So things have felt a little crazy lately. There's so much going on this week! Mostly good, just crazy. We heard back from Dr W last Monday, and he said he wanted me to talk to a genetic counselor about what our testing options are, so we had that appointment on Friday. Basically, it took an hour of talking, giving her a basic family history (and by basic, I mean she mapped out a family tree with details of the health to the extent of grandparents and first cousins), then discussed all of the things she saw that could warrant testing for other things if we would be interested (always something extra to worry about), and then finally got around to the topic of Down syndrome testing, which was why we were there. She basically came to the point herself, without our asking, that while the NT scan as a screen is still considered standard because the DNA test (that I previously referred to as MaterniT21) is so new, it is 99+% accurate and therefore the NT scan really isn't necessary, unless people want it. There are some other minor things that may be picked up in the scan, but those things are typically picked up later in pregnancy as well. So, fortunately, she said without being asked that if we would prefer to have just that test done, without any of the pretesting, that would be fine. And with the lab we're using, which is the only one our hospital uses that does allow the test to be done without pretesting, it's called Harmony. I don't know how naming through different labs works, but whatever. And here's the part that makes me a total nerd, but as a health professional, I think this is just so freaking awesome! She explained to me how they actually complete the test, and it made me wish I could watch them do it so I could see how it's done. She explained that they have known for decades that there are bits of the baby's DNA in the mother's blood, but it has been broken down into pieces, smaller even than whole chromosomes, and until recently they weren't able to isolate those tiny little pieces or do anything with them. Now, they are able to isolate those pieces and actually see if there are more pieces of a particular chromosome (for DS, chromosome 21) and if there are, they know that there are more of that chromosome in the baby's DNA, and therefore a trisomy of that chromosome. Seriously, how cool is that?!? Ok, maybe not to everyone, but I was amazed. Plus, the test is less than a year old. I'm not gonna lie, I'm kind of excited for my blood to be a part of that...
We actually had that meeting at our local hospital via video chat, and our hospital didn't have the right tubes to draw my blood that day, so I had it drawn at the hospital were my dr is (about 1.25 hrs away) when I saw him Tuesday. Now we wait for 2-2.5 weeks for results.
At that dr appointment, we had our daughter along because the plan was to visit my grandma afterward, who lives near by, and tell her about the baby. We were able to hear the baby's heartbeat (or "heartbeef", according to M) for the first time, and M loved that. We've seen it on 3 ultrasounds now, but there's just something about that sound. It was particularly reassuring at about 158, because that was just after the nurse took my blood pressure and it read 138/98. SERIOUSLY??? That top number is high by not outrageous, but 98?!? That makes me a nervous wreck. Granted, it's always high when I'm in a doctor's office, especially now with being pregnant, because that's what went so wrong during my first pregnancy, but it hasn't been that high since shortly after M was born. So that stressed me out. But when Dr W came in, he didn't seem overly concerned. I told him that when I'd checked my BP at home, it was around 112/70 and he just asked me to check it twice a day and keep a log. If it is consistently over 160/100 then I should call, but if that happens just once here or there it's ok. I have been taking it today and the highest it's been is 118/75. I had a paramedic friend double check my electronic cuff because I think it sometimes reads low, but that was accurate. So that's reassuring to me. It just makes me wonder, is my blood pressure really that reactive to my emotions/environment? Is it more so than the average person? I think it may be.
The other thing Dr W said is that high blood pressure this early in a pregnancy is really not likely to be indicative of pre-e. More likely, it's an indication of an underlying blood pressure problem. Dr P said the same thing with M when my BP originally started going up, because I didn't have other signs of pre-e at that point, but it went back down after she was born. So I don't know. But either way, Dr W didn't seem immediately concerned, and he told us before I even got pregnant that he would put me on bedrest immediately at the slightest indication of possible pre-e, so I trust his judgement and and just going to roll with it. I'm surprisingly not too anxious about it. I was at first, but that afternoon I had a long drive for work, and I spent some time praying and thinking, and just found peace in knowing that God is good and I trust Him exclusively. Granted, at this point, I feel like trusting him means I want to trust Him to bring this pregnancy to term, but I know that no matter what happens, it is for good, and He's got it all planned out. Right now, I have peace in that. Tomorrow, I may need reminding.
