The Week 14 Update

I should have posted our Nuchal Fold scan last week, but I needed some time to cool down about the CA Dept. of Health.

The good news is that if you squint really hard, you can see a well-formed neck on little #3. The theory behind the Nuchal Translucency screening according to BabyCenter is that it helps "assess your baby's risk of having Down syndrome (DS) and some other chromosomal abnormalities as well as major congenital heart problems. The NT test uses ultrasound to measure the clear (translucent) space in the tissue at the back of your developing baby's neck. Babies with abnormalities tend to accumulate more fluid at the back of their neck during the first trimester, causing this clear space to be larger than average."



In addition to the scan, I had also taken a panel of blood for the early genetic screening. Unfortunately, those results will not be made available to me. Despite a line in their 24 page booklet that says that patients have a right to their records, not me. Evidently the loss of #25 after week 8 means that my genetic screening would be invalid. So, why didn't they tell me before the extracted several vials of blood and $162? You would think that in their 24 page book, they would have one page dedicated to who shouldn't take this test. Evidently, my ob's office had not experienced this either.

And to further add to it, we most likely will not be able to do any genetic screening the entire pregnancy because of the vanishing twin. We are flying blind as we move forward. The only good news is that we used twenty-three year old eggs which does decrease our likelihood of any issues.

Then, on top of all that frustration, my ob told me I didn't need another ultrasound until Week 18. After being closely monitored all these weeks, it's time to just have a normal pregnancy. That's a little disconcerting, but as long as my stomach continues to expand, I am just going to believe that #3 is doing alright.