[urbaindk]

As some of you know my wife is pregnant. I posted a picture of our sonogram in the Monkey Babies thread. That's freaky enough but very cool. Our first and probably only child. Anyway my wife is 36, and as such is considered 'at risk' for certain birth defects particularly Downs syndrome. Well we went the genetic counsellor and they explained all the odds to us. A normal person her age has around a 1/250 chance of having a baby with Downs . Only amniocentesis can tell for sure. Risk of a miscarriage from amnio - around 1/250. Dead even odds.

So we were recommended to have a hormone test. So we did. Well the results of that came back and some of her levels were wacked out. The results came back that we would have a 1/11 chance of having a child with downs. Oh Crap! That's pretty scary.

Next step. Have the amnio. Now that is very freaky. They take a giant needle, stick it in your wife's gut and suck out about an ounce of amniotic fluid from her womb. This was last week. They have to culture cells from the fluid and do a chromosome analysis to tell what kind if any defects are there. So you wait and wait and wait. Meanwhile, you've already seen this little bouncing wiggling thing growing inside your wife that has all it's little fingers and toes, etc. It can't seem to sit still, just like it's father. Uggg. It's like having a ton of presents under the Christmas tree from some ironic version of Hell.

We just got the preliminary results back this morning. Finally some good news, 95% chance that we do NOT have Downs! But we still have to wait for the full results to be 100% sure! Ack! I guess I feel 95% more relaxed now.

So that's my stress rollercoaster.

I know - suck it up princess!

 

[Cooter Brown]

nah, I can understand how you'd be stressed

hang in there man, good to hear the news about the 95% chance

 

[urbaindk]

nah, I can understand how you'd be stressed

hang in there man, good to hear the news about the 95% chance

Thanks.

 

[antimony]

Good luck, and sorry to hear you're so stressed. I can't even imagine; that's why I am never having kids. At least the 95% sounds hopeful. I will send some happy thoughts to both you and your wife. Hope she is doing okay with all of this.

 

[laura]

I can't imagine that wait. best wishes to all three of you.

 

[peter6061]

Good to hear.

We're about 5 1/2 months along right now, and going through similar stuff. Just found out the sex a couple weeks ago. And he's kicking the crap out of my wife from the inside. Every time I place my hand on to feel, he stops. She convinced he'll be a soccer player with all the kicking going on. I have yet to feel any of it.

Back on target. We had the tests as well, and when they tell you the details before going in, it freaks the crap out of you. Then the tests come back and all is well.

In my mind, I won't be 100% satisfied until I see that little bugger in person. 3 1/2 more months to go. Time to get the house in order.

Speaking of which. I have some neighbors with kids 2 and 4. They like to come into my garage and ask questions about everything. What's this? What's that? Meanwhile they grab everything they can get their hands on. If anything, I'm starting to see all the 'bad' stuff I have just sitting around that should be kept well out of the reach of children. Why don't they grab the football? No, they grab the simple green, clean streak, pliers, dirty bike chains, and anything else they can reach. I was only a matter of seconds from a few spoke wrenches flying into the side of my wife's car. At least it gives me an idea of what I need to fix besides the obvious.

 

[jonKranked]

Glad to hear things are on the up and up I remember I had a hell of a nervewracking and stressful time when a very close aunt of mine had a miscarriage. I wouldn't wish that upon anyone. Hope your lil' monkey is ok so you can get him on 2 wheels someday!

 

[Dirty]

So we were recommended to have a hormone test. So we did. Well the results of that came back and some of her levels were wacked out. The results came back that we would have a 1/11 chance of having a child with downs. Oh Crap! That's pretty scary.

We just got the preliminary results back this morning. Finally some good news, 95% chance that we do NOT have Downs! But we still have to wait for the full results to be 100% sure! Ack! I guess I feel 95% more relaxed now.

well, the 1/11 chance of downs means 91% chance of not having downs...so, now hearing that youre 95% is only a small increase.
Though dont get me wrong, i understand how important it is, Its just funny how perception of things can change just by how the numbers are presented..

