March 2014 - thread 5 - Dating scans in full swing

[faithfulandtruthful]

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Link back to Thread 4 for anyone who misses it

Welcome Bouse and Big!

I too had a bad epidural experience with a knee op. only half of me was numb and I had an awful reaction to it. I scratched myself so much that I bled everywhere

Loved pillars of the earth!! But it is a tome!!

Rosy, will I understand Great Apes?

Welcome, Tractor where the fuck have you been?

Slippers, I loved Pillars Of The Earth but yes..that is one fat tome!

Bouse and Big in one sentence looks a bit like Big Girl's Blouse.

I've shut the laptop down so can't remember them all! We're quite traditional so there's nothing outlandish on the list. I'll probably share once we've narrowed it down a bit

How're you feeling, Frank? Really excited? What did your rellies say?

Rosyranoutofcondoms, I just bought Great Apes off Amazon!

Ha - well I've mainly been lolling on the sofa PramQueen but have given myself a talking to!

On the topic of books I'm desperate for something new to read - I don't do a lot of fiction though. HATE 'chick-lit' with a passion but enjoy biographies and sports / travel books mainly.

"Wizard's sleeve"

I also find it beggars belief that some women judge each other on labour pain relief. So much of the time it isn't even really a choice. Baby comes too fast/slow, complications etc. And it's not like there isn't enough stuff out there that's actually worth worrying about! But people seem determined to get het up about stuff that doesn't affect then or even matter. Rant over.

Work tomorrow - at least it's only a 4 day week (sorry Scots).

ice n slice ..well put! Only 2.5 days of work till I'm off again anyway lala #smugparttimer

I am just going to put on my preachy hat with regards to the NT and then you can ignore me.

I think the NHS does a really bad job of describing it as just a downs syndrome test when it is actually covering a lot more.

A high nuchal can be indicative of a chromosome issue like downs, Edwards or Pataus but it can also indicate a nural tube defect or a heart condition.

We are currently going through our second referral for high nuchal and despite DD having had a 1 in 2 chance of downs and causing immense amounts of stress, we chose to have the NT again in this pregnancy.

The quality of care for us is massively increased. The general scans at our local hospital are pretty basic, she could just about measure the nuchal and couldn't get a clear image of bowel or nasal bone. We will be referred this week to kings in london (where we were referred last time on the nhs) where they have the country's leading experts and equipment and I paid for a private scan at the fmc on Friday which has the same staff and equipment as kings which looked at nasal bone, identified all the digits, looked for reverse blood flow around the heart, checked all the heart chambers, looked at blood flow through the brain, detailed bowel scan etc.

My previous experience was that we were offered a lot of extra detailed scans with the much better equipment and staff, 2 ecg's with a paediatric cardiologist and a lot more knowledge and support.

This time we have decided not to have a Cvs or amnio but have paid privately for the harmony test which is done using maternal blood sample so having no miscarriage risk. It is not diagnostic but has a 99% confidence for downs. It's not currently available on the nhs and fairly new otherwise I would have had it with DD instead of the cvs.

The reason we went ahead with the NT is because we could be prepared for either an issue that is incompatible with life or that if there was a problem, we could have a managed birth with the experts on hand.

The test is there to allow choices but I think that without having the full knowledge, many of my friends refused the nt the first time as they wouldn't terminate for downs and having talked to us about what it fully covers, have changed their minds for DC2.

Oh and I love game of thrones but I love fantasy books overall although can be persuaded to read pretty much anything apart from Sophie Kinsella type books..

Very excited about mortal instruments film!

Rellies are all thrilled thanks Pram. I think it might take a little while to sink in for DH's dad as when he jokingly called him "grandad" he replied "I don't need reminding of how old I am!"

Friends have all been lovely so far, and thankfully I haven't had any "About time" comments yet. Those will be met with a swift kick to the groin and a full on no-details-spared account of my fertility treatment to shame the offender into never making such a stupid comment again.

Will you really, Frank? Tell the knob heads about your fertility woes to shut them up? That's such sweet revenge, I can almost taste it

5am, what is this film you speak of?

Oh Pram you cheer up my day. Haven't actually ever managed to watch an episode of Game of Thrones so not good on the particulars. Haven't even asked him when the episode is on but remember him mentioning something about a trial. Must ask him!

Makes me so when people don't support other people's birth choices and I have learnt from last time to be flexible about my own. I have an ideal birth in my head but recognise that things will be fluid when it happens!

Pram thanks for the welcome and good wishes, much appreciated. It's actually Bousy, which doesn't work quite so well with Big, although 'Big Girl's Blousy' is quite a good description of how I'm feeling around food at the moment

5am interested to hear you've gone for Harmony testing, we're waiting on the results of ours at the moment. Hope it works out well for you.

Hi 5am thanks for sharing. You are right , the official blurb and my drs blurb was v much about DS, although it is about so much more. Not everyone goes out there and research things as many of us might do so it seems unfair. Also seems a shame that harmony is unavailable on nhs yet reduces risk. Obviously it'll all boil down to a numbers$ game. Our motivation to get it done like many and like you was mainly to know the risk (also hope haven't been flippant or insensitive given your difficult experiences..prego paranoia) . I'm sorry to hear you're going thru this all this and for a second time, it must be v stressful. Wishing you the best possible outcome with the harmony and other tests. x

5am I'll be there (Kings) Wednes - when's yours? And I had no idea that the NT can indicate all of those things, I thought it was just Downs, Turners etc. No idea about the heart stuff too. Thanks for saying all that (although you are right - it should be made clear by the hossie - this is my 3rd baby and news to me!) hope your results from the Harmony scan come through soon, might it even be tomorrow?

I've really laughed at some of the posts this eve, you lot are really cheering me up between voms!

I think some women just get carried away with the natural birth thing so it can come across a bit preachy. I mean, everyone wants you to have a good experience but the main thing people want to know is, is the baby ok, is the mum ok? And perhaps the weight too. Facebook birth announcements detailing yogic water births, chanting and the poem read by the doula whilst the baby crowned I could do without

Half Of A Yellow Sun is one of the best books I've ever read.

And so to bed

Pram mortal instruments film is first book which is City of Bones. I bought my 17 year old niece the books for her birthday and ended up buying them for myself.

Apprenticemamma not flippant or insensitive at all. I have just done lots of research into the NT testing and read lots of the scientific papers so just aware that more information may change people's choices and just want to share it in case it would make a difference. It does make me annoyed that this information is not more widely circulated by the nhs though. Thanks for the best wishes.

PiratesMam don't know yet - had the referral after hours Thursday so should get a call tomorrow morning to fit us in sometime this week. Last time it was the next day so I'll let you know if it's Wednesday!

I need to ask...

Has anyone ever had a day where even though they're not chucking up, food just doesn't seem to be moving down?

I ate hours and hours ago. I still have food right at the top of my throat. I've been like this for about a week.

Is it something I'm just going to have to get used to? Makes me feel so sluggish.

Welcome new people :)

I've had such a long day and definitely too tired to catch up. Tomorrow!

Welcome to bousy and bigredtractor

Thanks for all that information about NT testing 5am, i'm just sorry you have to go through all that. Still, it sounds like you are getting the absolute best possible treatment and will have as much information as possible. I do hope the results are all good for you.

Hi to everyone.

Oh yes jolleigh i feel like that a lot. Like everything has gone in and stayed there!

I've decided that my birth plan will be something like the following - I will do whatever the midwives tell me to do, also I'm not adverse to drugs of any shape sort or size (largely due to extremely low threshold of pain and because ive have worked in pharma and now work in diagnostics) in addition to any medical intervention which means my baby will arrive safely!!!