1/25

(12 week ultrasound)

If you read yesterdays post  you saw that we were waiting on test results. They must've been trying to get as many done before Christmas as possible because we received them in 6 days instead of the usual 10-14. I'll start from the beginning so you can get all caught up on what has been going on these past couple of weeks. 

We have some awesome maternity insurance. They cover 90% of all basic tests and it includes the 12 week blood test and ultrasound. We always opt to get it just to see our little bean growing. Of course, River was upside down so we had an extra long us (an hour before we got the pictures we needed) and then an additional 15 minutes for the finger prick. I left excited about seeing our baby and not giving the test another thought. Because of my age and previous healthy (for baby anyways) pregnancies the odds of there being a chromosomal defect was 1/2000. A week and a half later I missed a call from my nurse, Connie, saying she needed me to call her. Of course, it was a Friday and I had to wait through the weekend to call her back. I had told Bryson and some family I was worried about it because my dr.'s office is very big on the no news is good news. They convinced me it must've been something with insurance or I forgot to sign something or some other trivial little thing. 

After a busy monday morning it popped in my head to give her a call again and that's when everything stopped. 

Connie told me my tests had come back high risk. My blood work was abnormal and River's nuchal fluid was thick. She was working on getting us pre approved for a test called the Panorama which pulls baby's DNA from my blood and tests for chromosomal defects. She wanted me to come in wednesday to get everything done for that and that is all I heard. 

After getting my head wrapped around everything I called and talked to my Dr. and asked the questions I would have asked Connie if I had been prepared, What exactly were the odds, Was there any other indicators like the nasal bone or femur, What exactly did all of this mean. He told me there was something wrong, either with the baby or with me. This is when I found our original odds, of something being wrong with River, of 1 in 20. I was floored. My odds were supposed to be 1 in 2000, not 1 in 20. The logical side of me was saying it was still only a 5% chance that something was wrong but the  mom in me was terrified for that huge jump in numbers.

On Wednesday we went in and had a test called MaterniT21 done, which is like the Panorama just slightly different and then we started to play the waiting game. Because the Panorama and MaterniT21 aren't diagnostic like CVS or Amnio it wouldn't give us a definitive answer but would give us enough info without all the risks of miscarriage. This morning Connie called and said they had gotten the fax back in record time and we had new odds. Our new odds, as of this morning, are 1/25 or a 4% chance that there is still something wrong with River, but most likely it's something wrong with me. 

It's kind of weird how relieving that is. That there is something wrong with me. It's what I had been praying for. I can handle what's wrong with me, even though we have no idea what it is. I was a wreck thinking there was something wrong with my baby and not knowing what to do about it. We are still being transferred to a perinatalist for the remainder of our ultrasounds and I have the title of "High Risk" which my Dr explained it's a little different than last time when I was being watched for high risk. I will have additional testing, additional dr.'s and more appointments but still, knowing that there likely isn't something "wrong" with my little makes me feel great...even though I have been in bed puking since 3 this morning. 

We are still aware there is a chance our baby could be born with a trisomy defect but are feeling optimistic that everything is going to go fine and even if s/he is born with something. I know we could handle it and would love this baby just as much no matter what. 

Now I am just fighting the urge to call Connie again...did I mention the MaterniT21 gives you the sex of your baby? and we are trying our hardest not to find out! We'll see how long I last. There has been so much going on with this pregnancy I'm not sure how many more surprises I can take!