How do those tests work for testing if the baby will have downs? can they really get 100% accuracy? do they test for other defects as well?
Also, how far along is she? can these sort of tests be done before a woman gets pregnant?

Good luck man, hope it all turns out well.

 

[pixelninja]

I hear you on the stress. It was the same with our first child. During one ultrasound, the technicial saw a "mass" in our daughter's abdomen. We went back for a more detailed ultrasound, and that's when they discovered that she had sitis inversis, i.e. all her internal organs were on the "wrong" side of her body. Long story short, the "mass" dissapeared and the sitis inversis hasn't caused any problems, but it was definitely the most stressful time of my life.

 

[urbaindk]

Hope she is doing okay with all of this.

Far worse than me. She's never been 100% sure she wanted a kid. Pregnancy hasn't exactly been that easy on her and then to have all this on top of it has been pretty tough. We also just had to move. She seemed pretty happy this morning when she called with the news from the Dr. I'm hoping she can relax a bit after next week when we get the final results.

Her biggest complaint so far is that she's worried she won't be able to ride her bike. I was riding her XC bike yesterday and sheared the rear d clean off. She was pretty pissed. She wants two bikes (XC and CX) just in case one breaks because she wants to get as much riding is as possible before she gets too big to ride. So anyway, I just ordered a new drive train from pricepoint. Ha Ha!

 

[llkoolkeg]

I feel for ya man but you might just as well get used to it. My girls are only 2 and 4 now and we have already been put through the wringer by doctors and their tests. One incompetent doctor even had us worried to death for 6 hours when halfway through the pregnancy, he couldn't find our second daughter's heartbeat and started giving us the "I'm sorry but these things happen" speech. You think you're finally in the clear once they are born and then a whole new battery of tests begin.

 

[jonKranked]

So anyway, I just ordered a new drive train from pricepoint. Ha Ha!

nothing like new parts to cheer her up

 

[urbaindk]

well, the 1/11 chance of downs means 91% chance of not having downs...so, now hearing that youre 95% is only a small increase.
Though dont get me wrong, i understand how important it is, Its just funny how perception of things can change just by how the numbers are presented..

How do those tests work for testing if the baby will have downs? can they really get 100% accuracy? do they test for other defects as well?
Also, how far along is she? can these sort of tests be done before a woman gets pregnant?

Good luck man, hope it all turns out well.

Here's how it works as I understand it. The results that we got back today indicated that there was not Downs. This test is 95% accurate. I'm not sure how that plays into the stats game exactly. Maybe you are right and that only increases the odds by 4%. I don't know.

In the test for Downs they actually analyze all the chromosomes. They actually line them up some how and look at them under a microscope. Some sort of chromatography or something I suspect. Downs occurs when there are 3 #22 chromosomes (sometimes it is called trisomy 22). There should only be 2. As I understand it this test is 100% accurate. They can also check to see if there are other defects and tell whether it's a boy or girl.

She's right at 4 months now.

You can't test before hand to see if you have it. It's not inherited. It's just a simple, random mistake that happens when sperm meets egg. The only indicator is age. Older women are much more likely to have these kind of mistakes than younger.

 

[urbaindk]

I feel for ya man but you might just as well get used to it. .

Yes, that realization has begun to hit me. It's like a huge window of possible heart ache and pain has been opened before us...

Here's hoping for the best for all of us!

 

[N8 v2.0]

Yes, that realization has begun to hit me. It's like a huge window of possible heart ache and pain has been opened before us...

Here's hoping for the best for all of us!

I know exactly what you are going thru...

But in my case, my daughter was just fine.

I'm sure your kiddo will be too.

