2012
Birth Defect Screening, Amniocentesis, and Other Thoughts
Friday, 5-25-12, we went up to Salinas and met with a genetic counselor to go over the previous screening blood tests in regards to Little Browne and the possibilities of Down Syndrome. The counselor showed us 5 different numbers or so, in which only one was considerably higher than it should have been but explained that by itself it was not a concern, instead it would have needed to have a couple of other numbers higher as well to draw any true worry over having Downs.
We walked away from that meeting being at a 1 in 160 chance for Downs…so we felt slightly better. From there we moved in to another room to do the high resolution ultrasound where they have hard and soft “markers” they are looking for. They look at bone length, forehead, nose, and chin looking for signs of Downs…no issues were found. They also checked the upper lip for cleft palate…no issues found. They spent a fair amount of time looking at the heart and again, no issues found. None of this is 100% but when we added the information from the genetic counseling and the results of the ultrasound we felt good enough that we opted against doing the amniocentesis.
The amnio made us slightly nervous for several reasons…1) sticking a needle into Annie’s belly simply is not a comforting thought 2) there is a small risk of introducing bacteria into the womb 3) when they pull the needle out there is a small risk that the amniotic sack would not seal back up which can lead to losing the baby. Instead we decided to do a brand new test which involves taking the mother’s blood and looking at the baby’s DNA and testing it that way. Who knew…the baby’s DNA is already floating through the mom? Wacky.
These test results will be back in 8 to 10 business days so we’re back to waiting but we do feel TONS better and a lot more optimistic that all is fine. Little Browne was very mobile during the ultrasound…this viewing lasted almost 30 minutes because they were trying to look at everything and do measurements, so it was fun to watch him. The doctors struggled to get a profile picture of him until the end because he buried his face down low…must not have liked the paparazzi! He better get used to that because I will be taking thousands of pictures and forcing all of you to look at them…slightly kidding!
I’ve had many thoughts lately…(writing this at about 7 am on Saturday morning). One thought is that Annie and I have already made some pretty big and powerful decisions for this little guy and although it weighs heavy as you’re doing it I was impressed with how both of us handled it and followed through with getting information and making educated decisions. Second, I’m still in the surreal cotton candy land of unicorns and rainbow poop over this whole thing…for some reason I still can’t quite wrap my mind around this…what an intensely interesting experience. Third, I’m amazed at how much emotion exists inside of me already although I’m certainly not surprised.
Side note, Annie has been feeling the baby move now on a daily basis. She describes it as a slight rubbing feeling or a light finger flick. I have not been able to feel any of that yet obviously, the baby is only 10 ounces but that will come in time. She’s also been eating a lot more…don’t get in the way of her making a quesadilla.
It’s Memorial Day, enjoy your day and thanks to all that have served and are serving!!
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