1 in 1297, or the same chance as a "promiscuous 15-year-old"

The great professor's clinic was all it was cracked up to be. All white and shiny with a somewhat eclectic art collection. And for anyone who ventures there in the winter, FREEZING cold. Wear your woolly socks.

We waited a while, but not as long as we'd feared, given we'd had estimates of them regularly running 2 hours behind. All the staff were very friendly and kind. The phlebotomist was quick and listened to me about which vein to use. Our sonographer, who seemed to be Spanish, was lovely and sensitive and explained everything to us. They even had a warmer for the gel. We saw kidneys, and arms, and legs, and the spine, and fingers and thumbs. We saw all four chambers of the heart, and were told that the heartbeat was normal, and that the valves of the heart were operating normally. Apparently 65% of Downs babies have valve defects. We heard the heartbeat again. We saw the hemispheres of the brain. I thought I saw something between the legs but she moved the wand so fast (or the fetus moved fast enough) that I can't be sure. It took her ages to be able to do the nuchal fold measurement as the baby just moved around constantly. She kept talking to the baby, asking it to turn just a little bit for her, and even tried poking it at one stage which looked really funny on the screen! Eventually she did the measurement. 1.1mm in one spot, 1.4 in the other. Normal. Everything looked normal. What a lovely word.

The professor came in and took over the wand. Cracked a bunch of jokes. Didn't really look at much, but looked at the print out. The sonographer went to get the blood test results so that they could combine them with all the morphological results. When she'd pressed a few buttons, the professor had cracked a few more jokes and waved the wand about for a little longer in a desultory fashio, the professor told me to sit up, and showed us their calculation screen. Chance of Downs 1 in 1297. Chance of trisomy 13 or 18 1 in 2996. 1 in 1297 is the same risk as that of a 15 year old. "A nasty, promiscuous 15-year-old," said the professor. So there is no need for further testing we said. And he concurred. At 20 weeks we can check everything is still normal, but for now I am happy. We are happy. Relieved and happy.

Comments

[victoria]

Have been checking in all morning, now I get to say Yeah!! So glad that everything is normal, and that a little more of that worry can go away now. Enjoy these next few wonderous months.

[Betty M]

Hip hip hooray!!!

[Urban Chick]

woo hoo! great news

i was seen by these people during my pregnancy and they totally rock - you're in great hands (although we did indeed once have to wait, erm, three hours to be seen - emerged from our '5pm' appt at 9.15pm!!)

[Leggy]

Yeah- so happy for you!

[Jen]

So glad the news was only good!

[Krista]

Great news Thalia! Not only is baby ok, but perfectly healthy. No wonder you are so happy!

[tree town gal]

Couldn't be happier for you. Please enjoy these joyous, miraculous days. It truly just gets more amazing.

[Jo in Utah]

Hooray!!! Breathing a HUGE sigh of relief in Utah.

[Kay/Hanazono]

Congratulations! What wonderful news :)

[stephanie]

yippie!!!!

and don't you wish it was as easy to get pregnant as a 15 year old?!?!?

[Aurelia]

Oh, that's WONDERFUL. Awesomely amazingly wonderful. I am so totally happy for you, you nasty little 15 year old, you! LOL

[Silene]

YEAH! Great news - so happy for you!!

[lindy]

Those moments of relief are so blessedly sweet. Congratulations!!!

[Serenity]

Excellent news, Thalia. SO relieved.

[Adrienne]

That's wonderful, Thalia. This is a situation where being the equivalent of a nasty little 15-year old is a GOOD thing!

[Jennifer]

Hooray! It's always the best to see everything is OK, and then to find out that you are akin to a 15 year old? Life's good.

[Cat, Galloping]

great news!

[Cricket]

Wow, good for you. Very good!

Now no whiny posts for a while.

heh, right
(said in the most loving fashion)

[luolin]

Whew. So glad to hear the good news.

[Anna]

Fantastic! What a wonderful scan! I'm so happy for all of you. I would have skipped the CVS, too (oh, yeah, we did in the Bee's pg). Now enjoy your time with the wee one!

[cass]

Yay yay yay!

[Pam]

That's excellent news.

[Mary Ellen]

I have had family in town and am just catching up. I am so happy that everything is okay! Great news!

[Carol]

Wonderful news. congratulations!

[Melissa]

Congratulations! That's fantastic news!

[Once]

Hooray! (And aren't all 15 year olds nasty? ;) ) That's especially great that you didn't have to wait days on end for the bloodwork to confirm the fold measurement. And congrats for finding a doc with a sense of wisecracked humor--maybe the best success of all.
This is such good news. You deserve every second of that earned happiness. Enjoy it.

[hopefulmother]

I am so happy to read this news, Thalia!!!

[LEB]

OH YIPPPEEEE!!!!

It is lovely there isn't it? And some very good looking docs, the music can be a bit funeral though ;) Are you going to have your 20 weeks scan there? The one I had was incomparable to my NHS one.

I'm so happy for you both :)

[waiting line]

OH, WONDERFUL NEWS -- CONGRATS!!

[millie]

Such great news!

[mm]

Oh joy!! Yay!! I am going to eat an extra piece of cheese in your honor.

[PBfish]

This is so incredible! I'm just so excited for you. YAY!!!!

[deb]

Great scan! Don't they combine with your blood test results to get an accurate statistic, though?

[StellaNova]

Oh yay!

[ksmaybe]

Yeah! I'm impressed with being able to get the blood results same day. I'm in a 1 week wait. The nuchal measurement was 1.2 so I feel pretty good about things.

[Vivien]

Great news, Thalia. Normal, huh, who'd have thought you would want a description like that!