Modern technology is amazing

Today I had my NT scan and consult with the maternal fetal specialist. For those of you who are curious below is a quick low down of the NT scan:

What is the nuchal translucency screening test?

This prenatal test (also called the NT or nuchal fold scan) can help your healthcare practitioner assess your baby's risk of having Down syndrome (DS) and some other chromosomal abnormalities as well as major congenital heart problems.

The NT test uses ultrasound to measure the clear (translucent) space in the tissue at the back of your developing baby's neck. Babies with abnormalities tend to accumulate more fluid at the back of their neck during the first trimester, causing this clear space to be larger than average.

The NT scan must be done when you're between 11 and 14 weeks pregnant. (The last day you can have it done is the day you turn 13 weeks and 6 days pregnant.) It's usually offered along with a blood test in what's known as first-trimester combined screening.

Like other screening tests, an NT scan won't give you a diagnosis. But it can assess your baby's risk for certain problems and help you decide whether you want to have chorionic villus sampling (CVS) or amniocentesis to find out whether your baby is actually affected.


In addition to checking the space behind the babies neck, they also check to see if a nasal bone is present, as many babies with Down's don't have the nasal bone present at this age. Although we won't get the official results for about a week, it looks like Scooter is most likely perfectly awesome! They look for the space to measure less than 2.8 mm and Scoot was 1.4! His/her nasal bone was also present and accounted for. We'll see what the blood test says but we are looking really good!

Most of you know my beliefs and feelings on kids, so more than determining if the child had any issues, I really just wanted a peek at my littler squirmer. It is amazing what 4 weeks can do, everything was so clear! I saw the arms and the legs, the hands, the feet, even the little toes. And I saw the baby move for the first time, in addition to hearing the most beautiful sound in the world- an amazing heartbeat at 161 bpm.

This is all starting to feel real. I was always excited and certainly felt pregnant, but I couldn't quite wrap my head around the fact that I'm going to have a baby. I think I was scared to truly accept it and then have it all taken away. But today is 12 weeks...and my baby is beautiful. My. Baby. Just writing those words brings tears to my eyes. I didn't know if I would ever get here, if my dreams were God's plan. I know that nothing is ever guaranteed, but today is magical and I'm going to embrace it.