We got the final CVS report on Tuesday. All of the chromosomes are normal! I was anticipating that result after the preliminary report, but still nice to hear. I love the genetic counselor. She always makes a point of saying, “I’m calling with good news” when she leaves a message. I’ve heard that three times now and it always makes it easier to call her back. Of course, I don’t know what she says when it’s not good news-- and I don’t want to know.
So, the baby is normal-- at least chromosomally speaking. I can’t speak to how normal he’ll be with us as his parents.
I’m wrapping my mind around the idea of having a boy. Not that I’m upset-- quite the contrary! Boys rock! But for some reason I had always thought “girl” when I thought of having a child-- at least until about 7 weeks ago when the baby fairy started whispering in my ear, “Think boy, think boy...”
So now I’ve put aside thoughts of raising a girl who is so not a princess in favor or raising a boy who is a rock star (like mother, like son).
Honestly, I thought my biggest challenge in raising a girl would be trying to avoid the pink princess crap people would foist on her when she was five and being vigilant about keeping her out of the hyper-sexualized clothes she’d want to wear when she was thirteen. I never really thought twice about how I would raise a tough, fearless feminist girl-- I just figured she’d pick it up through osmosis by living with me.
Of course, I don’t really know how to raise a girl, the idea just comes more naturally to me than the idea of raising a boy. Raising a boy is a whole new universe for me. Of course, I still want him to be tough, fearless and most certainly a feminist. But I also want him to be sensitive and nurturing and well-rounded. And smart. And happy. And creative. And, and, and…
I have years to figure it out, but it’s already something I’m thinking about, worrying about. I suppose over the next couple of years my biggest concerns will be not getting peed on during diaper changes and dressing him in something other blue, black and brown clothes embroidered with footballs, baseballs and basketballs.
I just wanted to share a new project I’ve been working on for the past 14 weeks. It’s still very much a work in progress, but the anticipated completion date is December 9. 
P.S. If anyone is interested in reading more about this project, I’m also keeping a blog of the experience: Writer With Child
The genetic counselor called this afternoon with the preliminary results from my CVS procedure on Monday. This part of the test is called FISH, or fluorescent in situ hybridization, and are used to detect abnormalities in chromosomes 13, 18, 21 and the sex chromosomes. The benefit to FISH is that it’s quick-- it only took 48-hours to find out.
The preliminary results are NORMAL! Lauren (the counselor) said these results are about 98% accurate and I should have the final report (with all of the chromosomes examined) in about a week. Even without the final report, today’s news brought a sense of relief. I’m fourteen weeks today! I have made it through the first trimester and, genetically speaking, the baby appears to be healthy! Good news.
The other bit of information she was able to share with me-- with 100& accuracy-- was the gender. She asked if I wanted to know and I told her I’d been having “boy” feelings since I was about seven weeks pregnant. I even had a vivid dream last night where I watched the chromosome results appear on a sheet of paper and heard someone say, “It’s a healthy baby boy!” My dream was right. We’re having a boy!
A boy. Wow. I haven’t felt this stunned since I took the pregnancy test.
So, I had the CVS procedure yesterday. The best thing I can say about it is that it goes pretty quickly once they get started. Meaning, once I signed the consent forms and had an ultrasound to make sure the placenta was in the right place and had the doctor go over everything with me to make sure it was what I wanted and then prep me for the procedure. I was glad Jay was there but kind of wished he’d been home for the earlier, more fun appointments.
The actual procedure consisted of swabbing my stomach with disinfectant, giving me a few (three, I think?) shots of Lidocaine to numb the area and then pushing a long needle through my stomach and into my uterus and collecting a sample of the chorionic villi in the placenta. The shots of Lidocaine were nothing-- didn’t hurt or sting the way the doctor said it would. The needle was something else-- it was this jarring sensation of having forcefully punch a needle into me. I wasn’t prepared for that, but in retrospect I guess I should have expected there to be some force behind it since it had to go through a lot of layers of muscle.
Once the needle was in, it felt like he was digging around inside me. I tried to watch the monitor, but I opted to look at the ceiling and at Jay and try to breathe. It was over in two minutes, if not less, but it was a long two minutes. The doctor showed me what they had collected (kind of neat, actually) before going on his merry way. He was nice enough and had a droll sense of humor, but it was the ultrasound tech who really took the time with us. Oh, and there was a medical student observing the procedure for the first time, whom I could have cared less about once that needle was inside me.
After the procedure, the ultrasound tech cleaned me up, slapped a Bandaid on my puncture wound and was nice enough to do another ultrasound so Jay could get a better look at the baby. (The first time around, we only saw the head and an arm.) Baby was sleeping this time around, so not bouncy and moving like the last time. But the heart rate was whooshing along at 173 and we got a nice view of everything. Always reassuring.
Now we wait for results. I should get preliminary results about the 13, 18 and 21 chromosomes in 3-4 days. (Trisomy 13 and 18 are rare, but catastrophic; Trisomy 21 is Down Syndrome.) The final report with a complete view of the chromosomes will come in about 10 days. We can also find out the gender in just a few days-- something I didn’t think I wanted to know when it was based on a 20-week ultrasound (and therefore not necessarily 100% accurate), but now I think maybe it would be nice. I keep having these “boy” feelings-- so it’s tempting to find out if I’m right or if I should stop saying “he.” Ultimately, all I care about is having a healthy baby and this procedure will help give us a clear picture of at least the genetic health.
Recovery hasn’t been too bad. I was told the pain would get worse once the anesthetic wore off and would feel like menstrual cramps. Obviously they have no idea what my periods are like. Cramps with fibroids are a living hell, so this really hasn’t been so bad. I left the Bandaid on to remind me to be careful, but I still manage to bump that spot and it hurts. I have to take it easy for a day or so and be careful to watch for signs of infection. There is a risk of miscarriage over the next several days and I worry about that since this was an elective procedure. But everything went well and I feel pretty good today, so I’m just trying to think positive and look forward to hearing some good test results soon.
In the meantime, Jay finally got to see the baby for himself and we have a couple more pictures to add to the collection:
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