Survived the CVS

Yesterday, we had the chorionic villus sampling test. I'm 12.5 weeks and once again it was great to see E3 waving his/her little arms and legs. I couldn't see much because the doctor was standing in the way of the screen but LH got a good view. He said it was a nice active baby for 12 weeks.

E3 is now 6.1 cm long and developing more each day. We are apparently about to head into the full on growth period over the next weeks. My weight for the first trimester has gone up by about 2kg, which seems reasonable. My belly is sticking out a bit but really I still don't look pregnant.

The CVS was pretty straight forward. The doctor stuck a needle with anaesthetic into my tummy just below the belly button. He warned me it would sting a bit and it did, but only momentarily. Then he stuck the next needle in to actually sample the placental tissue. This one also stung and I flinched but managed not to move my abdomen.

I had a bit of a look on the screen but decided it was too disturbing to watch so closed my eyes. One thing that was for sure though - the needle really didn't go anywhere near the baby. The baby is floating in loads of amniotic fluid near the bottom of the uterus and the placenta is at the top.

The actual sampling didn't hurt but its more the idea of it that is so offputting. I could feel him moving the needle around to take the tissue and it didn't hurt but its like having a pap smear when you can feel your cervix being scraped. It doesn't actually hurt but feels really uncomfortable and just plain icky!

Luckily it really didn't take long - 5 minutes at the most. He checked he had enough material and then it was all over.

The idea is that the placenta has developed from the baby and so has the same genetic composition. They will take DNA from the placental cells and test what the chromosomal make-up is. We should have the results on Monday. The test is 99.5% accurate, and then they also grow the cells up and look at the chromosomes under the microscope to see if they are all present and correct. That takes it up to 99.9% accurate.

I am not really concerned about the result. It is very unlikely they will find an abnormality.

The nurse and doctor warned me that there might be some mild cramping and also a little bit of blood. I didn't have either last night but there was a small amount of red blood when I woke up this morning. Since I was expecting it, it didn't scare the wits out of me this time. It went away quite quickly and since then, I've just had a very small amount of old blood. Its just like the last day of a period, which is what they told me to expect. So I think, all in all it was successful. Hopefully the result will be as well.

I have to stop the lab people from telling me the sex of the baby when they call with the results on Monday. We are keen to have a nice surprise when the baby comes into the world in November.