"Keegan!"

Lots of news.

We took Keri Lynn to college yesterday. Bittersweet to leave our daughter on her own. Life is going to be pretty drastically different for her for a while, but I'm confident that she will settle in well and enjoy some brand new independence.

I didn't even cry, at least not until Keith and I had driven away and Keith said, "We didn't pray for her. We need to pray for her now." And he did and the tears flowed down my cheeks. May God bless you, sweet girl.

This morning, I dragged myself out of bed to get kids on their way to school. I was tired from the emotions and traveling in August weather all day yesterday, so I signed agendas, gave out lunch money, helped Kade with some last minute homework, and as soon as everyone was out the door, headed off to bed to squeeze in about an hour and a half more of sleep before going to the perinatologist for the long-awaited amniocentesis.

Turns out that the doctor postponed the amnio because the lab required more amniotic fluid than the doctor was comfortable removing at 16 weeks. She will do it in another two weeks, but wanted to make sure that I wasn't going to terminate a pregnancy if results came back positive for Down Syndrome or anything like that. I guess 18 weeks is too long for a conventional abortion. Ick!

Anyway, I said that absolutely I would not terminate a pregnancy and to wait two more weeks was fine. Two weeks makes a huge difference in development. Two weeks ago when I went in for a blood pressure check, the baby was lower in my abdomen and a lot smaller. Now the top of my uterus is at my belly button already. This is exciting news! This means that my belly is not ALL fat anymore, it's baby, too!

Instead of the amnio, the doctor did do an extensive ultrasound. That's when I found out that the baby is a BOY! So now I know I'm carrying Keegan around. And Keegan is very busy. He was moving all over the place. The technician was having to step it up to get measurements. Also, at this point the doctor sees no markers for Down Syndrome. We won't find out for sure until the amnio is done.

As for the Kell antibody, the reason for the amnio in the first place, there are as yet no signs of Kell problems. But that doesn't usually occur until the end of the second trimester and into the third. However, if the baby proves desensitized to Kell, then that will be a mute point.

The biggest news, though, with this office visit is that it appears that one of the baby's kidneys does not function. There is fluid collected in his little body that is probably urine that somehow got clogged up. As the doctor puts it, "And that is why God made two kidneys." Apparently his other kidney works just fine because the amniotic fluid is at normal levels.

I looked at her questioningly, and asked, "Does that mean that amniotic fluid is pee?"

"Yes," she said, "After seven kids, you didn't know that?"

"Um, no," I said, "No wonder it's yellow!" (This I know from previous amniocenteses.)

So we will continue to monitor the cyst and see what happens with it. I have no idea what this means for the long haul, but everything else looks good. His heart looks healthy as well as blood flow to his brain. And he looks SO CUTE! I'm in love!

And other news . . . Kristofer turns 16 tomorrow! I can't believe it. I guess I should since he's been taller than me for several months, but I'm in denial. Keith is getting together a paint ball war for Kristofer and two of his buddies to celebrate his birthday.