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!
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