Baby update
Yesterday I received the real results from the blood test/ultrasound I had done a couple of weeks ago. At this stage they were primarily checking for defects. I knew at the time of the ultrasound that everthing measured ok, and that it has a head, 2 legs and 2 arms, so all looked well. But it was really nice to get some more details from the official results.
Without any tests, the usual risk of having a baby with downs syndrome or spina bifita was (for me) about 1 in 1000 and 1 in 800 respectively. I now know that MY actual risk was this:
Downs: 1 in 10,500
Spina Bifita: 1 in 82,500
Very excited about that. The next scan I have in about a month will be able to look for some possible internal problems, and to make sure its developing properly. We could find out the sex of the baby at the next scan, but I'd still prefer not to (despite everyone on the planet asking me NOW if I know what it is yet).
Anyway, I found this webpage a while ago, and I look at it every few weeks. I really should get the book these pictures came from but theres plenty of photos available on the net if you look hard enough.
http://www.priestsforlife.org/resources/abortionimages/fetaldevelopment.htm Please IGNORE that it says "abortion images" in the link - its no such thing. Its photos of real babies at various stages of development. If you look at the 3 and a half month ones, thats where I am at right now. I never clicked on the link right at the bottom of the page, and I doubt anyone would want to see that anyway.
Edit: also found out that in 6 weeks from now, the baby becomes "viable", meaning if it was born it would live. I know the dangerous period is <12 weeks, but its also a bit of a relief to get closer to the 20 week point where if it was born super early, it might be ok.
Without any tests, the usual risk of having a baby with downs syndrome or spina bifita was (for me) about 1 in 1000 and 1 in 800 respectively. I now know that MY actual risk was this:
Downs: 1 in 10,500
Spina Bifita: 1 in 82,500
Very excited about that. The next scan I have in about a month will be able to look for some possible internal problems, and to make sure its developing properly. We could find out the sex of the baby at the next scan, but I'd still prefer not to (despite everyone on the planet asking me NOW if I know what it is yet).
Anyway, I found this webpage a while ago, and I look at it every few weeks. I really should get the book these pictures came from but theres plenty of photos available on the net if you look hard enough.
http://www.priestsforlife.org/resources/abortionimages/fetaldevelopment.htm Please IGNORE that it says "abortion images" in the link - its no such thing. Its photos of real babies at various stages of development. If you look at the 3 and a half month ones, thats where I am at right now. I never clicked on the link right at the bottom of the page, and I doubt anyone would want to see that anyway.
Edit: also found out that in 6 weeks from now, the baby becomes "viable", meaning if it was born it would live. I know the dangerous period is <12 weeks, but its also a bit of a relief to get closer to the 20 week point where if it was born super early, it might be ok.