Update

I know many of you are waiting for Ben’s birthday pictures, and they are coming, soon, I promise. I had a little technical difficulty that made my upload program crash and burn. Anyway, thanks to Marti and his infinite computer abilities, it is now fixed, and as soon as I can take a breath, I will get the pictures up.

Also, in other news, last week we had another ultrasound done along with a genetic consultation, and the prognosis is good. The doctor said that our baby has a very, very small cleft lip — in fact, he said it’s the smallest he’s ever seen detected on an ultrasound, and both he and the tech had difficulty locating the cleft. This is a relief, as it means the baby can probably breastfeed and is unlikely to have a lot of speech problems. He also said that there are no other genetic markers that would indicate a chromosomal problem, and did not recommend an amniocentesis test. We are young, he said, and are low-risk, since we don’t have a family history of birth defects (that we know of). The amnio carries with it the risk of infection and pre-term labor, and he said the risks outweigh the benefits. We are still planning on having a 3-D ultrasound to take another look, but the baby looks very healthy. There is still, of course, risk of chromosomal problem, but what I got from the consultation is that the risk is probably not any higher (because of the cleft) than it would be otherwise. All pregnancies carry a certain amount of risk, as we’ve been reminded this time.

The downside of all this is that we won’t know anything for sure until the baby is born. The upside is that I don’t have to have a giant needle pushed into my belly, an experience I was not looking forward to.

So things are looking up. I appreciate the e-mails I’ve gotten from friends and family about this — I know it’s a hard thing to talk about. I mean, everyone wants to give condolences, but there is new life involved as well, and so it’s hard to decided what is better to say — congratulations or we’re sorry? I know this and am more forgiving than I sound sometimes. Having a baby that is sick or disabled or who needs surgery is grievous and wonderful all at once, and we too don’t always know what to say. But we love you all and thank you for saying something regardless.