20 Weeks Gestation, Advocacy Day & MRKH meet up

On Wednesday we had our 20 week "Anatomy Scan" which is basically a very thorough ultrasound where they look at all of the baby's various structures and organs. At first the little bugger was not being cooperative and wouldn't unfold from his comfy position for the tech to get many good pictures. Then the tech started bouncing/pushing the probe deeper into Heather's stomach to try to wake him up or make him move and Lee and I both grimaced, but Heather assured us it didn't hurt and the tech kept telling us it was fine, the baby is well insulated in there.

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The tech asked us if we had scheduled our echocardiogram ultrasound which our hospital system recommends for all IVF conceived babies as they have a slightly higher risk for cardiac issues (according to one study). We told her that after doing our own research and talking with Dr. Kolp we have decided to opt out of that and any future scans unless an immediate need arises as the risks of the scans outweigh the benefit we see from it (in our opinion). Even our midwife told us that many times they can give false positives which then require further scans and just end up scaring everybody when actually everything is fine.

Well, after we told the tech that we could tell her tone with us changed. After a few more minutes she said she wanted to show the doctor on call there the pictures she had gotten already and see if he wanted any others. A few minutes later the doctor returned with her, a very large, surly old man and he basically tried to scare us into getting the extra scans by telling us all the horrible things that could be wrong with our baby and we wouldn't know unless we got the scans. We held our ground and eventually he backed off. Funny thing was as soon as the doctor came in, the little bugger completely complied and they were able to get great shots of his heart and spine and the most important parts.

He looks perfect! He's about 13oz, which is right on track (maybe a tad big...) and they confirmed he is indeed a BOY!

On Friday we had our regular midwife appointment, to which I love going. Marie is sweet, stern and very understanding. We spent nearly 40 minutes chatting, asking questions and going over the ultrasound report. She agreed that the doctor on call was just an old grump and not to worry. I asked about surrogacy protocol at the hospital after birth since she said she's had several before, but she didn't know the legal specifics of baby hand off or duration of stay or anything specific so I will schedule a hospital tour and meeting with the social worker in a few weeks.

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On Thursday May 14th, I joined 170 advocates from 26 states (25 from Maryland alone!) in Washington, DC to educate and lobby on Capitol Hill for infertility and adoption tax credits and access to treatment for Veterans.
It was a looooooong day, I had to be in DC by 7:30am and didn't leave until after 6:00pm....and returned to my car to find a $60 parking ticket...... but it was an amazing and memorable day.

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On Saturday May 16th, The Mid-Atlantic Strength & Unity MRKH support group had their second annual DC meeting. Nine amazing women talked, laughed...and yes cried, for nearly 3 hours.

Two of the ladies are mothers (one through surrogacy and one through adoption) so it was nice to share stories. One of the ladies was the first MRKHer I met nearly 10 years ago, we lost touch after our one meeting and recently its amazing to reconnect.

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