Mosaic

One of the things that Dr. Balderstien mentioned is that the babies that you hear about having Trisomy 13 or 18 that live longer than a couple of weeks have "mosaic." Mosaic is when only some of the cells are affected by having the extra chromosome. Basically, they are only partially affected by the defect. He told us that Gabriel has NO signs of mosaic, which means every cell in his body is affected by the Trisomy 18 and he has no chance of survival beyond a few days, but will most likely die before or during delivery. This is sad, but I'm glad to know the reality of the situation in advance, so I can be prepared as much as possible. Dr. Katz said 0% chance of seeing him alive, Dr. Haugen said 25% chance of seeing him alive and Dr. Balderstein said he would most likely die within hours of birth, if he were born alive. Girls have a better survival rate than boys.

At this point, we are prepared to NOT see him alive, but are hopeful that we would have a few minutes with him. They've said that the passing of babies with Trisomy 18 is peaceful.

On Friday, after having dinner out, my feet felt weird and when I took of my boots they were completely swollen. I got really swollen with Maylee during the last month of pregnancy, but it was gradual and then it stayed until the end. This swelling came on more suddenly. I put my feet up and by morning, it was gone. I went to do Yoga in the morning (which was REALLY hard) and both my hands and feet started to swell again, but then went down. While sitting and watch the Civil War Game with my dad, my hands started to swell again... I looked it up on the internet and it is called Edema (the swelling of the extremities). Its not really a concern and is pretty common in pregnancy, but more common during the last month. Its not too big of a deal, but its just not a very flattering look. :-) I'm going to call the doctor today and just make sure I'm ok. I'm sure I am, mom... don't worry...