12 weeks and 5 days - Nuchal Translucency Scan

I am 12 weeks and 5 days pregnant - almost in the second trimester. Today was the Nuchal Translucency ultrasound. It is not the usual Nuchal Translucency ultrasound many people have done in their first trimester. This scan will check the thickness but as it is looking like a Cystic Hygroma now, they need to look very carefully at our daughters heart, brain, other organs and her general well being.

I am feeling very nervous. 2 days ago at an OB appointment he told us that the Hygroma had grown dramatically. I feel like we are never given good news and it just keeps getting worse. Hearing "baby is alive and active" is reassuring for a few seconds but then you hear the bad news…again and again.

Measurements are taken and it is very obvious the Hygroma has grown. I know the woman doing the ultrasound is trying to keep a straight face and not look at me and if she did all she would see was a woman lying frozen with a terrified look on her face.

Our daughter is very much like her sister already. Stubborn she doesn't want to show us her face or front of her body. We tried all the treks to get her to move but no, she would not change position, although was incredibly active! It is hard to imagine such an active baby possibly being very, very sick.

Measurements are taken and then we are taken to wait for the specialist who wants to talk to us - I am getting used to this now! She said she has reviewed the ultrasound and is very concerned with what she can see. It is an incredibly large Cystic Hygroma that wraps around her neck  and part way down her back. She tells us that it measures 9.14mm and that it looks highly "syndromic" because of the amount of fluid and how it is sitting in the babies neck. It is also very concerning that it was found so early in the pregnancy and the fact that it has rapidly grown is also a very worrying sign. Gently she said our options were to decide to terminate the pregnancy now or continue the pregnancy and possibly have CVS test done (a massive needle that it very invasive and hurts a lot) to rule out even more chromosome problems that cause rare syndromes.

http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/pregnancy_tests_chorionic_villus_sampling

We choose to do the CVS, because at this point, we feel that we need more answers and there is nothing else we can do at this stage. The specialist organises to do the CVS procedure that same afternoon. We have a short wait and then are taken into another room to have it done. I tell the specialist that last time when I had this done with E it had to be done twice as not enough fluid was taken the first time and I hope that doesn't happen again as it was very traumatic - well of course it did happen again! Apparently I was having a contraction while they did it the first time which made access difficult and also incredibly painful. I was screaming the place down and would much rather give birth than experience that pain. I had no idea woman had contractions when they were only 12 weeks - but apparently they do!

Anyway, I had to have it done again, so it was decided that I would take a break and both Mat and I would go and get blood taken and have a rest before going through it again and hopefully the contraction would have stopped. all through this break I sobbed and sobbed while my husband tried to comfort me. The poor pathology nurse couldn't even understand what I was saying because I was so distraught and in a lot of pain. During the wait, I messaged my closest friends and family, including my connect group from church and asked for immediate prayer. There are times when I just don't even know what to pray but I know these girls have my back and are prayer warriors. They would of dropped everything and prayed right at my moment of need. We went back in, and the contraction had stopped and had the CVS done again which while still painful, was not agonising.

After being at the ultrasound centre for a few hours now we were told results would take about 10 days. My OB's rooms are nearby so we went down to tell him about all that had unfolded. The poor women in the waiting room must have been traumatised by my hysterical crying (and bent over appearance as was cramping very badly from the CVS procedure). One of his long standing secretaries car and grabbed my hand and led me to an empty room and very soon my OB came in and got me and asked us what had happened. He rung the Ultrasound Specialist while we were there and got her to confirm what I was trying to tell him through my tears.