decisions decisions.

So after a lot of thought and consultation with several different people, I've decided not to do the NT scan.

I think I would feel differently if I was closer to 35. Or if Down's tended to run in our family. But the truth is that my risk is pretty low as it is, so I am just going to take comfort for that in the time being and skip the NT scan. There is no need to add additional stress in my life right now, and that's all a false positive would do.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to blindly turn away all testing by any means. If something is wrong, I definitely want to know about it before I give birth so that we can prepare as necessary. And from what I gather so far, that will still be possible once I hit the 2nd trimester. Evidently there is something called a quad screen, which is additional bloodwork done in the 2nd trimester that screens for Down's. I'm hoping that by that time, the vanishing twin will no longer be an issue.

Plus, the "big" u/s that is done around 20 weeks is a detailed anatomy scan where they look at everything from the brain, heart, lungs, kidneys, bowels, etc. It isn't just a scan so we can find out the gender. So they will be able to tell then if something looks off. They are trained to look for soft markers even at that u/s, so I feel confident they will catch it if something doesn't look right.

So for now, I am resting easy. Stinks that my next appointment isn't for another 3+ weeks. But we have a lot of fun things planned between now and then, so I'm hoping the time will fly. This weekend we are packing up the dogs and heading to my parent's lake house for some rest, relaxation, boating, and fishing. And then in 2 weeks, we are heading to Atlanta to visit one of my close IF friends and take in a Braves game while we are there. And the week after that is our huge 4th of July BBQ, and said Atlanta friend + family is going to come down for a visit that same weekend.

So we have a lot of fun ahead of us!