 

[TreeSaw]

I can definitely understand. When I went for my first ultrasound they found an "irregularity" so I had to go and have a 2nd better one. They told me it could be nothing, or it could be Downs Syndrome (Trisomy 21) or Trisomy 18 (serious birth defects and much greater risk of infant death). I was terrified!!! We went (2 weeks later) and had the ultrasound. They couldn't give me 100% assurance that nothing was wrong, but there was a slightly greater risk in harming the baby with an amnio so we decided against it. For the rest of my pregnancy, there was uncertainty but I was so blessed with a very healthy and happy baby girl. There were many times when I wished that we had done the amnio so I could know for sure, but we talked it over and decided to plan for both and knew that we would love our daughter no matter what!

I pray that all goes will for you and your wife. I am sure that she is going through some horrible emotional swings waiting for the results. Keep supporting her and give her lots of hugs, kisses and bike parts

I rode well into my pregnancy and will hope that she is able to do the same. I had a relatively easy pregnancy and delivery and have been able to get back on my bike and ride pretty well since all the while enjoying our healthy baby girl (all of which I attribute to riding and keeping active while I was pregnant)

 

[urbaindk]

I had a relatively easy pregnancy and delivery and have been able to get back on my bike and ride pretty well since all the while enjoying our healthy baby girl (all of which I attribute to riding and keeping active while I was pregnant)

Thanks for kind words. You probably had that thick nuchal fold thing on the back of the neck. Ours was borderline.

Did you run into any issues with your Dr. regarding riding? Christine's Dr. told her she should stop when the baby moves up and the uterus really starts to expand. Which means according to our Dr. she is supposed to stop now (at 4 months). I think that is BS. Christine rides very casual XC and some road touring. She's not out there pushing herself or doing stupid things. I think she's crashed 2 times in over 3 years of riding and once was because she stepped off the wrong side of the bike into a ditch when she wasn't paying attention. I was pretty annoyed with her DR. but unfortunately due to the HMO thing we have we really don't have any options in this regard.

I understand that around 6-7 or even as late as 8 months when you start getting pretty big, balance starts to change and riding gets dangerous. Was that your experience?

 

[TreeSaw]

Thanks for kind words. You probably had that thick nuchal fold thing on the back of the neck. Ours was borderline.

Ours showed cysts on her skull/brain and they were concerned about their size and failure to shrink by that time in her development. She didn't have a cleft lip and her fingers & toes were normal but they still couldn't rule 100% after the second ultrasound. We just prayed and had faith that we would love her no matter what!

Did you run into any issues with your Dr. regarding riding? Christine's Dr. told her she should stop when the baby moves up and the uterus really starts to expand. Which means according to our Dr. she is supposed to stop now (at 4 months). I think that is BS. Christine rides very casual XC and some road touring. She's not out there pushing herself or doing stupid things. I think she's crashed 2 times in over 3 years of riding and once was because she stepped off the wrong side of the bike into a ditch when she wasn't paying attention. I was pretty annoyed with her DR. but unfortunately due to the HMO thing we have we really don't have any options in this regard.

I understand that around 6-7 or even as late as 8 months when you start getting pretty big, balance starts to change and riding gets dangerous. Was that your experience?

Luckily, I sought out an OBGYN office that was progressive and encouraged physical activity with pregnancy. In fact, one of my Dr.s was a triathlete and rode road bikes competatively while pregnant. She has also dabbled in MTB so she was an amazing resource. Really, they encouraged me to keep my level of activity (even encouraged me to race when I was 9 weeks pregnant). We carefully evaluated what my heartrate could and should be while exercising and I rode with a heartrate monitor. Women used to have to keep their heartrate under 140 while riding, but it's different for each person based on their age, fitness level, etc. so we figured out that I could safely ride with a max heartrate of 165 early on and that gradually went down. I always set my heartrate monitor a little lower (I think I set it at 160 when I raced) just to be sure.

