Testing Times

As I mentioned in my last post, we had to go through some scary tests during this pregnancy.

At the 12 week scan we saw a little wriggling baby shape complete with heartbeat and let a few tears of joy roll down our faces - we were finally having a baby after 18 months of trying to conceive. But then came the bad news. There was too much fluid behind the baby's neck - it should measure around 3 mm, but ours was 6.1. We were told this meant the baby could have Downs Syndrome and/or a heart problem, we were told there was a 1 in 56 chance and that the pregnancy was high risk. I was completely shellshocked and couldn't stop crying, while my husband tried to be strong for the both of us. We decided to go ahead with the CVS, a big needle for a through the abdomen to get cells from the placenta to test. I have an anterior planceta, which means it's on the front of my womb, so as we watched this huge needle go in, it looked like our baby was happy bobbing along underneath without a clue what was going on!

Thankfully they don't make you wait long for the results. I was signed off work due to the stress and had managed to fall asleep on the sofa when the phone went just 48 hours after the test - we got the all clear, our baby had no chromosome abnormality. We were overjoyed and so relieved.

Four weeks later, it was time for our baby's first heart scan - different hospital but the same great care from all the NHS staff involved. This time we were told then and there all looked good - phew! We had to go back at 21 weeks for one more look once baby's heart had grown some more. Again, more great news, the consultant told us we know had her permission to relax!

Of course not everything can be spotted on a scan but we both feel so much better after being told our baby looks healthy, long may it continue!