NT ultrasound

We opted for genetic screening for the baby for known defects like Down's Syndrome, Trisomy 13 and Trisomy 18. On 11th Jan '08, they took a few drops of blood from me along with info about my race, origin etc.

Today they did an ultrasound called Nuchal Translucency ultrasound. They use this data with the first blood draw to give us an 85% accurate screen result for Down's syndrome and the accuracy is 91% for Trisomy 13 and 18.

In the second trimester, there is another blood draw, which is combined with the previous 2 results to increase the accuracy of prediction to 93% for Down's syndrome and almost 97% for Trisomy 13 and 18.

Case in point: Today's NT ultrasound. By far the worst experience I've had in my life so far. The technician could not position the baby correctly to get the measurement of the fluid behind the baby's neck. What followed can only be termed as abuse. The tech got increasingly frustrated and literally started "jabbing" the ultrasound machine (size of a computer mouse) into my belly. The jabs were so hard that I was wincing at every single poke, my legs wanted to curl up and protect my belly. There was no time to think as she barked orders "cough", "turn to your side" (as she physically pushed me over), "turn back" (she pulled me back), "cough again". She made statements like "oh, your uterus is tilted, more trouble for me, not for you". Something that really offended me was "turn, turn baby turn, this baby just won't turn, it is SO stubborn". Did she just call OUR baby stubborn? The nerve of her.

Relief came when the frustrated tech called for another tech to help, to "confirm her results".
This tech on the other hand was totally relaxed, even attempted to give a back rub to the apparently "frustrated" original tech, then proceeded to take all the measurements without hurting me.

I spent almost 3 days with aches in my abdomen. Amit was really pissed and wanted to lodge a formal complaint, but I just want to run into that tech again in the hospital. Anyways, bygones are bygones. We did get a cute pic of the baby from this one.

Dhak dhak karne laga

Yes yes, we heard the baby's heartbeat today for the first time :-) It was a wonderful moment. Doctor indulged us in the serene sound for quite some time, and also reassured us that it's strong and consistent. We clocked at ~155-160 beats a min.

Jamaica was cool, mon... No problem mon...

Sandy beaches, tall coconut trees, hammocks on the beach for afternoon naps, a food fest I've never seen before, fresh coconuts to sip the elixir, night snorkelling, sailing, lots of TT (ping pong)... just some of the awesome stuff that we got back from. It was the tail end of my first trimester, and I had almost no problems with travel (except for getting stranded in Houston for a night, thanks to Continental's delay). My sciatic pain had also reduced a lot, I guess the swimming helped.

7 days in an awesome place, almost a dream vacation. Amit had loads of alcohol :-) as I had insisted he have my share too. From rum punches to numerous Red Stripes on tap, Couples Negril had it all. The service was exceptional, the people very friendly. We'll definitely recommend this place.

I later heard the word "babymoon", the last vacation you take before the baby arrives. Ya so our planned second honeymoon was actually a babymoon for us :-) Lots of pictures from the place on my photo website. Bob Marley really rocks and I think Jamaican music has become one of my fav!

The first big revelation

And so it happened. We were 9 of us at the lunch anniv party at Amber, Santana Row. Lunch was good, filled with usual chit chats. A few requests for Amit's speech were received early on, but we decided it was best to save the news for the end.

After the cake cutting, Amit started off in Hindi on Hetav's request. It was tooooooooo funny to hear Amit speak in shudh Hindi but I should give him credit, he did a good job! After about 5mins of bakwas Amit got into the revelation mode...

Ab agle paach salon ke baare main bhi kuch kehna chahiye. Waise yeh 5 saal acche the lekin towards the end thoda problem hone laga... neend nahi aati hain, tond badhti jaa rahi hain, khatta khane ka mann karta hain. Yaaro darr lag raha hain, shayad badi gaadi khareedni padegi, ab kya kahoon...

Meera was the first one to scream "Congratulations!!!!" I think Hetav's expressions were priceless. Rachana was totally taken aback. I think she was silent for a while digesting the news. Jigga was so happy :-) Swati was very happy to hear the news too. Gunjan was sweet, he kept the secret so well!

Summer baby, you've got everyone thinking about you now...

Austin, we have some news

Ujjval and Sonali were gonna miss out on the anniv party and the whole big announcement. Plus we'd publicized Amit would be giving a speech at the party. They called us in the morning to wish us on our anniv. After the usual wishes, Ujjval insisted Amit give them a speech!

Amit asked Ujjval to promise that he won't be calling anyone in California :-) after our call, and I guess one thing led to another and then they knew... Sonali was real happy to learn I'm a few months right after she is due. We cacked for a while, promising to exchange notes (rather I'd get notes from her!) later.

Between timezones

Hiral and Meher were in India and flying out to come to SFO. They were going to literally miss the 5th of Jan - they'd neither be in India nor the US. By a stroke of luck, their flight got delayed by 4hrs and Hiral called us to wish us on our anniversary. Technically, it was the 5th of Jan in India already.

We kinda got into the mood: tell them about the big news when they wish us on our anniv! Of course my handsome and talented public speaker and proud dad-to-be was eager to break the news. Poor Hiral had to break through cryptic quotes from Amit like "I'm gaining sympathy weight" :-)) Finally Hiral goes "okay, I'll only believe it if my friend tells me the official news!" and I went "Hiral, officially officially!!!"

Our first scare

Yes, it happens, and yes, its very common, but we were not prepared for it. Last night I saw some spotting after I used some medication. I panicked and we called the on-call ob/gyn doc. She was very sweet, and told me in clear words - since we saw the baby's heart beating on 20th December, the chances of a miscarriage are very low. She also told me that if I have severe cramps like periods, or heavy flow, it will indicate a miscarriage. Even if that happens, there is nothing we can do about it.

Amit comforted me and made sure my mind was put to rest. I had a peaceful night of sleep. No more spotting seen today. To be doubly sure, I went by the ob/gyn dept at PAMF and met my physician's nurse, who gave me a clean chit. Phew!