In other news, we also received an offer on our house, which has been on the market for a little over a year, on Tuesday. It was a little lower than we are hoping for and we are now in negotiations, but that has been one more stressor. I'm optimistic that we'll be able to find a happy medium and it will turn out well, but the process of trying to make quick decisions and crunch numbers and decide what our lowest acceptable number would really be, not to mention with a two year-old who thinks that NOW is a good time for Mom and Dad to pay attention to her, can be overwhelming. Hopefully though, it will be a good thing. It sure would be nice to have a place to set up baby's room before it gets here!
With all of these things going on (oh, and at work, it's the end of the month so there's lots of paperwork due AND we're moving our office TOMORROW, just in case I needed something else to focus on) things have been a little extra tense with the hubs. It's really hard to go through this pregnancy together, wanting so badly to just be happy and excited, but so afraid that everything could change at the drop of a hat. And it's hard knowing that we basically have no ability to plan for when we'll need to pack up and move out or where exactly we'll be going (most likely to the in-laws' once they head to FL for the winter while we find a house of our own). We stayed up late a night or two ago, and just spent some time talking. We talked about what each of us needs right now, and ways the other can support those needs. I know he feels overwhelmed with work and taking on so much more of the house work, and I feel rotten "taking it easy" after work while he does so much, not to mention having so little energy for M. But my energy is improving, and while I still have to listen to my body and take it easy, I think we may be entering the happy window of the second trimester where I'll be feeling better. Hooray! Anyway, after we talked, things have been better, and both of us are trying to express appreciation for the each other and the ways that the other is affected by everything going on. Hopefully we can maintain that equilibrium and make time to enjoy being a family, as well as a couple. It's a lot to balance, but both of us want more for our marriage than the frustration that comes with stress, and we are working to find productive ways to make our marriage better.
Before I finish, I have to say that while I have been sitting here typing, I swear I just felt the baby move twice. And I'm not talking like a little uncertain flutter. I've been trying to convince myself all week that I've just been feeling gas moving with the little flutters I've felt, because I'm only 12 weeks! But I seriously think what I just felt could have been felt from the outside. No lie. It could still be just gas, but it sure felt like a baby. I just can't believe that I would feel that much at 12 weeks! This baby might be a giant...
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Saturday, August 18, 2012
August 18, 2012
Well, I've been meaning to get on here and post again for weeks, but every time I think about it, going to bed at 8:30 seems to win out! Phew! Talk about tired! By the time I get home from work, we eat dinner (which the husband usually prepares) and then I hang out on the couch most of the evening until M goes to bed, and then I'm not far behind. So yeah, not lots of blogging getting done. But, I'm 10 weeks, 4 days, and all is well. We have already had 3 ultrasounds- 6wks, 8wks, and 10wks. At the first ultrasound, the heart rate was still a little slower than they wanted to see, although the dr wasn't really concerned, saying that it usually picks up right around 6 weeks, so he just wanted to see it again to double check. They scheduled another ultrasound for 10 weeks, and when we saw the doctor at 8 weeks, they just did a little in-office one to reassure me that there was indeed a strong, fast heart beat. At the most recent one on Tuesday the heart rate was 171. Perfect!
Over the past weeks, I've had a few emotional ups and downs, but, amazingly, mostly ups. Once we saw that little heartbeat again at 8 weeks, I've been able to settle in to this pregnancy and trust that things are going well. I haven't seen a counselor. I did try calling one a few times, but must have had a wrong number because I never got an answer. I've kind of decided to just see how it goes.
