So, yesterday I had my first OB appointment. It was actually much quicker than I thought it would be. It was kinda' like a regular OBY/GN appointment, but with an ultrasound. The ultrasound, of course, we VERY cool and lots of fun to see. Because I'm so early (my due date got moved back 1-2 days, so I'm now 7 weeks, 6 days pregnant today), they did the internal ultrasound. Which means that instead of going over your belly, they lube up a dildo-looking thing and stick that in you to get the picture :) I heard about this before (thank goodness!), but it was still funny to see her lube that up, put a condom on it, and lube again before sticking it in me.
But, it was very cool to see the ultra-sound - my favorite was SEEING the heartbeat. That was so cool!!! We then heard it for about 5 seconds and went back to looking at the screen. Looking at it first, I thought the head was to the left, but it was the right. Now, I see it right away, but it's a bit disorientating at first.
We also saw the 4-D image, which wasn't that interesting as it didn't look quite so like anything ;) I was surprised that she did the 4-D; I always thought that was by request. I read another blog where she was deciding if she should do it because she always thought they looked like aliens and whatnot. But, my doctor did it right away! Hmmmm.
Anyways, they didn't take blood, but between weeks 10-12, I will probably go for another ulta-sound (outside her office because my insurance doesn't cover it inside the office) where they will test the size of the sac (?) behind the neck and take blood to determine any problems like Down Syndrome. They also determine if there are any other problems - the other two which would cause for reason to terminate the pregnancy. This is because those run a high chance of the baby not surviving more than a few hours after being born and so it recomended by doctors to terminate if these problems are found at this point. They don't recomend termination if Down Syndrome is found, since you can't tell how much the child will be affected by this.
I did some googling, and found that apparently almost 90% of people who find that their child will have Down Syndrome do terminate the pregnancy. I thought that was interesting because, obviously, the syndrome presents challenges, but there is so much unknown about how the child will grow up with it at this point. Of course, there is very little chance that the person would be completely independent and they usually don't have children.
Anyways, my stats:
Blood pressure - good (I can't remember what it was... 76/118?)
Baby heart rate - 168 beats per minute
Baby size - 1.3 cm (0.5 inches)
Yay! :) So, I will call about the second screening and blood test and hopefully all that is fine. Apparently, with that exam, there is a 5-10% of a false positive and a 75-90% chance they will actually catch anything wrong. If they think something is wrong, there is a second test that you can take which involves a needle that goes through your belly into the sack to pull out DNA stuff.
But, it was very cool to see the ultra-sound - my favorite was SEEING the heartbeat. That was so cool!!! We then heard it for about 5 seconds and went back to looking at the screen. Looking at it first, I thought the head was to the left, but it was the right. Now, I see it right away, but it's a bit disorientating at first.
We also saw the 4-D image, which wasn't that interesting as it didn't look quite so like anything ;) I was surprised that she did the 4-D; I always thought that was by request. I read another blog where she was deciding if she should do it because she always thought they looked like aliens and whatnot. But, my doctor did it right away! Hmmmm.Anyways, they didn't take blood, but between weeks 10-12, I will probably go for another ulta-sound (outside her office because my insurance doesn't cover it inside the office) where they will test the size of the sac (?) behind the neck and take blood to determine any problems like Down Syndrome. They also determine if there are any other problems - the other two which would cause for reason to terminate the pregnancy. This is because those run a high chance of the baby not surviving more than a few hours after being born and so it recomended by doctors to terminate if these problems are found at this point. They don't recomend termination if Down Syndrome is found, since you can't tell how much the child will be affected by this.
I did some googling, and found that apparently almost 90% of people who find that their child will have Down Syndrome do terminate the pregnancy. I thought that was interesting because, obviously, the syndrome presents challenges, but there is so much unknown about how the child will grow up with it at this point. Of course, there is very little chance that the person would be completely independent and they usually don't have children.
Anyways, my stats:
Blood pressure - good (I can't remember what it was... 76/118?)
Baby heart rate - 168 beats per minute
Baby size - 1.3 cm (0.5 inches)
Yay! :) So, I will call about the second screening and blood test and hopefully all that is fine. Apparently, with that exam, there is a 5-10% of a false positive and a 75-90% chance they will actually catch anything wrong. If they think something is wrong, there is a second test that you can take which involves a needle that goes through your belly into the sack to pull out DNA stuff.
