Today was our first visit to the midwife! Carol is fantastic. We love her Scottish accent, her calm quirky demeanor, her quick and thorough answers to our questions, her years of experience in Scotland and Canada, her way of providing options and answers that enable us to prepare for the best choices. On the whole, we're feeling off to a great start.
Most importantly, we had about 4 seconds of a strong healthy heartbeat before the little one moved away from the sonogram.
Now we have some blood tests to take and Integrated Prenatal Screening (IPS) to consider. If anyone knows about or has an opinion on IPS, please let us know. Apparently, it's a new screening that tells you if you have a higher or lower chance of having a baby with down syndorme, trisomy 18, or an open neural tube defect. Now, I was prepared to reject an amniocentesis, but the things I've read don't have any information about this screening (it's blood work and an ultrasound in the next three weeks). I think we're predisposed to pass this screening procedure since we won't be terminating any pregnancies, but I'd welcome any information you have.
I am SOOO thrilled that you love your midwife - it's so important for your health care provider to empower you to do what's best for you and to share your goals for the pregnancy and birth.
ReplyDeleteAs for the screening, we were offered it, and though I can't tell you what is best for you (and I know you're not asking that!), I can share our thought process. When it was introduced, I asked the nurse, "Is there anything we can find out during the procedure that we can do anything about?" She said no, other than get counseling to prepare yourself. This is a really powerful thing to consider.
On the other hand, I am a big believer in the mind/body connection, and I think that having added stress and worry can certainly have physical manifestations and can affect your body, your health, and your pregnancy. This is a beautiful, hopeful time for you to spend with this incredible creature growing inside you, and you may want to choose to protect that time against worry and angst and the loss of that joy.
After considering those things, we opted not to do the screening. However, you both should decide whether you are people who would be happier living with some mystery but hopefully, or if you do best armed with as much information as possible. I think it's a personality thing.
Oh, and when I asked my OB if there were anything we would find out that would change her management of my pregnancy, she said no. You might ask your midwife the same thing and see what she says. I hope this helps. Love you lots!