I’ll probably always worry … I’m hoping I can rest a little easier now.

The anatomy scan was scheduled for immediately after, but due to a scheduling mix-up on the hospital’s part, we had to go back in the afternoon for said scan, where they look at all the vital organs (kidneys, bladder, stomach, diaphragm, heart, etc.) as well as measure arm/leg lengths, skull circumference, distance between eyes, etc. and tell you the baby’s sex (though we already knew, it was funny to see that yup, she IS indeed a girl!).

With this ultrasound,  we got to see much more of her, and for a much longer period of time (the fetal echo obviously focused on the heart).

Anyway, it was a stressful, anxious day, but in the end, totally worth it. Loved hearing her heartbeat again, too — 136. Supposedly that is right on target!! 🙂

To celebrate, I hit Babies R Us for the adorable little Carter’s ensemble you see in today’s post 🙂 And on that note, I need to hit the hay, but wanted to post a quick update!