June 25- Genetic Counseling

     Today I had my appointment with the genetic counselor. It was literally only a seven minute meeting. He started off by telling me about this really awesome and accurate new blood test That tests for downs syndrome but when he found out that I was having twins he quickly scratched that and said it wouldn't work with twins. Reason being is  the test detects extra chromosomes and with two in there, there would be  extra chromosomes anyway so it would negate the test. So he quickly change gears and told me I would have to instead do an integrated sequential screening, which is still accurate it but takes longer to do. The first part of it would be done at around 12 weeks. They do an ultrasound and check for the fluid sac at the back of the neck that has formed. They see if it is oversized, which is usually an indicator of downs syndrome. They also do a series of blood work to check the babies were more levels. At around week 18 they do a another check up where they do a full body scan on the baby during the ultrasound and do another blood test and put the two blood tests together to determine the result. So there's a lot more waiting involved, but I guess that's the only thing we can do.  It is a bit nerve-racking to have to wait so long. After he did an intake of my family history he looked at that and my age and told me there's a 99.4% chance of the babies being perfectly fine. So that's some pretty good statistics there. The doctors office also called me in the meantime to make my what they call an "ACOG" appointment . It's basically where I sit down with my doctor's nurse- who is her right hand man - and go over everything I need to know to have a healthy pregnancy and go over my medical history, etc... We scheduled that for two days from now first thing in the morning and I'll also get a panel of bloodwork done to make sure my body is functioning properly enough to be a good house for the babies. I do like all these doctors appointments, it reminds me that I am pregnant even though I don't have a big baby bump yet. But I know I will soon!