Alright, so it has been a few weeks since my last post, because there hasn't been that much to update you with.
I wanted to just address the OB situation one final time. A friend of mine that reads my blog sent me a message after reading my last post about my OB not wanting to see me for prenatal care, and asked if she could include an excerpt from it in her next article that she writes for Mommyish. I told her I was happy to let her share my thoughts, but got to worrying a bit when some of the feedback on the article wasn't totally understanding.
For those of you wondering, I saw my old OB for my prenatal care with Kynlee. He was great, laid back, didn't get too worried or cause me to worry about anything. I mentioned to him while pregnant with Kynlee that I was planning to do surrogacy after her. He never said anything to me then. I saw him for my six week checkup after Kynlee and mentioned it again, and he never said anything to me then either. Fast forward, and when I was gathering all the paperwork that the agency needed, one of those papers was a letter from my OB stating that I was OK to carry another pregnancy. The agency even provided a letter drafted by their lawyers that stated that my OB would not be held liable for anything. He wouldn't sign it. I had to go to my family practitioner to have it signed who was very supportive and happy for me and what I was doing. He had an opportunity then to say something, and still did not. The nurses would not explain why he wouldn't sign it either. About a month ago, when I was cleared from the clinic in Connecticut and released to see my regular OB, I called them up and made an appointment. I was very clear when making my appointment and shared exactly what my situation was, and they scheduled the appointment for me. When I got to that lovely appointment with the nurse, they were waiting for my paperwork and were fully aware of my situation. Opportunity number five was when I was in his office planning to see him. He lacked the professionalism and kindness to come and talk to me himself. It left me speculating over what his real problem with it is, other than the fact that "he is Catholic and doesn't agree with what I'm doing." At this point, I am over the situation and like I said before, he isn't worth my time if he is going to be like that. But I realized at my last OB appointment with the new OB, that while she is very nice, and understanding and supportive, it would have been nice to make my own decision on who I wanted to receive prenatal care from, instead of sort of being forced into it because of time constraints with testing that had to be done a week later. I'm over that as well, and while I'm hoping that the rest of this process goes smoothly, I am still left with a slight bad taste in my mouth regarding the whole situation. For the first time during this whole process, after the nurse told me what the OB's feelings were, I felt like I was doing something wrong, or bad in some way. I quickly excused that thought from my mind, of course and am as excited about this process as ever!
So, I had the nuchal translucency exam done about a week and a half ago. It was a time sensitive test in that it has to be done between 11 and 13 weeks, and not a day over 13 weeks. It is an ultrasound, and a blood test. They are looking for the area between the spine and brain stem. There is a normal amount of fluid there, but if there is a lot of fluid there, it can be an indication of Down's syndrome or Trisomy 18. They want the level of fluid to be less than 3.5mm. When my ultrasound was done, the fluid amount was measured at 1.56mm! That was considered normal, but they couldn't give me a definite result until the blood test was done. So off I went to have blood drawn and the lab told me it would be a few days for the results. Great, while I expected the wait, I just wanted to know the results so I could quit worrying about this and focus on the next milestone. The blood test was done on a Tuesday, and the lab told me it would be back by Friday. Well, Friday came and went, and I knew not to expect anything on the weekend, but when Monday came and went without a word, I was really starting to worry and was playing the "what if" game in my head. By tuesday morning, I called as soon as the clinic opened and asked about my results. They did not have them back from the lab yet, and were waiting just like I was. I asked if there was anything I could do to expedite the results, but was told no, and that they will contact the lab themselves and get the results hopefully by the end of the day. The intended parents were getting anxious as well (I don't blame them one bit), and so it was a very long day waiting for the phone to ring. When I hadn't heard anything by three, I called the clinic again, and spoke to the nurse. She said that the lab was confused with my age and the maternal age of the baby being different and so they had called to get a confirmation but still needed the lab supervisor to sign off on it. The nurse was hoping it would still be that day, but told me at the latest, we would have results the next day. About a half hour later, she called me back with the results! As she started talking, my mind started racing. What if this, and what if that!? She said the results were negative. For a second, I started thinking that she was giving me bad news, but then I remembered that we wanted the results to be negative!
She explained it to me this way: If they were to just take the maternal age of the fetus, they would give the baby a 1 in 44 chance of having Down's Syndrome or Trisomy 18. After the results of the blood test, and the results of the ultrasound, and her age put together, they gave the baby a 1 in 312 chance of Down's syndrome. For Trisomy 18, they gave the baby a 1 in 5,000 chance. Those chances are very low and are great results! The nurse explained to me that it isn't just 312 babies in general, it is 312 babies with the same fluid measurements and the same age range of the mother, and the same blood results. When you mix that with all babies, the chances are like half a percent! YAY!! Big sigh of relief for sure! For those of you that were praying, thank you and keep it up! The next milestone is the 20 week ultrasound! The intended parents are coming for this ultrasound and I am very excited for them to see the area and the hospital and to spend time with them!
I am 14 weeks, and 2 days, and the nausea is finally starting to fade away. I am still very tired all the time, but when I think about what my body is doing, I can't blame it for needing some rest! I am thankful to you readers and hope you stick around! I'm sure it will get much more interesting!
Sarah
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