Over the next few weeks, I went to the doctor several times for more ultrasounds and blood work, to make sure everything seemed to be progressing as expected. The strange thing was, I was feeling HORRIBLE. With my daughters, I had the usual morning sickness and tiredness, but this was different. VERY different. I just didn’t “feel” right. It was almost as though I had the flu. I was exhausted, not interested in food (and that in itself is a HUGE red flag for me!), and just generally feeling like crap. I would crawl into a chair after work, and hardly move until bedtime. My wonderful hub did all he could to keep our house running; feeding the girls, laundry, etc.
Each day, I chalked my symptoms up to age. “I’m AMA”, I though. (And for those of you that don’t know, AMA is short for “Advanced Maternal Age’. Otherwise known as OLD. But at 36, I sure didn’t FEEL old.)
Due to my AMA, I was sent to see a perinatal specialist who would do a workup and tell me the risks, etc., etc. I wasn’t worried. I had delivered two beautiful children already, so a third would be no biggie, right?
September 13, 2010 will be a date burned in my memory for some time. That was the date of my first perinatal visit. I went by myself, thinking it would be a simple routine ultrasound to check and make sure everything was fine. Again, I had no worries in the world. I remember as I sat in the exam room waiting to see the doctor, the power kept flickering off and on. The nurse would come in and turn back on all the machines and reboot them, only to have them go out again. It must have happened 4 or 5 times while I was there. Dr. Stanley finally came in and we chatted, small talk – “Do you know why you are here?, Do you have any questions?”, etc..
As he performed the ultrasound, he was quiet. After a few minutes he started to explain what he was looking at. “Do you see this space here?”, he asked. “This is called the Nuchal Translucency or Nuchal Fold. It is the space between the spinal column and the back of the neck. “, he explained. “A high NT reading can be an indication of issues with the baby. Your baby has a high NT number here which is of concern.”
My heart started pounding a million beats a minute and a flurry of thoughts raced through my head. What the hell did he just say??? Did I hear him right? Why in the WORLD did I insist that my husband not come with me???
I tried my best to wrap my head around what he was telling me. I collected my thoughts and then proceeded to ask the questions that I could think of in such a short amount of time. “What are the potential issues?”, I asked through my tears. He was focused and calm, and began explaining the possibilities. “Heart Defects, Downs Syndrome, Chromosomal Abnormalities. At this point, I can’t be absolutely sure, but I can tell you that there is a high probability something is not right.” He offered to send me to Dallas for an early amino-type procedure called a CVS. I declined, but did decide an early amnio would be a good idea to know what we might be dealing with.
He said he could perform it in two weeks. September 27th, 2010. Another date burned in my mind.
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