The little legs wiggled away, the cheeky arms waved and the body flipped around. Here is our little one at 12 weeks and 7cm long! For those unfamiliar with scans, the baby's head is the ginormous blob on the right. It has a tubby little body with one arm raised, and one leg raised. White parts are the bony areas e.g. spine.
I had been feeling so miserable over the past few weeks and my feelings towards being pregnant were, frankly, ambiguous. But seeing the ultrasound and this little being jostling and twisting - well, as cliched as it is - the reality struck home and all the misery disappeared (at least for a couple of hours).
We actually wanted to check the risk of Downs Syndrome. So the terrific lady who did the scan was carefully taking minute measurements at the back of the baby's head (nuchal fold). It took a wonderful hour as we lapped up the footage. Fatt was quite moved by the experience.
According to the measurements, the estimated risk of Downs has been reduced from 1 in 200 (given my age of 35), to 1 in 600 (but with a 10-20% probability of these estimates being absolute poppycock). I'm not sure how I would feel if the stats had been different. Suffice to say, I'm pleased that I don't have to think about it.
The scan was fantastic, but a dampener on things was the ob-gyn experience once more. I'd made the appointment 2 weeks previously with a recommended doc who had already confirmed my age. We had to wait an hour to see him. One of the frustrating things you can hear from a nurse in a Thai hospital is something that sounds like 'sakoornikha' meaning 'please wait a moment' (I think). That really means please wait anything from5 minutes to an hour. You have to be very pushy to find out EXACTLY when will the doc be free? I wouldn't mind waiting if this was the NHS, but this is supposed to be one of the best private hospitals in Thailand.
At last we got to see the doc who immediately said, "Oh, you're 35. You shouldn't have the nuchal scan. You should have an amniocentesis." This is where they stick a big fat needle into your uterus and take out some of the amnio fluid to see for definite if there is anything wrong. Usually around 16 weeks. But isn't there a risk, I ventured? "Well, the risk of miscarriage is the same as the risk of having a Downs," he answered. And the risk is? 1 in 200. But I don't want to have a 1 in 200 risk of miscarriage just to find out if there is something wrong with my child.
"You don't need to decide now," he said. "Go do some research on the internet and then decide." Frigging hell. I felt like screaming at him: Aren't you the doctor? I have to do the research?
"So why did we come today?" Fatt asked rather pointedly. The doctor almost shrugged. "You can still have an ultrascan to see the baby."
This is how these hospitals like to leech money from you - have yet another ultrascan!!
I decided to follow the UK way: I wanted a Nuchal scan plus a blood test for further accuracy. Fudge the amniocentesis.
After the scan, further unimpressiveness abounded when we asked about other blood tests e.g. for blood count. The doc had gone home, a sour-faced nurse told us. No, she didn't know about these other blood tests. So we told her which ones we wanted. Ten minutes later she said, "But you're also supposed have X, Y and Z tested for too." All of a sudden she knew.
OK, one more bout of unimpresiveness and I promise I won't grumble anymore (at least not in this week). The doc had recommended some tablets for my bad wind. When I checked with a pharmacist, he said that they shouldn't be given to pregnant women....
The important thing is the baby is doing just fine and dandy so far. Cheeky little monkey.
We've moved into our new apartment. Let's hope this all marks a turn for the better in the second trimester.
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