Again, no photos for you. I’m about 2 inches away from finishing my knitting for Veronik, but can’t show you that, then I’m going to work on a little something for my secret pal, so I can’t show you that, and finally I’m going to be trying to get a design or two in by Knitty’s September 2nd deadline, so I can’t show you that. I’ll try to fill in the gaps with Jakob photos, but my camera battery is charging, so I can’t even upload something now.
Instead you get a baby update.
If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear I was in the first trimester. In actuality I’m almost 17 weeks along, but just feeling like I’m in the first.
The vomiting isn’t really much better. There was a week where I had 3 random days without, but mostly it varies from 1-6 times/day. I started Diclectin last Wednesday but am not seeing any results from it. My doctor was still on vacation, so I was given the rx by the “on call” doctor when I went in to check my sugars (all good). He said it should take 2-3 days to kick in, but I have friends who said it takes about 2 weeks, so I’m continuing to take it. I’m very doubtful it will work, though, because it seems to really be about stopping nausea, and I don’t have any. (I take that back-if I resist throwing up, THEN I feel like $h!t all day, but I don’t think that counts). In any case, I see my doctor next Wednesday so I’ll be able to tell her if the Diclectin worked after 2 weeks, and maybe she’ll have some better ideas. Its getting tough though- we had my cousin’s wedding this past Sunday night, and I had to run to the bathroom between every single course at the dinner. On the plus side- because I’m not nauseous, I get to eat. On the down side- most of what I eat comes back up.
And for some reason, I have been EXHAUSTED this past week! I don’t know if it is related to the fact that I have less food in me, but it is getting very hard to take. I would have had Veronik’s knitting finished last Thursday or Friday, I’m sure, if I hadn’t gone to bed as soon as I finished my supper. I couldn’t help it- I just couldn’t keep my eyes open. Yannick has been a huge help in the mornings; once Jakob wakes up, I go and get him and change his diaper, then bring him to bed, and Yannick plays with him and brings him downstairs for breakfast, then plays with him until I get up. So I’ve even been getting an extra hour of sleep every morning, and STILL all I want to do all day is nap.
(P.s. to any Montrealers- it’s not the weather. I know we’ve been having tons of rain lately- in fact as I write this it is 9:57 am and pouring and as black as a late afternoon outside. But that’s not it. I love rainy days and they energize and recharge me. If anything, bright sunny days make me just want to crawl back into bed in the central air conditioning!)
So all my complaining aside, I really do have good news. A while back I’d done a Triplescreen test. Note- that link isn’t really accurate for what they do here, I’ll describe what they do here in just a moment. I know I had started to post about it the I think I deleted it, so if this info is duplicate, forgive me. In any case, the Triplescreen is when you are around 12-13 weeks pregnant and go to a private clinic (it’s not covered by Medicare here, although it should be!) and do a blood test and ultrasound, then go back about 15 days later and do another blood test. They compile the results of different hormone levels in your blood and your baby’s measurements from the ultrasound (especially the nuchal translucency test) and they tell you how your results compare with other women’s results.
They do NOT tell you if your child will have Down Syndrome, Trisomy 18 or Spina Bifida. They only tell you what your odds are. For example, when I did the test when I was pregnant with Jakob, they said that when comparing my results with other women’s results, it showed that 1 in 27,000 women with my results had a child with Spina Bifida. 1 in 97,000 women with my results had a child with Trisomy 18. When you see numbers like that, you don’t need to worry.
However, sometimes they scare you for nothing. The tests have a 10% false-positive rate. Of the 10% who get a false-positive, only 2-3% (approx) will have a child with something wrong.
In Montreal the cut-off for notifying the parents is 270. So if I had a result of 1/271 chance of having a child with one of those 3 illnesses, they wouldn’t tell me. If I had a 1/269 chance, they would, and from there I would decide if I wanted to do an amnio to find out for sure.
With Jakob we were told that we had a 1 in 87 chance of having a child with Down Syndrome. With a number that “low”, every doctor I spoke with counselled us to have an amnio. Basically, if you’re not going to follow through and find out for sure- what’s the point in paying to do the Triplescreen in the first place? With Jakob we did the amnio. We were scared out of our wits, because the test itself has 1 in 200 odds of inducing a miscarriage, but we were very lucky and were told that everything with him was alright. We found out that he would be a boy, and that he was healthy, and in the end I didn’t end up with any complications from the amnio, and it all worked out.
So fast-forward to this pregnancy, and I have been so scared to find out the results from the test. I don’t know why I was so sure that if I had to have an amnio the first time, I’d have to have another one.
Well good news- the doctor called this morning and we don’t have to do one! My doctor said our results were “excellent”, and she does not see the need to do another amnio.
Whew!
I had so mentally prepared myself for the opposite outcome that it is taking me a little time to adjust and accept it, but beneath my surprise I am so incredibly relieved and we are so happy with this news.
jeloca.com 