As far as giving myself the shots every morning, well, that lasted for 2 weeks. And then suddenly, my hand would no longer move under my command. I literally had to have the hubs push my hand for two days to help me do it until I had another appointment and he could get trained to do it himself. So now every morning he gives me my shot before I leave for work. I hope he doesn't plan on going anywhere for the rest of this pregnancy. :) So grateful for him these days!
The big decision of the past week has been trying to decide whether to have any testing done for Downs syndrome. At my last dr's appointment at 8 weeks we ended up seeing the nurse practitioner because the dr was behind, and she didn't mention it, and I didn't realize how soon the testing would need to be done, so we hadn't talked about it. So when, at the 10 week ultrasound, the other dr asked if we had decided on that testing, we had some talking to do. There was no discussion required as to what a positive test would mean. We both want this baby, and all the genes that come with it. It's just a matter of what we want to know ahead of time. There are a lot of factors that come into play. With MTHFR, there are a couple different types, but one of those types is associated with an increased risk of DS. I'm not sure if it's the one I have or not. I think I have partially decided against looking further into it, at least for the time being. It doesn't really matter, and it's not a huge increase. I have been working with a couple of families of children with DS lately, and with each one, the conversation of whether they knew ahead of time came up either right before or right after I got pregnant. Neither of them knew ahead of time that their baby had DS, and both described the moment they realized something was wrong as really traumatic. Neither baby had any markers show up on an ultrasound, so no testing was done to identify it. One of the moms said she wished she would have known, the other wasn't sure, because she had a friend who did and said that her pregnancy was really difficult. It's hard to know which is the better situation, and I'm sure it's different for everyone.
Both of us really want to be able to enjoy this pregnancy, but, more importantly, we really want to enjoy the birth of this baby as a family. We didn't have that with M, because I was under general anesthesia, and the hubs was in the waiting room. He went to M as soon as he was able, and met her all by himself. I still can hardly think about him standing there all alone with the dr talking about odds of survival, surrounded by nurses, monitors, etc. The first time I saw her was so difficult, and I had seen pictures, heard him talking about her for 2 days, and had him standing behind me. I can't imagine anything more difficult. This time, we want something better for our family. If our baby would have DS, then I think the best time for us to adjust to that idea would be while I'm still pregnant. It would be hard, but it would still be our beautiful baby. So we have decided to go ahead and have the test. The waiting period will probably be tough, but I think it will be worth it. Most likely it will be negative, and if it's not, then we'll have time to prepare to welcome our baby into the world.
Our dr's office offers a nuchal translucency (NT) scan and a blood test, and, if that comes back with an "increased risk", a newer genetic test called MaterniT21. This is a blood test (of my blood) that is about 99% accurate. It's also totally safe for the baby, because there is no need to retrieve any amniotic fluid or anything else inside the amniotic sac, as in the amniocentesis. I wouldn't be comfortable with an amniocentesis because of the risk of miscarriage associated with it, but I can handle one more needle prick for myself. My only concern is that the NT scan and blood test are only about 85% accurate, so there's still a chance that they could miss the need for further testing. After asking some questions of Ashley over at Those Newmans, we decided to ask if my dr would skip the pretesting and just do the MaterniT21 test. He wasn't in on Friday, but his nurse called back and said she thinks it should be ok, but she'll have to check with the dr. So we'll see.
Speaking of Those Newmans, Ashley and her blog have played a pretty big role in the decision to test, as well. I originally found her blog while I was googling MTHFR and fertility, and continued to follow it. Her son, Eli was born with DS and they did find out ahead of time. The way they were able to prepare themselves and become excited all over again for the special journey God had mapped out for them helped me to understand that, if necessary, we can do that for our family as well.
With all of the thought and emotions that have been put into this decision, I have to remind myself that the odds of any genetic abnormality are really low. It's a precaution we have decided to take for our family, but odds are, like everything else, it's going to turn out fine!
Over the past weeks, I've had a few emotional ups and downs, but, amazingly, mostly ups. Once we saw that little heartbeat again at 8 weeks, I've been able to settle in to this pregnancy and trust that things are going well. I haven't seen a counselor. I did try calling one a few times, but must have had a wrong number because I never got an answer. I've kind of decided to just see how it goes.
