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Friday, January 13, 2006

Chilling out

After the nice worrying and stress about that test yesterday, I have some reasons to try to relax.

  1. My mom had the same test come up positive with my sister Britney. However, this test was still very new at the time, and doctors thought it was 100% accurate. The doctor told my mom to get an immediate abortion. She went and got a second opinion at USC medical center, and they said things were fine. Britney is healthy and normal, including the fact that she is a sophomore in college and a real flake.
  2. I told my mom during a break in a meeting. Then I left. She mentioned this to the people there, and 5 other women at that table all tested positive, with no birth defects or problems with their babies. One woman, who just had a baby, said her doctor would not let her have the test.
  3. After googling this, I've learned several things. This test has a SUPER high false positive rate. Somewhere between 1 in 16 and 1 in 33 positives turn out to be something. One journal I read about this said that the major side effect of this test is unnecessary stress and worry.
  4. If your doctor forgot to tell you to take folic acid, and you end up with a neural tube defect, there are PLENTY of lawyers out there to help you sue. How sue happy are we?
  5. 2 co-workers had this test positive and their babies were fine as well.

So my plan while I wait for the ultrasound next Thursday is to relax, try to think positive, and pray. I will pray that everything is OK, and that the test is just one of many false positives. If not, there will be more prayer, planning, googling, and education my way.

The one bright spot is that this means I get the Level 2 ultrasound sooner and should know this kids gender in a less than a week.

The massage did help. On a 1-10 pain scale (10 is the highest) I went from constant pain at a 7 with spikes to 10, down to constant pain at 4 to spikes to 7. I still hurt but I feel better. What I really need now is to be able to shave my legs so I can go swimming, something which should also help this pain.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I hope all is well, but having had a child with birth defects and ongoing disabilities, I can tell ya that docs really don't know everything. They had no idea there was anything wrong with Julia! On the other hand, while no parent wants their baby to have problems, you will be a great Mommy to whoever the Lord sends your way!! Good luck!
Danielle

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