Both Gramma and Papaw got to accompany Keagan, Roy and I to the appointment this morning. We were very thankful that they both could be there and see "Special K" in action. Roy decided to go to McDonald's for breakfast, so before leaving town we stopped there and I got a caramel mocha. (Probably not the most healthy choice, I know...but definitely delicious!) Roy's second mom, Miss Sharon, was working and gave us free breakfast and had much joy making my drink with the hope that it would wake Keagan up before our appointment. Good start to the morning...and we hoped the trend would continue!
The ultrasound technician, Beth, was the same person we had the first time we went down to confirm Keagan's diagnosis. We really enjoy her, she feeds into Roy's sense of humor, and she calls Keagan "peanut" so she's perfect! I asked if she would be the one to scan us everytime and she said that she would, if we didn't mind, which obviously we would love! So that in itself was good news as well. 
The point of today's appointment was to check the amniotic fluid level. As I believe I mentioned in a previous post, babies with anencephaly may have trouble or may not have the ability to swallow so it is common in pregnancies like ours for the fluid to build up. This would just cause discomfort for me, and could be drained through a procedure very similar to amniocentisis. There is a range in which the amniotic fluid is considered "normal" and this varies slightly as the pregnancy continues. Currently, it would be best for the fluid to measure between 5 and 25 cm. Beth said that my fluid level was perfect, at 15 cm. We were very glad to hear this! I am not sure if this means Keagan is swallowing fine or if it just has not built up yet, but we are going to hope for the first!
She proceeded to check Keagan's heartrate, as we had this appointment in place of our heart beat check. She offered for us to listen to it, which I gladly accepted as this is the most precious sound in the world to us right now. His heartrate was 138. Beth thought he was probably sleeping then. Within about two minutes though, that caramel mocha must have set in because he would not stop wiggling around! Even though this makes the ultrasound technician's job a little more difficult, it made us grin and chuckle seeing him squirm around. Even Beth enjoyed seeing him move as much as he did. She assumed his heartrate wouldn't be 138 anymore! 
She also measured his stomach, spine, and arm and leg bones. All of these measured at least a week ahead of how far along I am! We went from him being a little small at week 18 to measuring big at week 22! Several babies with anencephaly are born a little small, so to see that he was growing big and strong and ahead of schedule was a huge blessing! I was a ten pound baby and Roy was eight pounds, so that in combination with the diagnosis may possibly even Keagan's size out! Roy took the week ahead to mean he could be delivered a week early, which would be the same week as his birthday so that was exciting for him. For me on the other hand, I want to keep him in there as long as possible so I know he is safe and growing and moving. It is amazing to reflect on my thoughts over the course of just four weeks. At first, I didn't want to feel him constantly moving and see my belly grow with him inside, and now I want to keep this feeling forever!!!The most exciting thing for us today, and what we consider to be a little miracle was to see Keagan's ears...yes, his ears! From our first appointment on the third, they had said if you put your index finger right above your eyebrow and your thumb above your ear then continue that angled line around your head, that that would be the amount of Keagan's skull that was missing. And actually, at our last ultrasound just about two weeks ago, I personally couldn't see any white outline on the back of his head. To me, that meant there wasn't any skull on the back of his head until about right above his neck. When I asked the technician that day how much of the skull was missing on the back of his head his response was "Enough." Not very helpful or really sensitive, for that matter, but oh well. Today, we saw an outline of the back of his skull!!! I confirmed with the technician and she said that it looks like it goes up to about the same height of his ears or a little higher. Excellent news to us! Keagan would not show up his perfect little face, but from the back of his head, we were able to see both of his ears, fully formed! This probably doesn't seem like a big deal, but some babies with anencephaly are missing the top part of their ears as well, but this just shows that there is more there with Keagan! The technician even implied that the front of his skull (above his eyes) goes up a little further than we previously thought as well!
Punctuation of the night: ! We are very excited about all of these blessings. They said that his skull would not continue to form, and we are not saying it did or did not. Perhaps the views before didn't quite show this information, or perhaps God is at work. Either way, we are very happy with this new information and thank God for Keagan's heartrate, the level of amniotic fluid, his size, and the amount of skull that he has!
Pictures (top to bottom): Muscle man Keagan showing off his guns, cute little baby butt, index finger on his chin thinking about whether he should flip over and show us his whole face, two fully formed ears! with a hand on the side, profile view of a perfect little foot, side view showing the back of his skull, and oh yeah...he's still a boy! (He was shy in showing us his face, but obviously not with other parts of his body.)
Our excellent appointment was followed with my AMAZING husband bringing me Subway to school and surprising me a beautiful footprint necklace. This will be worn everyday!
Tonight, Gramma and Papaw came over for dinner and Keagan showed his appreciation for them coming to his big show today by letting them feel some kicks and movement. This was the first time Papaw felt him and the second time for Gramma so a very exciting experience.
It has been a great day and again we just thank God for all He is doing in our situation.
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