Second Trimester

We are entering what is known as THE SECOND TRIMESTER, which is supposedly a piece of cake and not unlike a hug from the baby Jesus himself.  I've heard women say they didn't even know they were pregnant because it was so blissful.  This is known as "The Honeymoon Period" of the pregnancy months.  Yay!

Here's how my honeymoon started.  Massive migraine that woke me from a dead sleep.  Exhaustion.  Leaking...I won't even go into it.

The Honeymoon Period is a SHAM.  

However, I'm happy to report my home doppler Hi-Bebe picked up a steady horse gallop this morning...170 beats per minute, and on a half empty bladder to boot!

After a momentary euphoria, I remembered my Nuchal Transparency (NT) Scan is scheduled for next week.  With any luck, we will have good results and no need for an amnio.  However, I'm dreading the results, as I am prone to fatalistic thinking and can't seem to stop myself from imagining the worst.  Ugh.

The NT Scan is basically a combination of a blood test and an ultrasound (transvaginal or abdominal, depending on how cooperative the fetus is.)  It's a prenatal test that is used to assess your baby's risk of having Down Syndrome and other chromosomal abnormalities as well as major congenital heart problems.  

The ultrasound is used to measure the clear (translucent) space in the tissue at the back of the baby's developing neck.  Babies with abnormalities tend to accumulate more fluid at the back of their neck during the first trimester, causing this clear space to be larger than average...generally, anything higher than 2.5 mm is considered a positive result, which is a bad thing.

The NT Scan is done between 11 and 14 weeks of pregnancy.  Along with the blood test, it's known as a first trimester combined screening.  

The test doesn't give you an actual result of YES or NO.  What it does give you are odds.  Basically, you take the odds they give you from the assessment and you make the decision of whether or not you want the amnio to confirm or deny.  As usual, the older you are, the worse your chances get.  I find it all terrifying and completely stressful.

So you can see why I'm addicted to the home doppler.  It takes every ounce of will power to not use it every day.  The beat of the heart makes me calm and serene...like heroin...except totally legal and awesome and intervention free.