As far as giving myself the shots every morning, well, that lasted for 2 weeks. And then suddenly, my hand would no longer move under my command. I literally had to have the hubs push my hand for two days to help me do it until I had another appointment and he could get trained to do it himself. So now every morning he gives me my shot before I leave for work. I hope he doesn't plan on going anywhere for the rest of this pregnancy. :) So grateful for him these days!
The big decision of the past week has been trying to decide whether to have any testing done for Downs syndrome. At my last dr's appointment at 8 weeks we ended up seeing the nurse practitioner because the dr was behind, and she didn't mention it, and I didn't realize how soon the testing would need to be done, so we hadn't talked about it. So when, at the 10 week ultrasound, the other dr asked if we had decided on that testing, we had some talking to do. There was no discussion required as to what a positive test would mean. We both want this baby, and all the genes that come with it. It's just a matter of what we want to know ahead of time. There are a lot of factors that come into play. With MTHFR, there are a couple different types, but one of those types is associated with an increased risk of DS. I'm not sure if it's the one I have or not. I think I have partially decided against looking further into it, at least for the time being. It doesn't really matter, and it's not a huge increase. I have been working with a couple of families of children with DS lately, and with each one, the conversation of whether they knew ahead of time came up either right before or right after I got pregnant. Neither of them knew ahead of time that their baby had DS, and both described the moment they realized something was wrong as really traumatic. Neither baby had any markers show up on an ultrasound, so no testing was done to identify it. One of the moms said she wished she would have known, the other wasn't sure, because she had a friend who did and said that her pregnancy was really difficult. It's hard to know which is the better situation, and I'm sure it's different for everyone.
Both of us really want to be able to enjoy this pregnancy, but, more importantly, we really want to enjoy the birth of this baby as a family. We didn't have that with M, because I was under general anesthesia, and the hubs was in the waiting room. He went to M as soon as he was able, and met her all by himself. I still can hardly think about him standing there all alone with the dr talking about odds of survival, surrounded by nurses, monitors, etc. The first time I saw her was so difficult, and I had seen pictures, heard him talking about her for 2 days, and had him standing behind me. I can't imagine anything more difficult. This time, we want something better for our family. If our baby would have DS, then I think the best time for us to adjust to that idea would be while I'm still pregnant. It would be hard, but it would still be our beautiful baby. So we have decided to go ahead and have the test. The waiting period will probably be tough, but I think it will be worth it. Most likely it will be negative, and if it's not, then we'll have time to prepare to welcome our baby into the world.
Our dr's office offers a nuchal translucency (NT) scan and a blood test, and, if that comes back with an "increased risk", a newer genetic test called MaterniT21. This is a blood test (of my blood) that is about 99% accurate. It's also totally safe for the baby, because there is no need to retrieve any amniotic fluid or anything else inside the amniotic sac, as in the amniocentesis. I wouldn't be comfortable with an amniocentesis because of the risk of miscarriage associated with it, but I can handle one more needle prick for myself. My only concern is that the NT scan and blood test are only about 85% accurate, so there's still a chance that they could miss the need for further testing. After asking some questions of Ashley over at Those Newmans, we decided to ask if my dr would skip the pretesting and just do the MaterniT21 test. He wasn't in on Friday, but his nurse called back and said she thinks it should be ok, but she'll have to check with the dr. So we'll see.
Speaking of Those Newmans, Ashley and her blog have played a pretty big role in the decision to test, as well. I originally found her blog while I was googling MTHFR and fertility, and continued to follow it. Her son, Eli was born with DS and they did find out ahead of time. The way they were able to prepare themselves and become excited all over again for the special journey God had mapped out for them helped me to understand that, if necessary, we can do that for our family as well.
With all of the thought and emotions that have been put into this decision, I have to remind myself that the odds of any genetic abnormality are really low. It's a precaution we have decided to take for our family, but odds are, like everything else, it's going to turn out fine!
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