End of First Trimester: Keeping Anxiety at Bay Part 2

This morning’s prenatal check-up was supposed to be the appointment of all appointments that will put a stop to my anxiety. You see, today was the end of my first trimester and all of my books say that once you reach this milestone, the miscarriage rates went down significantly. As in way down. In fact, studies have shown that 95% of all miscarriages occur in the first trimester. That should have made me feel better, right?

Wrong.

We saw our baby all right. Her heart was beating well and good. Her size was just perfect for her gestational age. But why did the sonographer’s attention stay a second too long on some mundane measurement such as the thickness of the skin on her nape? If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought that it was standard procedure to measure that little amount of skin more than once. But to my dismay, I did know better. I knew that something was not quite right with my baby.

True enough, at the doctor’s office we were told that there was the possibility that our baby could have a chromosomal abnormality like Down Syndrome because of the apparent thickness of skin of the back of her neck. To rule it out, we must do more tests. Nuchal translucency scan was scheduled for Friday.

According to the pamphlet given by the doctor, the scan is just a more detailed ultrasound scan that entails a careful examination of the nuchal translucency (thickness of the back of the baby’s neck skin due to the amount of fluid in this layer) and the presence or absence of a nasal bone. Thickened nuchal translucency and the absence of the nasal bone present a higher risk of chromosomal defects.

I thought seeing my baby’s heart beat today will end all my worrying.
But a realization hit me: mothers don’t ever stop worrying, do they?

CRL: 52mm, 11.8 weeks
Corrected EDD: September 2, 2008
GS: 48mm x 61mm x 55mm
Ave. Sac Diameter: 54.7mm
Shape: Normal