The first doctor's visit

Today I had my first doctor's appointment. Neil was fabulous and came along to hold my hand and support me. My regular GP is away, so another doctor, Dr. Loiselle, saw me. She asked questions about conception date, guesses right now our due date is February 3rd (ack! even sooner than the internet says!), lifestyle questions, provided some information. And then I had to give blood samples (ick) and pee in a cup for a few standard screens.

One thing that made me happy about this pregnancy happening now was the fact that I am 34 and thus not in that magic "35 = high risk" bracket. Well, I will be GIVING birth when I am 35... so I am actually in that category *sigh*. So we are also booking a screening test, the Nuchal scan. It will be an ultrasound (which will also firm up how far along we are) and a blood test. It will look for Trisomy 18, Trisomy 13 or the more common Down Syndrome. The tests are 80% effective, with a 5% false positive rate. If there is anything, we move on to the amnio.

The first 2 syndromes, according to the doctor, are "not conducive to life". She said we probably haven't talked about this, but that because of my age the testing is recommended and if there is an abnormality we can terminate the pregnancy. I was impressed at the words chosen, very carefully, so that they were not offensive. But it still means the same...

And we had spoken about it. If it were something that prevented Sprout from leading a happy life, then we would terminate. But that does not include something like Down Syndrome.

But in the next week or two we'll be getting the Nuchal scan appointment booked. Then on July 20 (when I am 11-ish weeks) we go for the first official pre-natal visit.

Between then and now, I get to hope that morning sickness doesn't come along, try to eat well and take care of myself. And buy some new and larger pants because these ones just are not fitting well at all!