1st Trimester Screening

This past Thursday I was 12.1 weeks and I had my first trimester screening.  I had previously done the MSAFP (maternal serum alpha fetoprotein) blood work the week before so that if that and my US came back abnormal, I could have a CVS (chorionic villus sampling) done.

I had the US first (before knowing the AFP results) and all looked great.  There was a nasal bridge, a normal third ventricle in the brain, fluid between chin and chest and the nuchal translucency measured 1.8 mm (should be less than 3 mm).  All seemed normal and healthy with the scan.  I even got to see the sex of the baby (woo hoo!) although that is something I am not sharing until I can first tell my husband.

I then received my instant risk ratio.  Before the AFP and scan, I had a risk of 1 in 102 of Down Syndrome due to my age of 39.  After the AFP and scan, my risk lowered to 1 in 704 with an age of 29.  The Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) physician said I could not receive any better results.  He was quite pleased with everything and believes I have a very low risk.  Additionally, my risk for trisomy 18/13 was 1 in 187 before assessment and reduced to 1 in 3721 with an age of 20 years.

I feel very happy with the results and at peace after viewing the scan and seeing my AFP results.  I will have another MSAFP done at 16 weeks as a follow up to make sure everything is still okay and to detect for open neural tube defects.  I feel pretty confident though that all is going to go well with this pregnancy.  This egg survived over all the others, this embryo implanted and kept growing over the other 2 and this baby is still going strong no matter how many sleep deprived nights I have with my midwifery clinicals.  I am hoping every thing continues to go right with this pregnancy and we welcome a healthy baby come August.

A profile view from the scan