monthly update

The Result- 28 weeks

November 8, 2017November 8, 2017by Sheridan Johnson6 Comments

result

Image credit: Here

So today was the day, that we would find out what is actually going on with baby boy/girl!

I turned 28 weeks yesterday, and I am so glad that my appointment was set up as soon as possible, so that we wouldn’t have to wait around too long for the results.

So my mom, my best friend Adriane, and my baby girl Brielle came to the maternal fetal specialist appointment with me today (Dr. Haeri). It was so nice and comforting for them to come along and show their support since Shane had to stay home with our 6 yr old son since he was still in school.

It started out of course with the nurse measuring your weight, asking if you have had any complications/discomforts and then the sonographer was sent in to look at the baby.

She was amazing, to say the least, and talked over each and every thing she was measuring. She was so descriptive with the brain, the heart, the kidneys, the abdomen, and the upper and lower extremities. She also said that the baby was being “stubborn” once again, but she did get some great views of the face and the nasal bone. She also showed us some pictures in 4D which was amazing! Our little munchkin is SO cute!

After she measured everything, the Dr. came in to discuss the results/findings of all the measurements. He basically told us that given that I have had a previous baby with Trisomy, the statistics show that our likelihood of having a baby with Down Syndrome goes to 1 in 10 chances.

He then went on to tell me that everything in the baby looks perfect. From the brain, to the heart, the kidneys, and all the other major organs. He stated that the baby does seem to have a “flat nose” which is very likely in African-American children, and that he does not see one concern with the baby. He said your baby looks “perfect” and that he would say that there is a “0 percent chance” that he/she has Down’s Syndrome.

He then went on to blow up a glove balloon and the made the MOST creative happy face with it, and his bedside manner was BEYOND amazing! I would HIGHLY recommend him to anyone seeking a specialist in the Austin/surrounding areas. It was definitely worth the 1 hr 45 mins it took to get there!

I know God has his hand in every aspect of this journey, and that it is His precious child that is growing inside of me and that we are going to the do the best we can to cherish, love, and nurture every minute we get to spend with him/her!

We are measuring a week ahead, so it looks like the countdown is on! 11 more weeks and we should be able to meet baby Johnson!

Thank you to ALL the prayers, thoughts, and sweet messages that you all sent us. God heard them and answered them!♥♥

I will most definitely leave you with some super cute pictures!

monthly update, parenting, pregnancy

Halloween Scare- 27 weeks

November 7, 2017November 7, 2017by Sheridan Johnson1 Comment

faith over fear.jpg

Image Credit: Justbethlawrence

So, many of you know my past history with my precious angel babies, and know that it is just amazing that God would bless us with our rainbow baby, and that we could not be more excited.

Well, since my 20 week anatomy scan, the sonographer that measures all aspects of the babies body, couldn’t find a nasal bone for my baby. They thought at first “it was a bad angle” and told me “come back in 4 weeks and we will look then”. I didn’t think anything of it, because they didn’t seem that concerned at the time.

Fast forward to my 24 ultrasound/appointment and a different sonographer stated that she couldn’t see the nasal bone either, and measured everything else again on the baby (the heart, brain, kidneys, etc) to make sure there were no other abnormalities with the baby. It all came back good, so yet again they sent me home and stated the baby was just being “stubborn” and wouldn’t let them get a good look. (The baby was using my placenta as a pillow at the time, and they couldn’t get him/her to turn over so they could get a better shot of his/her face, so that’s why they were saying how “stubborn” he/she was being).

So my doctor wanted me to come back in 3 weeks instead of 4 this time, just in case, so I scheduled my last appointment on Halloween.

Well, it didn’t go as planned, because I figured this time for SURE we would see a nasal bone and the baby would cooperate. Well, long story short… the baby gave the sonographer about 20 seconds of a good angle and covered his/her face the rest of the time, so the sonographer only got a couple of good shots and determined that indeed, there was still no nasal bone. The good news though is that the baby weighs 2 lb 9 oz. and had a heart rate of 154.

Basically, a major concern with this is that not having a nasal bone is a soft marker for down’s syndrome (along with other indicators throughout the body such as a hole in the heart, or small gestational size, etc.) but there were no other signs with our baby. The doctor wanted me to rule all possibilities out of it being a genetic factor and suggested that I do a genetic screening and then go see a maternal fetal specialist to make sure that it is not them making a mistake, or just not seeing it.

