CVS test report

The CVS test this morning went really well. Loved the doc. Several people had told us about his fantastic bedside manner and the reputation is well-deserved. He was very good.

I ended up getting the procedure done trans-abdominally. I actually had my choice between trans-abdominally and trans-cervically. But, I'd drunk a bit too much water and my bladder was sort of in the way for the trans-cervical so they would have had to wait until I emptied my bladder some and it got out of the way. Honestly, I just wanted it done with and needles really don't bother me (how could they with the ridiculous number that have gone through my skin exactly in that same place just below my belly button?).

I had just a half second of pinch/cramp when the needle went through my uterus and then it was just a little weird (but not really uncomfortable and not at all painful) as the doc moved the needle up and down to try and get it filled up with placenta. He got what he deemed 'an excellent' sample.

The best part - although I wouldn't have told you this before - was seeing the ultrasound image of our baby on the high-resolution screen in the room before the doc came in. When we entered the room the set up was just a little too similar (with a big lcd screen hung high) to the room we were in for the fateful nuchal translucency from the last pregnancy and I thought I was going to be unhappy about that. But, as soon as the ultrasound tech pulled up the picture and said, 'and there's the heartbeat' and turned on the sound, I was once again entranced. The baby is measuring 11w6d (I'm 11w5d) and everything was there: 2 legs, 2 arms (5 fingers, can you believe they can show that?), spine, 2 hemispheres of the brain, what looked like a pretty good nasal bone. And, best of all, a nuchal fold of 1.36. That certainly beats the 8+ nuchal fold we had last time (duh!) Of course, we're not out of the woods. But the CVS results will tell us that.

The FISH results should be back Tuesday and the genetic counselor should be calling me Tuesday morning sometime. That will tell us chromosomes 13, 18, 21 and the x and y chromosomes. Which is pretty much what we're mostly concerned with. Of course the full results (back in 7-10 days they said) will be more detailed but mostly will be looking for much rarer conditions (many of which we already know we're not carriers for.)

And, yes, we'll find out the sex.

As for the toxoplasmosis issue, we took the opportunity to ask the MFM doc about this. He was pretty reassuring. But he also fairly insisted that we utilize the reference lab in Palo Alto to confirm results (if this hasn't been done already and we're assuming yesterday's titer was just done at Quest Labs and not sent on to Palo Alto). He confirmed that an amnio could be done at 18 weeks to see if the baby has been infected. He's pretty hopeful that it's a false positive. So are we. But, we'll just have to see.

I came away from the appointment this morning very hopeful about our prospects for not being genetically abnormal. I know that just the absence of a large nuchal fold and the absence of the same kind of massive cystic hygroma that we saw the last time *does not* mean that we don't have a chromosome abnormality. But, somehow seeing the absence of those things makes me have hope.

I have to stay mostly off my feet and do no exercise for 5-7 days which means even no walking the dog. (It's a good thing I got up and went for a 3 mile run this morning at 6:15 a.m.!!) Mr.Right has forbid me from doing laundry and cleaning (even though his mother is due here Monday afternoon to stay until Tuesday afternoon when she flies to California to visit his sister.) I have 2 new books from the library to read and a bunch of consulting work to catch up on this afternoon. Might convince Mr.Right to go to a movie this weekend (sounds like a good sitting activity.)