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.
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| A profile view from the scan |
