Oh the OB Office

On the the way in to my OB today someone asked when my baby was due. I told her there are three and she asked me if they were on purpose. Um. No. I didn't purposely put three babies in my belly at the same time. Blast you octomom for confusing the general public.

Thats not all, either! Also overheard today: "When I was a kid my dad would get the placentas that the hospital was going to throw out anyway and we'd use them for chum when shark fishing."

Thank you, strange man, for giving sharks a taste for human flesh.

Finally, because baby B likes to pose for the camera (and I'm still at the OB office racking up a huge parking garage bill), here is a photo of the little guy.

The Odds

1 in 49
1 in 154
1 in 807

Those are the adjusted odds, based on our Nuchal Translucency measurements, that one of these babies has Down Syndrome.

It's an easy ultrasound screening that I have skipped with my other pregnancies, but this time, I didn't.  I didn't even really know that this is what I was signing up for the first time I called my MFM (Maternal Fetal Medicine) doctor. And once I'd realized that's what I had done, I almost called back to clarify and say no NT measurements.

But I didn't.

And then he did the measurements on his very high-tech ultrasound machine and these are the adjusted results he gave me for babies A, B, & C.

Suddenly there was talk of genetic counseling.  Invasive and non-invasive options.  What did I want to do?

And my answer came without much thought.  Nothing. 

We will simply wait and see. 

Why? The MaterniT21 test is only a simple blood draw from me and gives back a reliable Positive for T21 and a slightly less reliable negative for T21.  But it wouldn't tell me which baby. We don't know for certain that we don't have an identical pair in there, so a positive could even mean two babies have Down Syndrome, so it wouldn't be a very good answer.

And the truth is, I rather hold my child in my arms first.  After Charlotte spent six weeks in a hip spica cast (small peanuts in the big picture, I know) I learned that as a parent we quickly look past our children's disabilities and see only the child we love.  A big pink cast covering half my baby's body? I didn't even see it after a few days.

And I rather spend the rest of my pregnancy figuring out how the heck we are going to organize our lives to bring home three newborns instead of stressing about something I cannot do anything about until the baby arrives.  Then, if needed, I can focus on loving my child and how to best care for him.

I should probably stress, though, that our babies hearts all have four chambers and two valves (is that right?) and look good.  If this wasn't true and it looked as though other medical issues were present, I would rethink my answer.
 
Overall, I'm surprised with the peace I have in this.  My child is my child. God gave me these exact children, all at the same time, for some reason. In this I have complete faith, even if I do not understand the why. The rest doesn't really matter unless it becomes urgent.