Heading to the Mid Town Columbia Medical Centre on Wednesday 23rd January for the Nuchal (or Downs Syndrome) test was quite nerve-wracking. I knew that the test is a combined test of both a physical measurement of the back of the baby's neck, which is done by the sonographer looking at the ultrasound, and a blood test. Not only was I nervous about what the sonographer might discover about the baby's neck measurement in my presence, I was also nervous about seeing the baby again, and whether or not everything was still ok.
The sonographer asked me to lie on the bed and proceeded to put the ultrasound gel on my stomach, followed by the ultrasound instrument. On the big screen in front of me I saw the shape of the baby, and the sonographer said something about the baby sleeping. She moved the instrument around to get different angles while she was pressing a button that was producing some photos. She gave them to me and I kept looking at the screen, not quite sure what she was seeing and feeling a bit hesitant to ask if all was as expected. She said again something about the baby not wanting to have its picture taken and I said, "Is there a heartbeat?", to which she laughed and replied, "Yes, of course there's a heartbeat. I wouldn't give you photos of the baby if there wasn't a heartbeat!" I guess that was obvious! Almost instantly the baby started flipping around and about on the screen like it was in a swimming pool. It looked very cute. The sonographer then started taking measurements of the baby, including the neck. Then it flipped again and was facing away in a position that wasn't really conducive to measuring it. She said that she was measuring my ovaries etc. while the baby was hiding. After a while, she said that the baby wasn't wanting to play ball, and that she was having trouble getting some more measurements of the neck. She said that she was going to ask a Dr if what she had already obtained was ok. She came back and told me that the Dr had said what had already been taken was enough. I had a feeling of relief, thinking that if that was the case, then the measurements of the neck were at least a good sign. I asked her if she knew my due date, and she told me it was the 25th July. I then had the blood test taken by a nurse, which was only a prick on my finger to place five spots of blood on a test sheet. The nurse said that my Dr would have the results in a few days. Once I'd left, I looked at my calendar and calculated that going by my due date, I was 14 weeks the next day, which put me exactly in line with my October cycle.
I already had my next appointment with Dr Holden scheduled for the following Monday, so was hoping that he would have the results by that date. Mark was coming with me to this one, as I had assumed that it would be another sonogram that Mark would be able to experience. We were called to Dr Holden's room and I was asked by the nurse to give a urine sample. Dr Holden came in shortly after and asked me to hop up on the bed. I asked if I had to remove my pants, expecting to have another internal sonogram, but he said that there was no ultrasound today, and that we were going to listen to the baby's heartbeat. I was a little disappointed that Mark wasn't going to experience the sonogram that day, but it was still very exciting listening to the baby's heartbeat, which was beating at around 140 beats per minute; much faster than an adult.
I hopped off the bed and my Dr asked if I had any questions before we moved on to the Nuchal results. I had actually come prepared this time with about 3 pages of questions in my notebook! Some of the questions were practical questions such as access to the hospital when I go in to labour and whether I should call an ambulance, considering that the Columbia University Medical Centre, where I am to give birth, is all the way up on the Upper West Side at 168th Street. My Dr put me at ease, saying that the typical length of time for a first pregnancy is 24 hours from initial contractions to birth, so I should be fine making it up the West Side Highway to the hospital! I asked what the latest is I could travel to being pregnant. He said it's fine up until really the last month. I was worried about our trip to the Caymans in late May, but he said that it was absolutely fine, and that the airline probably wouldn't even realise that I was pregnant. I asked about travelling once the baby had arrived, and he told us that it would depend on where we were going, with regard to jabs etc.. He also told us that the passport process is quite a lengthy one, in that it takes around 6 weeks alone for the birth certificate to be sent out from the hospital! Then the passport process for a newborn takes anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks, and that is after having the passport photos taken and applying in person with an 'Identifying Witness' who is a US citizen and can vouch for your identity at the time of the application.
I also asked him about certain things that I'd read on the internet, such as the ingredients in some herbal teas being harmful to unborn foetus'. Mark had bought me some sachets of different herbal teas from a store near his office in Tribeca, and after Googling some of the ingredients, like burdock root and yerba mate, and 'pregnancy' I thought that I'd potentially already done some damage to my baby, as some sites advise that these ingredients may cause damage to the foetus, and could even lead to birth defects! Luckily (again) the Dr put me at ease, explaining that the amount of these ingredients in the herbal teas is so minute, that there is no chance of them harming the baby whatsoever.
He also reassured me that it's fine to eat as much salmon as I want to. I had queried this because so many sites recommend that you stick to no more than two servings of oily fish a week, but he said that there's no chance of overdosing on the good fats, Omega 3s, so enjoy! He also said lobster is also fine to enjoy, with its levels of mercury being low. He said that the mercury risks are only if you have chronic exposure to high levels of it, meaning if you eat huge amounts of the fish or seafood with high levels of mercury every day or so of your pregnancy. I'm not really eating tuna at all, but apparently having it a couple of times a week is totally fine.
I asked about caffeine, diet drinks and sweeteners, all of which he said to enjoy in moderation. He told me that the Hydrogen Peroxide 3% mix that the dentist had told me to use was totally safe. I also asked about alcohol, mentioning wine in particular, to which he replied, "Half a glass is absolutely fine". I was the one who had to fill in a frequency of "once or twice a week", to which he nodded in response. I've actually only had a small glass or so every few weeks, but it is nice to have a reasonable Dr who reassured me about so many things that I'd read about on so many misleading websites!
The next thing was to discuss the Nuchal results. He explained that the average possibility of having a baby with Downs Syndrome for my age was 1 in 300, but with the tests that had been taken, our baby's chances were 1 in 6,600. He said that with such a low possibility, they wouldn't recommend any additional invasive tests to be performed to confirm 100%, so we were very relieved that the test results gave such a confident result.
