Hey everyone!

I've kind of been brooding on this alone for a while (with the exception of a couple of people on msn who I've vented too!!) but I've decided I'm being silly worrying about nothing, so I thought I'd share.

We had the triple diagnostic test done, which tests the hormone levels in your blood (which came from the placenta, or something) for Down's Syndrome, Trisomy 18 and Trisomy 13. The Down's part came back absolutely fine (1:4000 chance), but there is a higher-than-should-be chance of the baby having Trisomy 18 . The chance of a baby having it ought to be about 1:3000, but my blood results showed 1:864.

This is still a really, really low chance of course, but it was enough for my doctor to be concerned and to offer us more tests. We've decided against the more intrusive tests as they have a risk of miscarriage, but we're going to have another screening test in the form of a level II ultrasound. The doctor will look for any abnormalities in the baby's heart and kidneys, as well as in the limbs and brain, which are typical 'soft markers' of Trisomy 18. We're scheduled for 27th July. If there are no soft markers, then we will assume everything is as it ought to be and be grateful for a healthy baby. If some of these markers do show up, we will have further tests.

I had a hellish day when I first got these results, but now rationality has taken over and I see what a low, low chance there really is of anything being wrong. I'm OK and so is my husband, and I'm not posting this for sympathy or to make people feel bad or anything, but just to keep people up-to-date on why I've not been posting much about the baby or anything else here or on Facebook or elsewhere and also because I think I just needed to say it.

I'm absolutely certain that everything is ok, but this has really opened my eyes as to what some people go through and the terrible things that can go wrong.

On a lighter note, here are some of the scan pics we've had so far:

At about 8 weeks



At about 12 weeks



At the scan on the 27th, we should also be able to find out the sex, so yay :)

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Hey Vik

I sort of know the worry you're going through, after so much hard trying and getting this far despite medical "experts" telling us we should adopt (very tactful there doc) we are now up to week 21 tomorrow. We had our scan like I mentioned on the 8th and the only thing was they didn't get to see the back of the neck, so thats the "Newkold fold" (sp?) thing which is an indicator of Downs', and we're going back this Wednesday for another scan. Even though 98% of me is certain its all going to be fine there's always that 2% of worry.

We didn't have any diagnostic tests done, was this a sample extracted from the fluid? I think we deliberately didn't want that, along with any of the (ahem) intrusive exams as due to past experiences we both think that these had something to do with M/C.

He (haha - HE) is going to be ours just before December and we'll love him as much as we can for as long as we can, worrying now is just going to cause us both unneccassary stress and bother. I'd advise you to do the same, just take it easy!!! I think it's normal just to worry about every single condition that your baby "could" have, but the risks are so slim.

For example, have you heard of Lockdeadius Pacspina Playermultiple? That's a condition where you get a curved back from playing Pacman too long in tournaments. It's named after me! And I made it up. But you still get that "Oh no!" factor cos it sounds serious and its in ITALIC!

Bit of rambling but there you go. Keep taking your vitamins and get your feet up and have a rest. Oh and for the record, yours is a girl. I guarantee

Geoff

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"I done a lot of things I ain't proud of. And the things I am proud of, are disgusting." - Moe Syzlak

No, this wasn't an amniotic fluid test, the results were just based on a hormone level blood test. We don't want the amnio test done because of the chance of miscarriage.

I can't wait until December to see pics of your little boy!! Have you thought about names yet?

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Yes, and my answer is the same one I've given everybody else ...

.. you'll have to wait

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"I done a lot of things I ain't proud of. And the things I am proud of, are disgusting." - Moe Syzlak

Vik, I'm glad you got it out in the open. That was brave of you as it's a very deep thing.

God willing, I hope everything goes well for you, and I still believe that everything will be okay. Pregnancy is a scary thing. No one seems to have it "easy" (okay, okay, some do, lol). But there is a lot of stress for us women, whether it's the actual pregnancy, or the delivery of the baby, or both.

I truly believe everything is going to be okay :) I really do. Just focus on the delivery now :P hehehehe!


Oh, and Deadlock! She's having a boy! :P

I'd better be having a boy - I've got a steak dinner riding on it!!

