The appointment started with genetic counseling. The midwife thought talking to her was a good idea, given some of the genetic concerns we had. Basically, the counselor went over our history and talked to us about the different tests we could have. There are now a few different tests (Panorama, Harmony, Maternit21, that un-invasively check for risk for the most common disorders such as trisomy 18, trisomy 21 (Downs syndrome), and triploidy. If it comes back high risk, then they recommend you do a more invasive test (cvs, amniocentesis) to get a better picture. But even better, it checks for a y chromosome, letting you know the gender with 99% accuracy about a month earlier than you were traditionally able to know. There is little to no uncertainty what the gender will be with these tests. I'm not going to lie....we were interested in it more to learn the gender as soon as possible. There were a couple of good things to come out of this appointment. First of all, the counselor saw no red flags in our history, including my previous miscarriage or our struggle with infertility. This was a huge reassurance. Second of all, because I will be 36 when baby arrives (ie advanced maternal age), we qualified for the blood tests. We chose Panorama. They test for the same things with the same accuracy, but Panorama seems to have a marginally quicker turn-around time. The results will come back in a 10-14 days and we will know whether the baby is a boy or girl! We left genetic counseling feeling reassured and relaxed and ready for our ultrasound.
Next up, ultrasound. The purpose of this ultrasound is to measure the fluid behind baby's neck. There is a correlation between the amount of fluid and chromosomal disorders, like Downs. While I would want to know, so I could be prepared, it wouldn't change anything - we really just wanted to see the baby. With seconds of the wand going on my belly, baby appeared on the screen. He or she was showing off big time. We watched as our little baby did flips, somersaults, waved, sucked its thumb, and did all kinds of tricks. We're going to have our hands full, this one is active!!! We were able to start to see some of its features. It had a cute little nose, and we could see the ears. The tech didn't say much other than that the baby looked like it was right on schedule. The techs are not really supposed to say much. She left the room, and it was a while before the doctor came in, and that lag time made me nervous! When he came in, he announced that everything was perfect. Baby was measuring a couple of days ahead, estimated due date is still Nov 7th, and we had passed the Nuchal Translucency test with flying colors. Looks like a healthy baby.
So for the first time in nearly 4 years, we walked out of a doctor's office with smiles on our faces and tears in our eyes. These were tears of joy, instead of the tears of heartache that had streamed down my face after many previous appointments. For the first time, we had passed the exam. Today felt like graduation day. In the time it took us to conceive this child, we could have earned a undergraduate degree!
We are over the moon. It is all starting to become real. Now we can march into the second trimester, heads held high. For the next 28 weeks, I plan to do nothing but enjoy every moment of growing this baby. I've always said that when I became pregnant, I planned to enjoy pregnancy. So far, other than the exhaustion, I haven't had a hard time, but I am still very happy to see the first trimester end. I feel like I am turning the corner. My energy has started to come back and I'm feeling good. I ran today, not because I felt like I had to to stay healthy, but because I wanted to.
Here's our bouncy baby, waving to the camera:
Congratulations, we couldn't be happier for the both of you and your families. Can't wait to read more. You have done a wonderful and courageous thing sharing your story. I'm sure it will give many others hope.
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