9. 20 Week Scan
So we told our family and then oddly enough I was just..living and pregnant. There was nothing special about my pregnancy. I didn't have any sickness. I didn't really have any cravings. The only thing that I remember was that I didn't like meat during my pregnancy. Chicken always felt slimy and steak was just blah. I felt that maybe since we had a tough time getting pregnant that the pregnancy itself would be a cake walk. LOL.
I can say that although many things were easy when it came to my pregnancy- the emotional aspect was not. We had a few scares along the way that made me dread going to get ultrasounds and often ruined that excitement that I should have been feeling.
At our 20 week anatomy scan they told us that Baby A had an enlarged NT (nuchal translucency) which is an early indicator for Down Syndrome. Our ultra sound tech kind of got quiet and started trying to get Baby A to move a bit in hopes of getting a better view of the back of his neck. After the tech was done getting all the pictures he said that our doctor would be in shortly and left.
We waited in that dimly lit room for a few minutes, just kind of being quiet and nervous. The doctor eventually knocked on the door and walked in. She looked at the pictures and measurements the tech had taken and started explaining what a NT was and how certain sizes can put the baby at risk for various syndromes or abnormalities. She proceeded to say it was mostly used as an early indicator for Down Syndrome and that we needed to see a specialist in this area right away as well as a fetal cardiologist.
She wrote two scripts for us to bring to each doctor and went about her merry way.
Will and I got in the car and sat in silence. My mind was racing so fast that it ran circles around my usual rational part of my brain and laughed at it. I was devastated and sad and confused and mad. That doctor was THE WORST. She dumped this news on us like it was nothing and left us to our own devices of learning about enlarged NTs. THANKS LADY.
Needless to say, we booked our two specialist and transferred OBGYN practices all that week.
The first specialist did another ultrasound and then brought us into a room and give us a ton of options based on what she saw. First she wanted us to know that although it was larger than what it should be, it wasn't THE WORST, it was just outside of normal. Second she offered us a timeline of when out decisions had to be made. We had to decide if we wanted to do an amniocentesis (A sample of the amniotic fluid surrounding the fetus is withdrawn through a needle inserted into the mother's uterus.) Or we could do Chorionic villus sampling (CVS) where cells are taken from the placenta and used to analyze the fetal chromosomes. Both options presented us with a risk factor of losing one or both babies. If we chose one of these options and the baby did have something wrong then we had to make a decision on what to do with the baby after that.
We talked about it and knew that no matter what the outcome- we would keep and love that baby with all of our hearts. So essentially those tests wouldn't change anything for us. We said no to all further testing in that aspect but went to the fetal cardiologist to make sure the babies hearts were okay.
The cardiologist saw two perfectly normal hearts and told us that the babies looked great. We left there that day at peace with our decisions but still apprehensive about the unknowns.
I can say that although many things were easy when it came to my pregnancy- the emotional aspect was not. We had a few scares along the way that made me dread going to get ultrasounds and often ruined that excitement that I should have been feeling.
At our 20 week anatomy scan they told us that Baby A had an enlarged NT (nuchal translucency) which is an early indicator for Down Syndrome. Our ultra sound tech kind of got quiet and started trying to get Baby A to move a bit in hopes of getting a better view of the back of his neck. After the tech was done getting all the pictures he said that our doctor would be in shortly and left.
We waited in that dimly lit room for a few minutes, just kind of being quiet and nervous. The doctor eventually knocked on the door and walked in. She looked at the pictures and measurements the tech had taken and started explaining what a NT was and how certain sizes can put the baby at risk for various syndromes or abnormalities. She proceeded to say it was mostly used as an early indicator for Down Syndrome and that we needed to see a specialist in this area right away as well as a fetal cardiologist.
She wrote two scripts for us to bring to each doctor and went about her merry way.
Will and I got in the car and sat in silence. My mind was racing so fast that it ran circles around my usual rational part of my brain and laughed at it. I was devastated and sad and confused and mad. That doctor was THE WORST. She dumped this news on us like it was nothing and left us to our own devices of learning about enlarged NTs. THANKS LADY.
Needless to say, we booked our two specialist and transferred OBGYN practices all that week.
The first specialist did another ultrasound and then brought us into a room and give us a ton of options based on what she saw. First she wanted us to know that although it was larger than what it should be, it wasn't THE WORST, it was just outside of normal. Second she offered us a timeline of when out decisions had to be made. We had to decide if we wanted to do an amniocentesis (A sample of the amniotic fluid surrounding the fetus is withdrawn through a needle inserted into the mother's uterus.) Or we could do Chorionic villus sampling (CVS) where cells are taken from the placenta and used to analyze the fetal chromosomes. Both options presented us with a risk factor of losing one or both babies. If we chose one of these options and the baby did have something wrong then we had to make a decision on what to do with the baby after that.
We talked about it and knew that no matter what the outcome- we would keep and love that baby with all of our hearts. So essentially those tests wouldn't change anything for us. We said no to all further testing in that aspect but went to the fetal cardiologist to make sure the babies hearts were okay.
The cardiologist saw two perfectly normal hearts and told us that the babies looked great. We left there that day at peace with our decisions but still apprehensive about the unknowns.
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