12 Week Scan - Attack of the Vampire

Thursday I went for a nuchal tube exam. It is a two part exam where they look at blood work and do an ultrasound where they take measurements of the baby's size, the fluid behind the neck, and check to see if there is a visible nasal done. This is a non-invasive exam that is pretty good at assessing the risk for downs syndrome and other birth defects. This was also done by the state instead of my normal doctor so I was at a different facility. I didn't know if they would give me any pictures of the baby (they did) but they are not very exciting pictures.

The top picture is a closeup of the head. You can see a marker and a number where they were measuring the fluid under the neck. The bottom picture is the baby getting squished while doing the ultrasound. Bunny didn't like it much and kept kicking and squirming to get away. This ultrasound was a belly ultrasound instead of transvaginal, but overall I found it more uncomfortable than my first exam.

After the actual exam I went and talked to a doctor who was looking for donations of blood from normal pregnancies for a research study. The idea is to do blood tests that are around 10 weeks where you identify baby cells in the mother's blood and they can use it as a predictor for sex, downs syndrome, and other defects. Currently the tests are covered by insurance and cost about $1000. The idea is to get more data and make it standard, cheaper and available to everyone.

I had planned on walking to BART from my appointment so I asked how much blood they needed. 1.5 oz didn't seem like a lot and last appointment they took 8 tubes so I figured I would be okay. Nope about 2 vials in (out of 6!) I got lightheaded and my vision stated getting blurry. The guy was nice and got me some water and then I texted Laura to see if she could come get me because I was too dizzy to walk. In the car I told her what happened and said I felt like I was attacked by a vampire. First he flattered me by saying my pregnancy was normal, than he stole my blood. On the other hand hooray for research studies and hopefully some good karma will come my way!