Of course, telling Mum that night of our eagerly awaited results her immediate reaction was, "But what if you're the 1 in 6,600?!"!!!!!
The sonographer asked me to lie on the bed and proceeded to put the ultrasound gel on my stomach, followed by the ultrasound instrument. On the big screen in front of me I saw the shape of the baby, and the sonographer said something about the baby sleeping. She moved the instrument around to get different angles while she was pressing a button that was producing some photos. She gave them to me and I kept looking at the screen, not quite sure what she was seeing and feeling a bit hesitant to ask if all was as expected. She said again something about the baby not wanting to have its picture taken and I said, "Is there a heartbeat?", to which she laughed and replied, "Yes, of course there's a heartbeat. I wouldn't give you photos of the baby if there wasn't a heartbeat!" I guess that was obvious! Almost instantly the baby started flipping around and about on the screen like it was in a swimming pool. It looked very cute. The sonographer then started taking measurements of the baby, including the neck. Then it flipped again and was facing away in a position that wasn't really conducive to measuring it. She said that she was measuring my ovaries etc. while the baby was hiding. After a while, she said that the baby wasn't wanting to play ball, and that she was having trouble getting some more measurements of the neck. She said that she was going to ask a Dr if what she had already obtained was ok. She came back and told me that the Dr had said what had already been taken was enough. I had a feeling of relief, thinking that if that was the case, then the measurements of the neck were at least a good sign. I asked her if she knew my due date, and she told me it was the 25th July. I then had the blood test taken by a nurse, which was only a prick on my finger to place five spots of blood on a test sheet. The nurse said that my Dr would have the results in a few days. Once I'd left, I looked at my calendar and calculated that going by my due date, I was 14 weeks the next day, which put me exactly in line with my October cycle.
I already had my next appointment with Dr Holden scheduled for the following Monday, so was hoping that he would have the results by that date. Mark was coming with me to this one, as I had assumed that it would be another sonogram that Mark would be able to experience. We were called to Dr Holden's room and I was asked by the nurse to give a urine sample. Dr Holden came in shortly after and asked me to hop up on the bed. I asked if I had to remove my pants, expecting to have another internal sonogram, but he said that there was no ultrasound today, and that we were going to listen to the baby's heartbeat. I was a little disappointed that Mark wasn't going to experience the sonogram that day, but it was still very exciting listening to the baby's heartbeat, which was beating at around 140 beats per minute; much faster than an adult.
I hopped off the bed and my Dr asked if I had any questions before we moved on to the Nuchal results. I had actually come prepared this time with about 3 pages of questions in my notebook! Some of the questions were practical questions such as access to the hospital when I go in to labour and whether I should call an ambulance, considering that the Columbia University Medical Centre, where I am to give birth, is all the way up on the Upper West Side at 168th Street. My Dr put me at ease, saying that the typical length of time for a first pregnancy is 24 hours from initial contractions to birth, so I should be fine making it up the West Side Highway to the hospital! I asked what the latest is I could travel to being pregnant. He said it's fine up until really the last month. I was worried about our trip to the Caymans in late May, but he said that it was absolutely fine, and that the airline probably wouldn't even realise that I was pregnant. I asked about travelling once the baby had arrived, and he told us that it would depend on where we were going, with regard to jabs etc.. He also told us that the passport process is quite a lengthy one, in that it takes around 6 weeks alone for the birth certificate to be sent out from the hospital! Then the passport process for a newborn takes anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks, and that is after having the passport photos taken and applying in person with an 'Identifying Witness' who is a US citizen and can vouch for your identity at the time of the application.
I also asked him about certain things that I'd read on the internet, such as the ingredients in some herbal teas being harmful to unborn foetus'. Mark had bought me some sachets of different herbal teas from a store near his office in Tribeca, and after Googling some of the ingredients, like burdock root and yerba mate, and 'pregnancy' I thought that I'd potentially already done some damage to my baby, as some sites advise that these ingredients may cause damage to the foetus, and could even lead to birth defects! Luckily (again) the Dr put me at ease, explaining that the amount of these ingredients in the herbal teas is so minute, that there is no chance of them harming the baby whatsoever.
He also reassured me that it's fine to eat as much salmon as I want to. I had queried this because so many sites recommend that you stick to no more than two servings of oily fish a week, but he said that there's no chance of overdosing on the good fats, Omega 3s, so enjoy! He also said lobster is also fine to enjoy, with its levels of mercury being low. He said that the mercury risks are only if you have chronic exposure to high levels of it, meaning if you eat huge amounts of the fish or seafood with high levels of mercury every day or so of your pregnancy. I'm not really eating tuna at all, but apparently having it a couple of times a week is totally fine.
I asked about caffeine, diet drinks and sweeteners, all of which he said to enjoy in moderation. He told me that the Hydrogen Peroxide 3% mix that the dentist had told me to use was totally safe. I also asked about alcohol, mentioning wine in particular, to which he replied, "Half a glass is absolutely fine". I was the one who had to fill in a frequency of "once or twice a week", to which he nodded in response. I've actually only had a small glass or so every few weeks, but it is nice to have a reasonable Dr who reassured me about so many things that I'd read about on so many misleading websites!
The next thing was to discuss the Nuchal results. He explained that the average possibility of having a baby with Downs Syndrome for my age was 1 in 300, but with the tests that had been taken, our baby's chances were 1 in 6,600. He said that with such a low possibility, they wouldn't recommend any additional invasive tests to be performed to confirm 100%, so we were very relieved that the test results gave such a confident result.
Of course, telling Mum that night of our eagerly awaited results her immediate reaction was, "But what if you're the 1 in 6,600?!"!!!!!
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