Today I had my appointment for the first trimester scan/screening.
They give you an ultrasound and then take some bloodwork to screen for chromosomal disorders. Things you want to see on the ultrasound include a heartbeat, a prominent nasal bone and they measure the space at the back of the spine (nuchal translucency).
I was pretty nervous for this appointment. Mostly because I was finally getting passed the anxiety of the first trimester and it was finally all sinking in that this baby was hear to stay and I was really enjoying finally "feeling" a little more pregnant.
The ultrasound was nothing short of amazing. The other ultrasounds that we had in the past, for dating purposes, were only about five minutes and you really couldn't see much. This time we had about 20-30 minutes with the ultrasound technician. She took a ton of images and we got to see the little one moving around A LOT. I couldn't believe it. You could see him pushing his legs against me and moving around. She also had her hand up by her face. (no idea what it is at this point, but I think boy and Chris thinks girl, so one of us has to be right). We could see the nasal bone (yay!) and the spine looked great as well! The heartbeat this time was 146 (old wives tale says that could be a boy, but who knows)
The blood and all of the scans were sent to Northwestern, where a team of doctors reviewed them. We passed the first trimester scan. (The rates before screen are 1 in 480 to have a chromosomal issue, our results indicated a 1 in 6,000 chance, so they were really good results!)
If you're interested, more information can be found here http://www.americanpregnancy.org/prenataltesting/firstscreen.html
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