Our baby is fine. Thank GOD. This would be the most precious present for the New Year.
For those who do not know what we’d been through over the past 3 weeks, here is the story. I did a blood test when I was 16-week pregnant called triple test, also called triple screen, which is an investigation performed during pregnancy in the second trimester to classify a patient as either high-risk or low-risk for chromosomal abnormalities (and neural tube defects).
We were actually given a choice of to take or not to for this because I’m under the age of 35. To be honest, we did not think through it carefully at the time of test because we had no idea what are the consequences then. We just thought it’s a normal test like testing for HIV. A week later, my husband received a call from the hospital early in the morning, telling him that I am on high-risk for carry a baby with chromosomal abnormalities, in other words, a baby with Down’s syndrome.
Can you imagine how I felt? My heart sank. All of a sudden, I lost the bond with my baby. A Down’s! It’s always been just a NOUN for me. Who on earth would ever think that it can actually happen to themselves one day? But before long, I packed my crying heart and searched the net for more info. And I talked to some of my close friends whom are already a mother. Apparently many mothers out there had experienced the same thing, and the good news is the false positive turned out to be very high. So chances are my baby could be perfectly fine after all!
Without much delay we went to see the gynae the following day. We were given a few options of what we should do next:
Option (1) Amniocentesis – an invasive test that removes a small amount of fluid from the sac around the baby to look for birth defects and chromosome problems
Option (2) Level 2 ultrasound scan – a more targeted examination which is performed to look for markers of fetal anomaly
Option (3) DO NOTHING
Amniocentesis has the highest accuracy but it also carries certain risks of miscarriage or hurting the baby if it wasn’t done properly. Our gynae claimed that she has done it many times and the risk has been reduced to 0.02% now, although she also assured us that our baby should be fine judging from my past ultrasound results. It was a difficult decision to make. In the end, my husband and I decided to go for it, just to put our minds at ease. How am I going to go through the remaining months of pregnancy if I constantly have to worry about it? It won’t be good for the bonding with my baby too.
So there. I did it, on the same day. It was done on an outpatient basis so I did not need to stay in the hospital. I lay on the examination bed as usual. Then the gynae cleaned an area of skin on my belly followed by some anesthetic. With the help of ultrasound, she found the exact location of the baby and then inserted a very long, thin needle through my abdomen and into the womb (just like how the blood is being withdrawn except the needle is MUCH thicker and longer). When the needle entered the amniotic sac, I felt a sharp pain which lasted a few seconds. I didn’t pay attention to the pain very much, I just hoped that my baby will move away from the needle so that it won’t hurt her. And when the fluid was being pulled out, I felt some pressure in the lower abdomen area. A small amount of fluid (16mg if I remember correctly) was finally taken from the fluid-filled sac that surrounds my baby. According to the gynae, it is advisable to perform this test between 16-20 weeks because anytime before that the amount of amniotic fluid will not be sufficient and it might cause birth defects.
Here’s a picture to illustrate the procedure:
Source: www.sogi.net.au
I was given 2 full days of MC after that as I had to bed rest as much as possible and I was put on a one-week antibiotic to prevent infection to the baby. Apart from some minor cramping later that afternoon, I did not experience any Leaking of amniotic fluid or vaginal bleeding, which was a good sign. That was not the end of it. Both of us couldn’t sleep well for the following weeks, we did not talk much about it also. I don’t know how to put the feelings into words; it’s like losing the bonding with the baby. This is not fair to the baby I thought, so after a few days, I managed to reorganize my thoughts and started to bond with my baby again. Like what I told my sis, I have faith in my baby. True enough, everything turns out to be fine now. And the test also confirmed that we are having a baby girl! Can’t wait to meet you, our little princess. 
p/s: Hope you guys don’t mind the super long post this time.
