We've made it to double digits! Yay! Baby is the size of a kumquat. I had no idea what a kumquat was, so I looked it up. Apparently, it's a small orange-like fruit.
I've been in kind of blogging funk lately. So please forgive the lack of posts or the lame-ness of the posts. I've been feeling pretty sick. Some days I'm okay, but most days I feel a lot of nausea and digestive pain. And I think I'm just so anxious to get to the second trimester. I feel like I will be able to relax a little more!! I know the second trimester doesn't come with a magic wand, but it does come with a little more peace of mind. Especially, when the first three months haven't been a walk in the park. We are so thankful to be at ten weeks today!! It feels good!
Thank you for all the advice over my "Chocolate and Hair Dye" post. It was all very helpful! And I have decided to wait two more weeks before highlighting my hair. As for the chocolate, I haven't been eating it, but I'm definitely not going to deprive myself if I'm having a chocolate chip cookie craving :)
I need some more advice, girls. Our next OB appt is on October 10th where Ill be 11 weeks 2 days. The NP mentioned that we need to decide if want to have the genetic testing done. Where they test to see if we carry a gene for things like down syndrome, Trisomy 18 and a few other things. I feel like we should, and I know they do this early because it gives you the chance to terminate. But I would not terminate the pregnancy, unless there were conditions where we ABSOLUTELY had to. But I'm not sure if I want to know. Because if our genetic testing comes back that we are carriers, I don't want to have that extra worry. Does this sound silly? I feel like I need someone to tell us what to do.
11 comments:
We didn't do it, b/c for us, (1) we wouldn't have terminated the pregnancy anyway, (2) there is a change of false positive, (3) I didn't want that extra worry if we were carriers.
It's a very personal choice though, that's for sure!
I agree with PP.. We decided we wouldn't do it/won't do it.. We aren't terminating unless life threatening issues.. A friend of mine did the nuchal fold and blood work and was told 1 in 75% chance of downs, she was upset and worried for 8 weeks until her 20 week scan showed her baby boy was PERFECT! That just solidified my decision that when its our turn, no testing! Best of luck with whatever you decide sweetie!
Yayyyy for 10 weeks!!!! And I say, don't do it. You are going to love this baby no matter what and honestly, you already have enough stress on your plate. You deserve to relish in this pregnancy as stress-free as absolutely possible and this will only add possibly more stress. That's just my input - because you asked! Love you!!
I agree with Josey that it's a very personal decision. We chose not to do it for the same reasons that she listed. I knew that there was no way that I would end the pregnancy regardless of the results. My OB said that some people want to know so that they can plan accordingly. I'm not sure what that means, but I decided that everything would be fine.
Yay for 10 weeks! And I DID get much more relaxed in the second tri. And I think we did do the testing, but I never really thought about it. I wasn't worried at all, so I barely paid attention to it. I guess I would have been worried had it showed I had a risk! We did not do the second level scan, though, that they suggested because of our history of miscarriage. I didn't want the stress of worrying about it. I think the reason I decided to do the early test was because I wanted to be relieved when the test came back as low risk;). And I was! Good luck, momma:).
I agree with the other posters in saying don't do it, at least not the invasive testing. That's what we have decided, if they're going to "require" any sort of genetic testing, we're going to stick with the least invasive methods possible, because no disability is going to make us choose to terminate. BTW, I'm curious, which site do you get the food size comparisons from?
HAHA, my DH didn't know what a kumquat was either. Too funny. :) Not a fruit most people eat or buy or know! Glad all is going well. I liked getting to the double digits too, but I am also longing for the magic second trimester too. Not because I am feeling poorly (actually I am feeling great, just tired) but I am hoping it will provide more of a sense of security. As for the testing, we are getting the NT (nuchal translucency) u/s but not the CVS testing done. It is a very personal decision and i am sure you will do what's best for you guys and baby. :)
Yay for double digits! The genetic testing is a difficult, and personal decision. I'm a "need to know" type of person so I did the integrated prenatal screening (non invasive -- just nt scan and blood tests). I wouldn't have terminated but knowing would give time to be prepared were something wrong... Good luck with your decision.
We did the first trimester bloodwork and NT scan. We opted out of the 2nd trimester bloodwork because it's not very reliable with multiples. We did the first trimester stuff because (a) the NT is AN ULTRASOUND (and otherwise we would have had to wait for our 20-week scan, which no, can't wait), and the bloodwork mainly to rule out Tri 13 and 18. I was worried about one baby being incompatible with life and either infecting my other baby (once it had passed on) or by depriving it of nutrients. I would have terminated a 13 or 18. I know that's not for everyone, and some of those babies do live for a while, but the VAST majority do not live past a few weeks, much less a year. This is just my opinion, and since I never actually faced the situation, I can't say FOR SURE what we would have done, but we felt like we needed to know.
Our results were good, so we opted out of CVS or amnio.
Really, since the first trimester stuff poses zero risk to your baby, it's mainly about you and your emotional needs, as well as decision-making stuff. If your decision is already made, then it's just "how much notice do we need to prepare ourselves/adjust to this whole thing" vs. "high odds will freak me out, even though high odds very frequently come back completely normal on amnios".
Yay for 10 weeks!
I did the nuchal and bloodwork (mostly cause I wanted another u/s to see the baby lol--they were even able to predict at 13 weeks that she may very well be a girl!). My results were extremely low so it did bring some relief to me...had they been higher though it certainly would have been stressful. I was mostly worried about tri 13 and 18 as there is almost no chance of a baby surviving past 1 year. If it was Down's syndrome, knowing that there was a chance would have at least given us time to plan (which to answer PP question, meant to learn about the baby's special needs before he/she is born so that we are prepared to give the child the best care).
At my 20 week scan they saw that Abbey had two choroid plexus cysts (I didn't know what they were but they're a marker for Edward's syndrom. They are pretty much nothing to worry about when seen in isolation--as in no other markers--but that didn't stop me from worrying about it for the last half of my pregnancy :(
it's such a personal choice...you know best whether not doing the test is going to still make you worry or if finding out you have a possibly elevated risk will be more stressful. You'll make the best choice for you :)
We chose not to do testing for either of our babies. We were sent to a fetal specilist for our 20 week u/s each time because DH's mom has a congenital heart defect called Tetrology of Fallot, essentiallybwhere she was born with a hole in her heart wall. The scan allowed the tech to see their hearts and all the 4 chambers at 20 weeks as well as to examinine the blood flow because if they had it we could have been prepared for surgery. But it is only a worry if you're related to someone with a congenital defect, and we only did it so that we could be prepared to help out babies, not hurt them.
If you and your DH know you'd keep uour LO no matter what, then why plague your pregnancy with worry? Do what is best for you...if it is better to knwo then get the testing, and if not, then don't. Also, if you even have the chance to get a level 2 u/s it is pretty awesome nerdy science. To see all the chambers of the heart pumping, you can see whether their little nladder is full or not, it is just amazing. :)
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