First trimester screening

In the first trimester we opted to have the 1st trimester screening test done, something I was totally unfamiliar with as it was not offered when I was pregnant with Jake 12 years ago. It's a newer test that consists of a blood test and an ultrasound where they count the nuchal fold on the baby's neck. The test determines whether or not your baby is at risk for Down Syndrome or Trisonomy 18. I was about 13 weeks along when we had this done so it was amazing to see how developed the baby was! And what a little stinker it was during the ultrasound! The ultrasound tech wanted to get a few side shots but the baby was completely refusing to cooperate. The tech even jiggled my stomach a few times and had me coughing really hard to try & get it to move but to no avail! At first all it wanted to do was lay on its tummy, then it finally moved but this time into a kneeling position. After 15 minutes of this, the tech allowed me to use the restroom, hoping that maybe this would get the baby into a better position to finish the test. Well....let's just say we've got a defiant one on our hands because when I came back the baby was doing a handstand!!!! So funny!

The next part of our appointment was a little bit scary though. Some of our test #'s with our results weren't quite what we thought they were going to be. For someone around my age a typical # you would expect to see would be a 1 in 600 chance of your baby having Down Syndrome. To test positive your # would have to fall below 100. Our test score was 1 in 130...not quite testing positive but right outside of that scope and what the genetic counselor called a "high, low risk" chance. We got to spend a lot of time talking to the genetic counselor (she was so great!) about what all of this means, other options to confirm things...Amnio, CVS, or we could simply wait until the 2nd trimester test for the next batch of blood work and ultrasound. We discussed it at length and decided that we didn't really want to have any invasive procedures done at that point and that we would just wait until the next test in the 2nd trimester.

Tom & I really haven't let this rattle us too much. Of course the first couple of days after the appointment we spent trying to absorb everything & process and of course were a bit shocked and scared at first but after talking things out & praying we've been able to keep a pretty good perspective. I mean, when we look at it this way...our baby has over a 99% chance of being perfectly healthy & fine! Sounds good to us! We just get to let go now and let God take care of us and our little bambino. Everything will be fine, it always is!  

And here I am at about 12 weeks...already starting to pop out!