Nuchal Fold Test and Genetic Blood Screen

    12 weeks and 5 days and it was time to see our babies again!  We got to Margot Perot at Presbyterian Hospital...yes, you heard right, home of the Ebola.  I was not freaked. I have done my research and spoken to the doctor and some doctor friends and I felt comfortable that our odds were favorable at NOT contracting Ebola.  Mason, however, was not as sure.  He took napkins into the hospital and refused to touch the elevator button, pushing it with his elbow.  When we arrived at the 3rd floor for our appointment we were AGAIN in the wrong place (what is wrong with us) and we headed back to the elevators. Mason uses the tissue to push the button and we get on the elevator and he PUTS THE NAPKIN UP TO NEAR HIS MOUTH AND WIPES HIS FACE.  I start laughing hysterically and he realized what he did. So, when we get off the elevator he runs to the nearest hand sanitizer foam station and puts that stuff all over his beard, his lips, his face...he looked like Santa or a dog foaming at the mouth with rabies!!  Needless to say, we are still Ebola free and made it to our appointment on time!
   Once we arrived I had to fill out a book of paperwork and our 9:15 appointment took until 10 to finally get us back.  They took us into a little room where they gave us some "genetic counseling".  This consisted of her politely telling all the AWFUL things that could be chromosomally wrong with our babies and asked if we wanted to be tested for 475949494 awful different diseases we could potentially pass on tour babies.  Well, I am a knowledge is power kind of girl so I said I would go ahead and get tested but we would wait to see what that brought up before deciding to test Mason.  BOTH parents have to carry a certain gene for any given disease so she said most of the time they never "pair" up...we shall see.  Then she explained the Nuchal Fold Scan which is what we would be looking for in our sonogram.  There is a fluid filled portion on the back of a fetus's neck and the size and accumulation of fluid at this time can lead them to believe there is a higher likelihood of Down's Syndrome.  Also, in babies with Down's Syndrome there is not a developed nasal bone at this time in development, so those would be the two things they would be looking for. 
  After we had been scared shitless informed we were led to a scan room and told the technician would be taking measurements and looking at the scan but she could tell us nothing.  She came in and was very sweet.  I was shaking and holding onto Mason for dear life petrified a heart beat would be missing.  She put the wand on my belly and there they were....two beautiful, strong, loud, heartbeats!  One of the babies (Baby B) was wiggling and jumping around and WAVED at us.  Baby A was rather lazy and had to be prodded to move but eventually did.  I cried happy tears through most of it and there is no more beautiful sound than hearing your children's heartbeats for the first time.  She took tons of measurements and pictures and it turns out, Mason has a knack for reading sonograms.  He was pointing to body parts and bones and mouths and ears and the tech said he was right most of the time!  We asked her what she thought about the necks and she said "they look ok to me" but that was as much as she would tell us.  She felt satisfied with the amount of measurements and left to get the Dr.
   We were scheduled to see Dr. Rhinehart but his partner, Dr. Greer, is who we ended up seeing.  She came in and prodded me a little...she told us their necks look GREAT and they had perfectly developed nasal bones.  We asked her to guess the genders and she made guesses (actually, she agreed with Mason's guess) but said she could be wrong.  However, she said 9 times out of 10 she is right!!!!!  Overall, our scan was average, no cause for concern.  I left the room and gave blood and saliva for them to check for other chromosomal abnormalities but we left feeling pretty amazing.
   After we left Dr. Rhinehart's we headed over to my OB, Dr. Hampton Richards.  They checked my urine, my weight, and my blood pressure and Dr. H came in and chatted with us for a bit.  He said everything looked great and he suggested we schedule my C-section so I could have first dibs on time and date. He said obviously it is way early and we may have to move it, change it, cancel it etc. but at least we have a starting point. 
   We came straight home and announced our wonderful news via Facebook and the love and kindness and well wishes have been amazing!  We feel so blessed to have been chosen by God to take this journey and we want nothing more than to have healthy babies and be good parents. Pray for us!

 

Twins - 13 weeks - Beginning of Scan

 

 

Sweet Baby B....WAVING!!!