Thursday, July 24, 2008

Did you know?

So I am very excited to announce that we are expecting a new baby in January!!! The due date is the 20th, it's 5 days off of Richard's pregnancy, but this time we're shooting for a January baby, of course, not December...I'm 14 weeks and very excited and grateful for this little person. The other fun thing is that I am participating in a research study at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center to see if there are DNA 'markers' in women that can predict early births. Since Richard was 6 weeks early I qualify to be a guinea pig. They needed to do an ultrasound at 12 weeks to make sure everything is viable and healthy. So at 13 weeks I made the appointment and was surprised, yet pleased, that the ultrasound guy offered to locate the gender of the baby. We weren't expecting that at all. So we also already know that we're expecting our 3rd boy!!! Haha! So excited. :) I had tried to enroll in a different research study back in February before I was pregnant, about the affects of aspirin on miscarriage (which I've also had at 11 weeks), but one of the stipulations was to fill out all the paper work, have a urine and blood test to verify I was NOT pregnant and then have another period and THEN get pregnant. Still not sure exactly why they wanted to monitor that...but anyway, we got pregnant too soon...oops. So I called up the research lady and said "I can't participate in this study! But, are there any other studies I can help with now that I am pregnant?" So I got into this one where they wanted you to already BE pregnant. :) This study will be easier also. All they do is 3 times throughout the pregnancy they take some bodily fluids (we don't need to go into too many details) and study my DNA in those samples. Then they compare my samples with the other 999 women involved who have also had preemies and look for 'markers'. Then in the future when a pregnant woman goes to get her blood work done they can check for those markers and give some intervention to help the baby stay in longer. Helping with medical research is very cool....yea!
The ultrasound picture is tough to figure out, but the important part is where the little arrow is pointing. :)

8 comments:

Leslie said...

CONGRATS!! that's so exciting you got to find out so soon. we're actually expecting Jan 14th! but I still have a month to go before we find out boy or girl.. congrats again!!! :)

Esther said...

Congratulations! We are so excited for you! I can't believe that you will have 3 kids now! That is great! Congrats again!

Jill Hunt said...

Yeah! That is so exciting. And I can't believe you already know. You are following in our footsteps. How fun! I hope you are feeling okay!

Sonja said...

Wow! Congratulations you guys!

The Jensen Fam said...

Yeah for another BOY! Congrats you guys and I hope that you are feeling and doing well. Looks like you guys have been having a good summer. Have fun in Hawaii. You'll love it there!

Layla said...

Congrats! That is some very exciting news! And have tons of fun in Hawaii. I'm super jealous.

Cranberryfries said...

Congrats on another boy! How neat to already know!! I did a bit of a research study with Makayla, they're kinda fun. Hey her birthday is Jan 20th. Neato!

Anonymous said...

Wow! Congratulations!!! Three boys is a lot of work, let me tell you! But they're tons of fun. Maybe our fourth one will be a girl, huh?? I'm glad all is well! Love you and miss you!!