Sunday, July 12, 2009

95 - It's always something...

This is the phrase I probably heard the most from my parents while I was growing up - I forget which parent...maybe both. The electricity would go out..."It's always something". Someone would die...."It's always something". The vacuum would break..."It's always something.". So when we got the news that our NT Scan and blood work came back "positive", it is no surprise that "It's always something" was the phrase that ran through my head.

I knew something was up when my ob called on Tuesday and left the following message - "Hey, Christina. It's Dr. H. Give me a ring at the office. I'll be here till 4PM.". Obs just don't call to see how things are going. I figured it out before I called him back that he was probably calling with our results, and since he was calling at all, the results were probably "abnormal". So Alex and I had the discussion before I even talked to the doc. We wouldn't terminate, therefore, we wouldn't follow-up with an amnio.

Yes - it was a positive test. He said the average risk for Down's for someone my age is 1/110. Any test the comes in at a higher risk than the average is considered "positive". With our NT scan, the blood work, and my age, the risk for us came back as 1/60. That means rather than a .5% chance that this baby has Down's, there is a 1.6% chance. Or, another way to think of it is that there is a 98.4% that the baby is fine.

Of course we would have rather had different news, but I am happily surprised about how we have dealt with this. I feel like it is a true reflection of all the hard emotional work we have done has individuals and as a couple. First of all, we know the inaccuracy of this test and we are aware of the high probability of false positives. Secondly, we intimately know someone with Down's - Alex's sister. It is not an unknown to us, which makes any probability of it a lot less scary. I can honestly say this positive test has put little to no damper on the excitement we are feeling about this pregnancy. The part I am happily surprised about is not necessarily our decision itself - I have no judgment about what people decide to do with this information. It is such a personal choice. I am most happily surprised about our clarity and the fact that we are on the same page...whatever that "same page" may be.

I've been feeling movement. I'm getting big. And when I push on my stomach in certain places, I can tell I am feeling the baby's head. We just want to enjoy the rest of this pregnancy with as little medical intervention as possible.

So - in other news, the summer has been great. Perhaps one of our best. After we returned from Dublin, I went on another trip with Alex to Valencia, Spain. It was a beautiful city. We spent a lot of time on the beach. Some women were topless, and I was so tempted to rip my top off as well. I have nice boobs right now. I've never had nice boobs, nor will there probably be another time in my life where they are this nice. I wanted to show them off. But I resisted. Too bad...

This week we are visiting Alex's aunt in Ohio. Then a friend of ours whom we haven't seen in ages is coming up to see us and go to the Ann Arbor Art Fair next weekend. Then we are going to an air show...I'm working the beer tent for our Women in Aviation group. Lots of other summer plans, and the next thing I know, I'll be back teaching and 6 months along. I guess my parents were right...It is always *something* :-).

Some pics from Spain...