welcome, champagne, alittlebitshy and juliewooley CONGRATULATIONS.
TWILIGHT, not got up for food, but have got up to be sick, i think the only break i get is between 11 and 2, it's a nightmare. i have to say as well that i used to be hooked (when preg ith ds2) on an american show callled house of babies, about a miami birthing centre, looked absolutely fab, is that the closest to a homebirth you'd get over the pond? you never seem to hear about them.
CHAMPAGNE - i found out with the other 2, with the first just so i could be prepared and know what to buy and the second time i really wanted a girl so wanted to get my head round quicker, as it wasn't to be. this time we're definatly finding out as i'm desperate for a girl. i'm of the opinion that it;s a surprise whenever you find out and at the birth you're either totally ot of it on drugs or just as out of it on naturally released drugs that you dont really remember, you're also totally overwhelmed by the fact that its actually a baby so it doesn't matter when you find out.
LoW - we're routinely tested for downs with Nuchal fold test, bloods and some other scan. i'm definately not high risk so dont know why it;s routine, i'm only 21 and in my area (East kent) we have the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in europe so why it's routine god only knows! i personally think that it's a bit misleading. i'm not big headed but certainly have a brain and a bit of intelligence and so understand that it's a one in so many chance and not totally ruling it out, whereas alot of people round here have a lower than average IQ and dont understand that and so if they get say a 1:2,000,000 chance they think they're out of the clear. i've seen it happen a few times round here. not sure if i've explained that very well. sorry went off on a bit of a tangent, you can onoy have nuchal fold between 11 and 13+5 for the best accuracy, they tend not to do it after that date, but the other downs one can go to 14+3 apparently.