good news!

remember this post? for a quick synopsis, we found out during our 19 week ultrasound that baby has a slightly enlarged right kidney - of little long-term concern (these things typically correct themselves prior to birth when they start off as such a small dilation) - but the condition, also known as pyelectasis, is a soft marker for down syndrome. since learning of the potential chromosomal abnormalities linked to even the mildest forms of pyelectasis and pouring over a handful of articles (thank you umn medical school library) related to the enlarged (however mildly) kidney condition of my growing fetus i decided i couldn't take the suspense any longer. however slim, there was still a very real chance that any degree of renal pelvic dilation could mean something could be wrong with our baby. i pride myself in being increasingly easygoing (catch the hint of sarcasm), but a surprise like 'your baby has a chromosomal abnormality that will effect his/her growth, learning abilities, motor functions, etc.' upon the birth of our first born could have been the kind of earth-shattering news that would make my already vulnerable state of equilibrium shatter completely. so we decided to take the genetic screen that was offered to us by our fetal urologist. not that knowing of an abnormality would have changed the inevitable, but we would have been able to prepare for the challenge by the time baby came.

once the test was completed it surprised me how light i felt walking out of the lab. somehow just having taken the test made me feel confident that everything would be okay... whether the test came back positive for trisomies or not. this morning i received the call from our genetic counselor. she confirmed that our baby did not show signs of any trisomies or sex chromosome abnormalities. of course i was relieved. of course i texted joey instantly to let him know the good news, but i took me off guard a bit how little excitement i felt knowing. what a positive test result would have changed, i can't be sure. most likely we would have still moved to virginia in a month, baby would have come in november as planned, and joey and i would have welcomed our beautiful baby into the world flooded with overwhelming joy, pride, and love. but we would have been armed with every piece of information we could have laid hands on about the new challenges we would face as parents of such a unique child. i feel so blessed this morning to know that my healthy baby is going to have every opportunity in this world to do whatever he/she finds in his/her heart to do. yes, there will be obstacles - as there always are - and we'll face them as they come. but at least we know that for now, baby looks great. the pregnancy is going well. and in only a few weeks, joey and i will finally be in our home... the home we will bring this baby back to from the hospital. i can't tell you how excited i am to know what that home will look like!