18 Months

At 18 months, Eleanor is adventurous and sweet. She repeats everything you say now and comes up with the funniest "sentences." Like yesterday: "Uh oh. Happened? Down!" as a way of saying, "Uh oh, what happened? They all fell down!" Every time she identifies something, she says hi and asks how it is doing (or what it is doing, it is unclear). Example: "Airplane! Hi! Doing?" She asks after her all of her extended family members regularly. "Tim? Doing? Bye Bye?" (And no, she hasn't seen Uncle Tim in over a month).

She weighs 30 pounds and is about 33 1/2 inches - still in the 95th percentile for weight and height. She wakes up at 6am and goes to be between 7pm and 7:30 and usually naps from noon - 2pm. She loves cheese and crackers and doing wooden puzzles and reading.

She is a wonderful little person, and these days particularly, I don't know what I would do without her.

Rest In Peace, Little Nugget

It is with great sadness that I post the last picture we have of our little Nugget when it's heart was still beating, taken last Wednesday.

When we went in for our First Trimester Triple Screen, we were told we were at an increased risk for Trisomy 18. We were given a 1 in 30 chance of having a baby with a chromosomal abnormality that made it incompatible with life. So, we scheduled a CVS for Friday to find out for sure. During the ultrasound prior to the procedure, we were told there was no need for chromosomal mapping as Nugget was no longer developing; the heart had stopped beating, mostly likely because it did in fact have an extra 18th chromosome in every cell of its little body. I was then told that because of how far along I was, there was really only one safe option: a D&C, wherein the baby and the rest of the reproductive matter would be removed surgically.

While the physical recovery from the procedure (which occurred Saturday) has not been too difficult, emotionally, I am all over the place. I am glad that nature took its course and that there was no tough decision to be made regarding a baby with Trisomy 18. I am so thankful for the healthy 18-month old (in 4 days!) that we have at home that proves we can make PERFECT babies. I want to be pregnant again and still very much look forward to bringing another baby home.

But I am so sad that it wasn't this baby. Nugget just didn't have what it takes to grow and flourish, and there is nothing that I can do about that. I miss being pregnant. I am sad that the daydreaming and planning and researching that I had been doing for Nugget has been in vain. Of course it doesn't seem "fair," though that is Mother Nature for you, I suppose. I know someone has to be that 1 out of 30. And as much as I tried to prepare myself to be that one, I couldn't help but think that I was really most likely to be one of the 29 out of 30 that had a healthy baby that I'd be welcoming into this world in late February. It is a little overwhelming.

Lions and Tigers and Bones, Oh My!

We took Eleanor to the best "zoo" ever: the Natural History Museum, where the animals stand there, completely still, for as long as you want to look at them.

She was probably just as fascinated with the videos as much as anything else.

"Survival Lessons Start Young"

She also learned a new word at the museum: "bones".

Family Portrait

And now for the update on the other little animal: 10 Weeks!

Though he's barely the size of a kumquat — a little over an inch or so long, crown to bottom — and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, your baby has now completed the most critical portion of his development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in his body rapidly grow and mature.

He's swallowing fluid and kicking up a storm. Vital organs — including his kidneys, intestines, brain, and liver (now making red blood cells in place of the disappearing yolk sac) — are in place and starting to function, though they'll continue to develop throughout your pregnancy.

If you could take a peek inside your womb, you'd spot minute details, like tiny nails forming on fingers and toes (no more webbing) and peach-fuzz hair beginning to grow on tender skin.

In other developments: Your baby's limbs can bend now. His hands are flexed at the wrist and meet over his heart, and his feet may be long enough to meet in front of his body. The outline of his spine is clearly visible through translucent skin, and spinal nerves are beginning to stretch out from his spinal cord. Your baby's forehead temporarily bulges with his developing brain and sits very high on his head, which measures half the length of his body. From crown to rump, he's about 1 1/4 inches long. In the coming weeks, your baby will again double in size — to nearly 3 inches.