12 to 24 week pregnancy thread

pigpen

The only problem I have wiith eating is I can't blooming stop!!!!!!!!!

I devour everything in sight..

KimmyMarky

Hi Everyone

I'm moving over from the less than 12 weeks. I'm 15 weeks today and still not feeling or looking pregnant, I'm sure I will soon but it just still feels weird.

I joined back the gym today to keep active as the weather is too bad to do my outside exersize regularly. Came home to a letter from the hospital rescheduling my consultant appointment coz I didn't turn up even though I did, lol!!

Hope everyone i doing okay.

Kimmy

Kitten_Pie

Hey SFW, I'm 16 weeks too and although I haven't had MS really I can't stomach food. It just makes me feel sick even when I buy it thinking it will be fine and get home and just can't get it down. I have gradually gone off everything I used to like. I'm sure it will get better at some point.

Wonder_Womble

Hey BM, not much to report other than I am even more confused than I was before, Consultant gave me different info to the midwife, who gave me different info to the Sister who originally rang

But I suppose he is the specialist so he will know what he is talking about. Anyway we have another appointment on Wednesday to discuss whether to have the amnio, and possible have it done that afternoon. I really don't know what to do for the best.

DH said if it was just his decision he wouldn't have the amnio, but he is worried that I am going to stress for the next 5 months or so, so thinks we should have it.

But if we have it I'm going to stress about the risk of MC which can last up to 4 weeks after.

If we come back positive for Downs or another syndrome I'm going to stress about how severe it is going to be.

I don't know whether it is worth the risk, and I really wish I didn't have to make a decision

jenjade

:)hey WW- That is a tough one i guess the question is whether you are going to keep the baby regaurdless of the results. If you are what do you gain by having the amnio? Maybe write a list of pros and cons with other half and go from there. I think we all worry when we are pregnant and we are all a 1 in something chance of Downs so any of us could be the one.

I personnally think out of most the disablities and disorders Downs is one of the easier ones to cope with generally happy healthy happy go lucky children that are a pleasure to be with. (generally!) And unlike some other disabilities that can be painful and involve loads of surgery Downs can be pretty mild.

If i was you i would read up about downs maybe a few autobiographies by parents of children with downs. maybe contact your local childrens centre or search online to see if there are any support groups where you could go and meet other mums and get some support and listen to thier experiances and meet some children with Downs? Do what you can to put your mind it rest. It is a huge thing to come to terms with but whatever the world throws at us there is always someone worse off. Stay strong hugs

Anyway back to me!!:rotfl::rotfl:

I went for my midwifes appointment today and listened to bump. Heartbeat is lovely and strong so happy with that! :T All seems fine was a very quick appointment

pigpen

Womble.. I was offered the amnio with mine after miscarrying a baby with Downs.. I had 2 thoughts.. first it would be nice to know in order to be prepared.. second.. there are few problems a baby with Downs would suffer immediately after birth as they are usuay just like any other newborn so it didn't matter if we got the diagnosis immediately after birth. There are also markers they can check for on an ultrasound scan.. nose, heart, hands, feet, eyes and ears for example.. I know this might not work with other trisomies.

My advice would be to ask for the scan to check.. if that comes back there MAY be issues rethink.. but if you would keep a Downs baby anyway.. does it really matter if you have a diagnosis now or in the days after the birth?

It is a hard hard decision to make and noone cana make it for you.

Wonder_Womble

Thanks ladies.

Jenjade, I've worked with children and adults with disabilities for over 15 years and OH is a learning disabilities nurse so we have a fair idea of what to expect. Although I appreciate that it is very different when you're paid support working 9-5 and can go home and forget about it at the end of the day. Being a parent of a child with a disability is a very different ball game I'm sure.

The amnio isn't going to affect our decision to have the baby in terms of Down's but would affect our decision in terms of other syndromes such as Edward's or Patau.

I just want clear information on whether I am high risk for those syndromes which apparently the Consultant says I can't have without the amnio ... but when others have posted their results on here they've been quoted a risk percentage for Trisomy 21 (Down's), 18 (Edward's) and 13 (Patau).

Wonder_Womble

Pigpen are you talking about the anomaly scan at 20 weeks or is there another scan? My consultant said that a scan wouldn't show anything

I'm not entirely believing this man so as you can imagine I'm none too keen on trusting mine and my baby's welfare to him!