I called my doctor’s office yesterday and they stated that everything came back normal on the blood tests and that there are no genetic abnormalities in the results, but they still want me to see the specialist in Austin to make sure everything is ok.

This baby could just have a flatter nose than most, but we are hoping and praying that tomorrow everything will be determined and we can finish off these last 12 weeks of the pregnancy great.

Thank you to everyone for your continuous love and support♥♥ God is definitely providing us so much peace with this pregnancy, that we have never had before.

I will leave you with some pictures from our last ultrasound =)

Have any of you ever experienced this?? If so, would love to hear from you!💓

Adoption, foster, monthly update, Uncategorized

4 months

September 7, 2017by Sheridan JohnsonLeave a Comment

ANOTHER wild, busy, crazy month has passed by and now our foster baby girl is 4 months old!

Height: I swear I keep telling myself I will find my tape measure.. but every month I fail to do so! So I will def. get it on the 12th at her 4 month appointment!

Weight: 13 pounds taken at home scale.

Likes:

-To grab her feet! It’s the absolute favorite thing of hers at the moment!
-To play with her sisters! She LOVES Brielle and our 17 month foster baby girl SO much!
-To eat, I swear she is going through a growth spurt, because this girl can eat a lot! She is up to 4 oz. every 2-3 hours (sometimes every 1-2)!
-To sleep! She loves to nap, and is great at sleeping at night.
-Her mouth! Well, she has been teething like crazy!
-To be outside. I remember it used to be one of our “tools” to keep Brielle happy!

Dislikes:
– Still only a fan of the “perfect temperature” bath.
– Hates when she is trying to feed herself her own bottle and it falls out and she can’t quite grasp it to pick it back up to put in her mouth.

Teeth: She FINALLY has a tooth!! About a week and a half ago! Her second one will be here one day soon as well!

Language:
She is cooing and interacting so much lately, it is adorable!

Milestones: She is SO close to rolling over, that I am sure she will accomplish this any day now!

Upcoming:

Family visit (1 hour every week on Tuesdays)

MD appt: 4 month appt sept. 12th

monthly visits with ECI team

Monthly visits with team (now just legal worker and case worker)

I will leave you with some CUTE (but blurry due to her being in foster care) pictures! We just love this baby girl so much!💓

Adoption, baby, foster, monthly update, pregnancy

16 week check up for baby Johnson

August 21, 2017August 21, 2017by Sheridan Johnson3 Comments

So last week (on Tuesday 8/15/17 to be exact), I had my 16 week well check with my OB to check up on baby Johnson!

I had to take my two boys with me (my 6 yr old and my 3 yr old foster sons) which surprisingly they did better than I anticipated, knowing that most appointments take me 1-2 hours to complete.

I hate weighing in each appointment, but this week I actually lost 2 pounds (which did not bring up any concern), and knowing that my heart rate and Blood pressure are within normal limits, and all my labs are looking great definitely made me feel good.

I saw my doctor first this time, and we talked about not revealing the gender until birth, which hospital we were still going to deliver at (since I have to register at 20 weeks gestation), and basically just if I had any concerns (which I did not at this time). I then went to go get my ultrasound done (which was awesome because my boys got to see the baby on the screen for the first time and were truly AMAZED by it!

The heart rate for the baby was 147 BPM which was great, and then we got to see him/her kicking and moving around so much and it just melted my heart. I love knowing that their is a little precious life growing inside of me, but since I can’t feel him/her that often yet, knowing that the baby is ok is just so reassuring. Everything turned out great and there were no concerns at this time.

At my office during the ultrasounds, they offer one complimentary session of having all of the baby’s workup (heartbeat, measurements, etc) sent directly to your cell phone through a link, and you can save all that information to your phone. It was so amazing!! They said next time they will start billing the insurance if you want to continue using that route.

You guys, I am so excited and happy for our precious baby, and I can’t wait to see what these next 24 weeks hold!

I wanted to leave you with a couple of pictures as always:

Psalms 127: 3-5 describes how truly honored and blessed I am that God gave me and Shane another chance at having a baby (and a completely healthy one at that)!