Today (March 17th, 2008) (St. Patrick's Day)...
I went today for Genetic Counseling. Since I'm 40 years old, they do this to make sure the baby doesn't have any genetic defects. I talked to the counselor for quite a while, giving family history, etc. He gave me some choices on what I could do:
- Do nothing
- Schedule an Amniocentesis
- Schedule CVS testing
- Get Ultrasound
- Get Integrated Screening
So, I chose to get the ultrasound and the Integrated Screening. They can measure the fluid behind the baby's neck to determine if it's at risk for Down's Syndrome. This measurement was good, so that's a good sign. They also took the first tube of blood for the Integrated Screening to check my blood for abnormalities. The can check for Down's Syndrome, Trisomy 18, and Open Neural Tube defects. They will take my blood and do another ultrasound on May 1st.
The heartbeat was 160 beats per minute. The baby was moving around and even standing on his/her head at one point, and punching around with his/her arms. At the end of the Ultrasound, he/she was fiddling with his/her fingers looking almost like he/she was playing with a Nintendo controller. LMAO.
Now, depending on what the next ultrasound and next blood draw shows, I'll have the option of getting the Amniocentesis. The ONLY reason I would get that test, is if it showed the baby did have Down's Syndrome, I would take classes, research, etc to prepare. I'm not going to abort a baby just because his chromosomes are out of whack. I will love him/her no matter what.
So, as of St. Patrick's Day (today) the baby is healthy and growing like the bug he is (Baby Bugz).