As for off road riding, I was confident in my riding abilities and the fact that riding would keep me healthy and happy (and hopefully stress free) so they encouraged me to keep going! I had no problems with balance even late into my pregnancy so I was quite lucky. I definitely didn't go crazy and go DHing, but I still rode our local trails which are quite technical. I felt comfortable on them as that's where I learned how to ride and knew my limits. I have some articles somewhere on riding/racing and exercising while pregnant. I will have to dig them up and post a link or send them to you. Meanwhile, have your wife e-mail me with any questions or if she just needs some encouragement. I am happy to help out!!!

 

[SkaredShtles]

One thing that needs to be considered before doing a test like an amnio:

Couples should discuss whether the result of the amnio will result in action being taken (i.e. termination of the pregnancy). If the answer is "no" on all sides, then there's probably little point having it done and taking the risk.

Just some food for thought.

Best of luck, jdschall.

 

[Konabumm]

Kim and I had to deal with those same stresses - I also remember them telling us that this test can cause a miscarriage. We knew that we would keep the baby either way so decided not to take the chance of having a miscarriage. I'm not a religious man but my prays are with you, I remember how stress full it was. Goodluck

 

[TreeSaw]

One thing that needs to be considered before doing a test like an amnio:

Couples should discuss whether the result of the amnio will result in action being taken (i.e. termination of the pregnancy). If the answer is "no" on all sides, then there's probably little point having it done and taking the risk.

Just some food for thought.

Best of luck, jdschall.

That's exactly what we did and we opted to not take the test.

 

[johnbryanpeters]

Luck to both of you!

 

[urbaindk]

That's exactly what we did and we opted to not take the test.

That's exactly what we did and opted to take the test.

 

[druber]

My wife and I have a VERY similar experience.

Everything turned out fine and we now have a nearly perfect, incredibly intelligent 2.5 yo. Ok...I might be biased.

It seems to me that children provide the extremes in emotions that you can't find anywhere else (even biking). I have never been happier than when I am with or when I think of my child. On the other hand, I have never been more scared than when we were going through the battery of tests. I occasionally even freak at the thought of a car accident or something. Scares the crap out of me for no reason.

Good luck. Focus on the good emotions.

 

[N8 v2.0]

We went along with the test... no ill effects resulted.

 

[urbaindk]

We got our results back this morning...







All systems go, All clear on the western front, Bluebird skys and clear sailing, and other metaphors indicating that negative results are indeed positive! Yea! Whew. Now we just have to birth the thing and raise it up.

 

[SkaredShtles]

We got our results back this morning...







All systems go, All clear on the western front, Bluebird skys and clear sailing, and other metaphors indicating that negative results are indeed positive! Yea! Whew. Now we just have to birth the thing and raise it up.

And you thought this test was rough..............

Good luck, Hippy!

 

[jonKranked]

We got our results back this morning...

All systems go, All clear on the western front, Bluebird skys and clear sailing, and other metaphors indicating that negative results are indeed positive! Yea! Whew. Now we just have to birth the thing and raise it up.

woo! congrats

 

[valve bouncer]

We got our results back this morning...







All systems go, All clear on the western front, Bluebird skys and clear sailing, and other metaphors indicating that negative results are indeed positive! Yea! Whew. Now we just have to birth the thing and raise it up.

Great news. While a downs kid wouldn't have been the end of the world it's always nice to hear the doc say your kid is normal. I think this is a good excuse to go and buy yourself something new and shiny for your bike

 

[Mackie]

JD - Good luck with the kid. As a few of you know, I'm a scientist, so when the doctor expressed concerns about choroid plexus cysts not shrinking fast enough on our little fetus, I did what scientists do - I drank. Ah, and I went to the journals. I found a great editorial article called Obstetrical Sonography:The Best Way to Terrify a Pregnant Woman, printed in the Journal of Ultrasound Medicine.
The basic gist is that better imaging and testing let us more effectively scare the crap out of expectant moms. In other words, 5 years ago you would not be stressed out by the presence of a Downs m,arker, because there would be no way to test for one!

To my wife's analytical brain, this article really helped put some things in perspective. A couple of my friends in similar situations liked the article as well.
If any of you want to take a look, PM me your email address & I'll send the PDF to you.