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I don't have any experience to share but I just wanted to say that I hope it goes all right Vik. Hugs.

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So, had my appointment at stupid 0' clock this morning! From what the doctor could see (which wasn't much due to baby laying in a bad position and due to the fact that it's still kind of small) there appears to be no problems. The bladder was full, which is a good sign that the kidney's are working although those are too small to examine right now. The heart beat was fine, and the arms and legs were the right length. The head was also the correct size, and the amount of amniotic fluid in the uterus was also fine. So, probably everything is ok.

We have another appointment in 4 weeks - our 20 week scan. This is routine and measures the organs etc in quite fine detail, so at that appointment he'll be able to double-check that everything is as it should be. He'll also be able to check the hands and feet in more detail because club foot and weird fingers/missing thumbs are also markers of this trisomy 18.

But for now, we're reassured that everything's fine. I'm sure the relief will hit me later - for now I'm just really tired.

Oh, and he couldn't see the sex - d'oh!

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Got the 20 week scan tomorrow. So excited! I hope we can find out the gender so I can stop with the lists and lists and lists of baby names in both sexes P

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It's always hard getting names that you both like (says the man who makes it sound like all he ever does is think of baby names for a living) ... We had so many different ones we couldn't agree on, both male and female, until we found out we had a boy on the way :)

But someone somewhere already has the name you think of. Any I thought of, someone at work would pipe out with "Oh my mate's dog's called that" or "Yeah my mate's sister called her kid that." It's bloody annoying. Someone somewhere always beats you to it.

Fiona knows someone who was trying to get pregnant and told her best friend what she was going to call her first baby girl. Then the friend got pregnant first, had her baby first ... and she called hers the name instead! How stack-babbing was that?

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"I done a lot of things I ain't proud of. And the things I am proud of, are disgusting." - Moe Syzlak

Yeah, that's what my sister did to me... first and middle names, lol. I don't mind now though, my niece is 5 and although I love her name (and can't imagine her called anything else) it's probably not a name I'd pick myself anymore.

I think it's going to be extra-hard for us because we need a name that's recognisable, pronounceable and spellable in English and German. Plus of course we don't want a mega popular name or a mega old-fashioned one either, and England and Germany are definitely NOT synchronised in how popular names are.

For example, 'Kevin' is very popular as a boys' name here right now whereas it's fallen out of favour right now in the UK. A name like 'Ruby' would simply not be recognised here (same goes for most vocabulary-type names like Summer, Poppy, Grace etc). Matilda is terribly old-fashioned here, whereas in the UK it's becoming more and more popular again, and popular German boys' names include Jannick, Luka, Maximillion, Moritz, Fabian... names which are either weird or unheard of in the UK.

Quite the dilemma! I have to admit though, I'm having the time of my life making lists :P

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Luke and Max were names we had considered ... :) Not so dissimilar to the German Luka or Maximillion.

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"I done a lot of things I ain't proud of. And the things I am proud of, are disgusting." - Moe Syzlak

So....

we're..

having...

a...

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Oh yay! *hugs* Congratulations, a girl! :)

Can we say "I told you so!" ???

Congrats Vik, now get shopping for pink things!

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"I done a lot of things I ain't proud of. And the things I am proud of, are disgusting." - Moe Syzlak

:0 Congratsssssssssssssssssssssssss Vik ^_^_^_^ <3 awwww :) :) <3

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Rofl. Congratulations :) :)
I thought the whole spoiler thing was to stop people from knowing :P ahaha. :) But it's obvious from the comments below. ahah xD
But yaaay :) Ooh and good luck on the next scan and stuffs, I'm sure everything will be fine :)

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Hey Vik, just passing on my best wishes for you and the baby :)
You have cute pictures of the baby now, but wait until you get to see the real thing, I bet you can't wait :)

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Aww, many congrats! I honestly don't know what it's like to know the sex before hand, but it must be awesome, XD Glad everything was well today and I hope the next scan is great for you lot! May you have a happy and healthy baby! :D

Hehe, congratulations! I told you it was gonna be a girl too :D Ok, so I based it on a typo I made but still, I was right.

Glad to hear the scan was all good too *big fat hugs* xxx

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