So the day before yesterday we attended our first appointment with the midwife, called the booking appointment (not the midwife, she is called Madeleine)
So we arrived at the clinic right on time for our appointment, which was due to start at 3:00 pm, but as the midwife opened the door to call other people who were also waiting, she saw me and asked me if I had all my paperwork. “I haven’t been given any paperwork“, I said; so off she went to pick it up and came back with so many pieces of paper! It was really unbelievable… Jon asked why it isn’t computerised.. we’re in the 21st century after all! So I had to write my full name (which is not short), address and date of birth about 10 different times in different forms.
And when we finally went in, we spent another hour reviewing the paperwork and answering lots of questions about health and lifestyle. To be honest, there wasn’t much conversation, it was purely a question/answer situation. I found Madeleine nice enough. There was also a student midwife present, but I don’t think she’ll get very far in life, as she looked as useful as a chocolate tea-pot.
They took lots of blood samples for different kinds of tests (including thyroid), I got weighed (I have put on weight!), and discussed the screening tests that I will have. This brought up the difficult question of the Down Syndrome possibility. Basically, there is a 0.2% chance that I have a down syndrome baby. There are screening tests that help predict your chances. The first one is just a blood test and something called the “nuchal” test, where they measure the size of the neck of the baby during the first ultrasound scan. The results of these test only tell you if you are “low risk” or “high risk” of having a down syndrome baby. But even with low risk, you still could be the 1 in 100 that has the Down’s baby. If you get high risk in your result they recommend that you have a second test in which they are able to determine more accurately whether your baby will be downs or not. The problem with this second test is that the chances of miscarriage are very high.
The underlying issue with all of this is, would I terminate the pregnancy if I knew that I am having a Down’s syndrome baby? Well, as horrible as it may sound, I am not sure I would want to continue the pregnancy if I was sure that the baby will be Down’s. For very selfish reasons, and also for the baby’s sake. The midwife said that if we wouldn’t terminate, there is no point in doing any tests (not even the first one), but both Jon and I would be much happier having as much information as we can before we make any kind of decision.
We’re seeing Mr O’Sullivan at the Hampshire Clinic on Monday for my second internal scan and we will try to talk to him about our options and his recommendation on this subject. Then on Thursday I need to call Madeleine and let her know what our decision regarding the screening tests is. I am pretty sure we will request to have the first one, and then we’ll make a decision based on the results.
So, week 8 is almost finished without any major changes in me!
Nosotros hicimos todos los test, si la prueba nucal/análisis de sangre hubieran salido con alto riesgo, hubieramos ido a por los test de diagnostico y como tu, si hubieran salido positivos, no hubieramos seguido adelante. En mi semana 29, y aunque espero que todo salga bien y el bebe este sano, todavía uno no está seguro.
Mucha suerte con todo.