Blue_Monkey

When my doctor said "here's your referral for your 12 week scan" she also said "you should probably consider having the nuchal translucency test done". At that time I thought the NT was only the scan, didn't realise there were bloods too and also didn't realise they screened the other trisomies either. Reading stuff before the scan I thought they simply looked for a nasal bone and checked tge fluid behind the neck.

Just goes to show that it seems the healthcare people perhaps aren't doing a thorough job of letting us understand a) what's involved in a test, b) what they're testing for and c) what the results may mean!

I guess your consultant may mean the scan won't be worth it now as I'd read somewhere that the NT scan must be done between a certain time. (ie 11+3 and 13+6 or something like that). Seems a little odd that the didn't test for the other trisomies at the same time though....

Not sure how it all works but is there anyway you could have more tests done privately? I agree that deciding on having the amnio or not is a big decision and seems they are asking you to make it without a full set of info. Does every woman at your hospital have to have an amnio to find out about the other trisomies????? I'd read somewhere that a hospital should be able to let know what they're amnio-miscarriage rate is.

What was different about the consultants info and the midwives info?

I'll do some digging today for some links and post them up later xx

Wonder_Womble

Hey BM,

the bloods are taken at about 16 weeks approx, not at the same time as the NT scan.

I would have had the NT scan, but my hospital doesn't do them. Perhaps because their scanning equipment is rubbish as I realised when I got my very blurry scan pictures.

We are transferring to another hospital for our next scan, and I've seen other people's scan pictures from there and they are quite clear. The consultant said these scans are not reliable to check for Down's as the facial characteristics may not be present and the baby may not be lying in a good position to see, but I'm not stupid and I know they can check organs such as kidney, and heart, femur length, sandal toe etc. Still it is not a diagnostic screening, so we won't know for sure without the amnio.

I had the quad screening blood test which should show up the likelihood of other trisomies so I can't understand why he is saying we have to have the amnio to be tested for those, but I wonder if he means that to know for definite about those we would have to have the amnio. I don't know, he had me confused

I asked the consultant his personal amnio/ miscarriage rate and that of the hospital and he was reluctant to say, humming and ha-ing and being very vague. He did say that he hadn't had a patient have an MC in ten years but that it would only be counted if you had a MC after a couple of days. If you had it 2 weeks down the line (and the risk can last upto 4-6 weeks) then it wouldn't be counted as being due to the amnio.

The consultants info was different to the midwifes in that she said I should get a 2nd lot of results about 2 weeks after the blood test which would show the likelyhood of other trisomy syndromes (as I've seen others post on here). My midwife also said that it may be worth repeating the bloods due to me having a sinus infection and chest infection prior to the test it could affect my results, but the consultant said it wasn't worth doing as what difference would it make if it changed my risk to 1 in 60 or 1 in 100, I would still be high risk. He is the specialist so I suppose he should know. However .....

I'm not entirely trusting of the consultant, and feel as though he wanted to do the amnio and that was the end of it. When I originally got the phone call with the results the Sister from the hospital said that the Consultant had booked me in for the amnio that afternoon (Wednesday) as it was the only time he could do it. Which I refused to do. Then yesterday when we went for the counselling they had completed all the forms including the ones to send the amnio sample off as if it was a done deal that I was having it.

The consultant also told me that I had to have the amnio as soon as possible in case we decide to terminate after, as the cut off point is 20 weeks, which when I've googled it is 24 weeks. Not that we are considering termination, but it's just another example of the duff info I've been given by one person or another.

I'm fed up with it all and my trust in the maternity services in my local area is rapidly disappearing.

Unless we hear any more information from the hospital about the other trisomy syndromes then we won't be having the amnio. I feel calmer and more at peace when I think of not having the amnio. When I think of having it I feel really upset and anxious. The reasons being:

1. We wouldn't have a termination if baby was confirmed as Downs and I would spend the next 5 and half months worrying about the severity of health issues he or she may have.

2. I would spend the next 4 - 6 weeks too scared to move in case I had an MC.

3. I would blame myself if I had an MC afterwards.

The only pros we could think of were:

1. We would know for definite and I wouldn't spend the next 5 and half months with the question at the back of my mind. OH is concerned I am going to spend all my time worrying about it and the impact this will have on the baby. I think I am strong enough to put it out of my head and worry about it if it happens.