Vanessa
Something in me thought that that might be the case and i am so
happy for you and looking forward to our meet soo much.
I understand your fear and apprehension but will be praying for you.

With Mercy Grace at 8.5 weeks they could not tell that she had
anencephaly but at 11.5 weeks they could. Sorry i know that doesnt
answer your question exactly.

Wow. I remember all those emotions and fear and am feeling them
again now as i think about them.

Will be thinking of you guys lots and lots this week.
Please let us know how everything goes.

Pettina xoxox

--- In as_ap@..., "Vanessa Murphy"
<chrisandvanessamurphy@...> wrote:
>
> Hi everyone,
>
> It's been ages since I posted. It's just gone 20 weeks since
Matthew
> was born and died. It's amazing to me that that is half the time
he
> was inside me. It's gone so quickly. The 3 month mark was
> particularly important for me, as it happened to also fall on a
> Monday. Since then we've had Christmas, the 4 months, and more
> Mondays. I miss him, and I feel like I "feel" his loss even more
now.
> Part of the reason for that may be that I am pregnant, and that
makes
> you emotional anyway, and I am pregnant, so I see now even more
> acutely just what I have lost in losing Matthew. It happens to be
> exactly one year between pregnancies. One year since I was feeling
> queasy and tired and wondering whether Matthew was a boy or girl.
One
> year since I was innocently looking forward to that 12 week scan
> which changed our lives. This baby (known as "D3" in our family –
we
> nicknamed Anabelle "Dubbie", so Matthew was "D2" before he was
> Matthew, so this is "D3") is due on 9/9/09 (Matthew was due
11/9/08).
> We found out on 5th January, the first Monday that I missed going
to
> Matthew's grave because we were holidaying in Coffs Harbour. We
are
> excited and very thankful for the speed at which this has
happened,
> but it will never take away from the loss of our boy, as I know
you
> would all understand. For the first 2-3 months after Matthew's
death,
> I knew that I was not ready to have another baby, so we were
actively
> avoiding falling pregnant. At around the 12 week mark, something
> really changed in me. I had just been through the lowest of the
all
> the lows I've had to date, and came out the other side feeling
really
> different – optimistic about life, feeling like I could go back to
> work one day, I could have another baby one day, I could take
photos
> of my daughter and our family and that was OK. So Chris and I
decided
> just to stop avoiding pregnancy and see what happened. We didn't
> actively plan it (in fact I would NEVER have planned it for this
time
> of year and I still feel a bit nervous that this baby could be
born
> on Matthew's birthday), but that made it so much better in my
mind.
> It was in God's hands, and this was his timing.
> According to my calculations I'm 9 weeks tomorrow, but my cycles
had
> obviously hardly had a chance to become regular since Matthew's
> birth, so I'm off for a dating scan on Thursday at 4.30 pm. I've
not
> had a scan at this stage before (although I did have a 6 week one
> with Anabelle due to bleeding), so I'm not too sure what to
expect,
> but still feel concerned that a. there might be something
drastically
> wrong, b. that the crown rump length might be way out thus raising
my
> suspicions about anencephaly, and c. that i'm just going to find
it
> all too emotional! I cry just at the thought of going. Anyway, I
know
> that God is in control and that it is normal for this to feel very
> emotional. I am praying that I will be calm over the next 48
hours,
> that our little D3 would be safe and healthy, and that no matter
the
> outcome that the scan will be handled well by the sonographer. The
> midwife at the antenatal clinic was going to speak to the
sonographer
> in person prior to the scan to discuss my history and situation,
so
> hopefully that will help.
> I would be interested to hear of anyone's experiences with early
> scans in their subsequent pregnancies and even how early
anencephaly
> could be ruled out (no-one has been clear on this with me yet).
> Thanks for your thoughts,
> Love Vanessa
>