First Trimester Screening

Today Kevin and I went into the Meadowbrook Perinatal Clinic for our First Trimester Screening. It's called “Nuchal Translucency Ultrasound” and is done between 11 wks 2 days – 13 wks 6 days. It is a check for chromosome problems: trisomy 13, trisomy 18 and trisomy 21 (down syndrome). They do an ultrasound to measure the back of baby’s neck fold and if nasal bone is visible. Then a blood sample to check levels of 2 proteins. If all comes back normal, baby is 85% okay. They do another check at 18 weeks to be 95% sure, but the only 100% way to tell would be to take out a sample of the amniotic fluid (with a really long needle through my belly - no thank you!) Not everyone has this screening done, its really for people who are at high-risk and/or will be 35+ when they deliver. But Kevin really wanted to do it, just to see and know, and when he found out the $650 test was covered under our insurance, we thought why not get a free ultrasound by a high-risk tech…

The sonographer spent 45 minutes with us, allowing us to ask tons of questions, showing us every inch of our baby, counting arms, legs, fingers and toes! She measured the fluid behind the neck to be 1.4mm (<2.5mm is normal) and the nasal bone was visual. Baby’s heartbeat was at 154 and crown-rump length at 2.5in. Baby was moving around A LOT! Doing flips and headstands! She said I was growing a monkey break dancer, hahaha! Or as Kevin says, he/she fidgets like me. She said this was normal as baby is just starting to experience its reflexes. At the very end she did a 3-D ultrasound view. Its hands were in front of its face (because they just got feeling in its palms and love to explore their face) so you can’t see the facial features yet, and it kinda looks like an alien because head grows fastest first, but very cool to see!

We brought up my thyroid issue and the comment “hypothyroidism isn’t usually considered high-risk” made us feel at ease. Now let’s hope my labs come back okay at my next week’s OB appointment!

Lastly, we asked if she thought boy or girl? She explained that its still too early to tell because no matter boy or girl, its parts are sticking out right now. Then she went on to explain that there is a little trick though...if its sticking straight out its girl, and up out its boy....she predicted girl! She obviously said its still too early and she cant say for sure, but said she's never been wrong yet in her predictions ;)