They take a blood sample with a finger "prick" (definitely left more of a mark than a "prick"), and combine that with my age. Then, they also look on the ultrasound at the nuchal translucency, which measures a fold in the skin at the back of the baby's neck. The results of the ultrasound, blood test, and my age give about an 80% accuracy in detecting Down Syndrome. They base the ultrasound measurement on 3 mm. If the measurement is over that, you have an increased risk. If it is below that, you are "normal" and okay (have pretty low risk). The baby's measurement was 1.7 mm. So we are good to go. :)
We did get the measurement, but the baby was being a little stubborn - it gets that from daddy. Combined with the fact that i was having a uterine contraction (that's how it gets bigger), the baby was already face down. It needs to be face up and sit still in order to get a good measurement. So we got lots of pictures and the tech measured lots of other things on the baby and me. Then she said to go take a little walk and move around to see if the baby would change positions. So after about 5 minutes of roaming the halls, we went back in and tried again. The baby was turned about half way - we were now looking at its spine. So I did some poking and then it moved :) This is gonna be momma's baby :)
Well, I was going to include pictures with this post, but photoshop is not cooperating. So we'll see if we can figure out the problem and then i'll try to post them soon!
Oh - I also had a preventative PT appt this morning. Good news is she said I can still do a lot of the exercises I have in my book - just none where I lie on my back. So. I need to start doing them more often, and hopefully the baby won't be too much pain in my lumbar area.
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