Again, bet whishes to you & your wife on the impending kid JD!

 

[urbaindk]

I did what scientists do - I drank.

If it weren't for excessive alcohol consumption, I would never have made it through grad school. Let this be a lesson to you kids out there.

Thanks, I just pm'ed you about the article.

 

[x-vert]

You and your wife are too worried man... My mom had another child (my sister) last June. She was 37... I'm her first child; she had me when she was 20. The least you worry about it, the more perfect your baby will be. Take it easy, relax, and tell your wife the same thing. The more she stresses, the bigger the chances of the baby having some type of birth defect.

Funny thing... when my mom was pregnant with me, she used to smoke and drink alcohol, for all I know, she might have even tried something else (at 20yrs of age). I came out mighty well, no defects, or problems, perfect weight and height, never had allergies or any of that crap. Same goes for my little sister, when my mom was pregnant with her, she smoked and drank, the baby couldn't be any better. *knocks on wood*

So again, take it easy, and I hope you guys have a healthy baby.

 

[urbaindk]

That's it, I'm getting my wife a crack pipe. No worries, right?


Seriously. I agree about the worrying thing. There's really not a lot you can do about most everything so you might as well roll with it. In general, my wife tends to worry about things more than I do. This has actually been a source of conflict in our marriage. Sometimes my laissez-faire attitude grates her last nerve. Oh well.

I wouldn't say we are worrying too much. Just a respectable amount. That's only natural right?

 

[antimony]

Congratulations! That is really great to hear. I hope the rest of the pregnancy is stress-free and fun (if such a thing is possible; don't know cause I have never done it) for both you and your wife.

 

[SkaredShtles]

<snip> The least you worry about it, the more perfect your baby will be. Take it easy, relax, and tell your wife the same thing. The more she stresses, the bigger the chances of the baby having some type of birth defect.

I'm curious - where did you get this information?

 

[TreeSaw]

JD - Good luck with the kid. As a few of you know, I'm a scientist, so when the doctor expressed concerns about choroid plexus cysts not shrinking fast enough on our little fetus, I did what scientists do - I drank. Ah, and I went to the journals. I found a great editorial article called Obstetrical Sonography:The Best Way to Terrify a Pregnant Woman, printed in the Journal of Ultrasound Medicine.
The basic gist is that better imaging and testing let us more effectively scare the crap out of expectant moms. In other words, 5 years ago you would not be stressed out by the presence of a Downs m,arker, because there would be no way to test for one!

To my wife's analytical brain, this article really helped put some things in perspective. A couple of my friends in similar situations liked the article as well.
If any of you want to take a look, PM me your email address & I'll send the PDF to you.

Again, bet whishes to you & your wife on the impending kid JD!

We had the exact same scenario -- Sq-Earl drank and I read up on things.

 

[TreeSaw]

We got our results back this morning...







All systems go, All clear on the western front, Bluebird skys and clear sailing, and other metaphors indicating that negative results are indeed positive! Yea! Whew. Now we just have to birth the thing and raise it up.

That's WONDERFUL news...I was just wondering about you and your wife. I am so glad that you can both relax now and enjoy the rest of your pregnancy! Best wishes!!!

 

[urbaindk]

I'm curious - where did you get this information?

Stress can cause high blood pressure which can lead to problems; preclampsia, low birth weight, early labor, etc. But birth defects like Downs are genetic and would be in no way related to stress. Unless you believe in auras and chakras and all that freaky hippy shiz. You've got to have you karma aligned man.

 

[narlus]

jd, congrats on the news. definitely not a fun thing to have to go through, but parenthood isn't the easiest thing in the world as you probably know and will soon find out!

we had the amnio on our 2nd kid because of my wife's age at the time. no ill effects.

 

[Cooter Brown]

good to hear jd!! congrats and have fun looking forward to the birth and the subsequent years of joy and frustration