The Nuchal

This morning we had the nuchal translucency scan - a genetic testing procedure to determine the pregnancy's risk level for birth defects like Down's syndrome. The first part was a sonogram and, luckily, they got great pictures with the abdominal sonogram so I didn't have to get the vaginal probe. The baby was sleeping when we started the procedure, so s/he was nice and still for the nuchal measurement (an area of fluid in the back of the neck) and to inspect the nasal bone growth. The sonographer poked around for a while to get the crown-to-rump measurement and look for the arms and legs, and all the poking woke the baby. S/he started kicking like crazy, and it looked so much like a frog jumping that I started laughing. The picture in this post is a butt shot with the legs stretched out.

The doctor said that the nuchal measurement and nasal bone look normal, and it will take about a week to get the full risk analysis which combines the measurements with the results of my blood work.