Tate's Birth Story Part 1

Tate is now 2 1/2 weeks old.  It seems like we've had him forever. Before I start in on his birth story I want to record all the craziness that happened before he even got here.  His due date was April 1st, and we knew he was going to be a trickster ever since then, and so far he's thrown us for lots of loops.

We had our 20 week ultra sound and decided to find out what we were having, even though I was beyond convinced it was a girl.  I thought it would be neat to bring Quincy along to find out.  When I had my 20 week ultrasound with Quincy it went pretty quickly so I thought bringing her would be fine and I thought it would be special if she was there when we found out what we were having.  Not the case this time.  I didn't realize that I was having a detailed anatomy ultrasound, because of my thyroid issue, and that the ultrasound would take an hour and 15 minutes. It started out great, he wasn't in the right position initially to find out what he was and I was nervous that we might not find out this time.  But he did move and when they told us it was a boy I was shocked but beyond happy.  Quincy on the other hand, was not so happy about it.  We took a video of her reaction and she kept yelling "no girl" every time we told her it was a boy.  The ultrasound went on for what seemed like forever and I was getting super uncomfortable laying down on my back.  Eventually she finished and I had asked if everything looked ok, and the ultrasound tech responded by saying you'll have to talk to the doctor.  At which point I instantly thought, crap...something's wrong.  With Quincy's ultrasound the tech told us she didn't see any red flags but that the doctor would go over it and call us if something was wrong.  The fact that the tech wouldn't say anything and the fact that we were going to see the doctor right then, only solidified the thoughts that something was wrong.  Once the tech left Christian tried to reassure me that everything was probably fine and that the tech had to say that, but I still felt sick about it.

We waited for what seems like an eternity in that room for the doctor.  All while trying to keep a 2 year old entertained (thank goodness for iphones).  The doctor finally came in and wanted to look again and she did another ultrasound herself.  She then told us that he had choroid plexus cysts on both sides of his brain and that it could be an indicator of trisomy 21 (down syndrome).  I panicked but thought, ok I can handle a son with down syndrome.  But she quickly corrected herself and said that it was a soft marker for trisomy 18, not 21.  And when I asked what the prognosis for a baby born with trisomy 18 was my heart sank.  If they're born alive they usually don't live more than a few hours.  I didn't have the first trimester screening done, and if I had, and everything came back normal, they wouldn't worry about it, but since I didn't, I would have to have further testing done to determine if he had it or not.  The doctor did tell me that the rest of his anatomy looked great and that was a good sign.  Usually trisomy 18 babies have physical deformities that show up in the ultrasound (like a cleft lip or heart defects, none of which he had).  So that was somewhat reassuring.  And she also said that if he doesn't have trisomy 18 then the cysts would be benign and eventually go away.

So after meeting with the doctor she suggested that we meet with a genetic counselor who could better explain everything and what to do from there.  So we waited again for what seemed like forever to meet with a genetic counselor.  She explained what trisomy 18 was and what tests could be done.  The only test that insurance companies cover is the quad screen, which is pretty effective in detecting down syndrome, but not so accurate in detecting trisomy 18.  The next test was 90+% accurate but she told us that most insurance companies don't cover it and it's around $1,500.  And the most accurate test was the amniocentesis, where they actually put a needle in your stomach and take a sample of your amniotic fluid, but there was also a small chance of miscarriage with that procedure.  She said that unless we were planning on terminating the pregnancy if he had it (which we weren't) then she wouldn't recommend that test because of the risks associated with it.  I was ready to get the test that day, but Christian suggested that we call the insurance company and see what they said about covering it. So we got the codes and decided to call the insurance company and come back to get it done.  After talking with the insurance company, the said that they would cover it, after our deductible had been met.  We had $93 met towards our $1,500 deductible so we would be basically paying out of pocket.  Since it was almost December, we decided that the most practical thing to do would be wait until January and have it go towards the next years deductible.  Although I didn't know how I was going to wait for over a month to find out.  But we did.  (Poor Quincy, at this point we had been at this office for almost 4 hours, in hindsight we should have definitely left her home, she was such a trooper!)

And when January came around, I no longer felt so stressed about it, and felt oddly at peace with everything.  I knew the chance of him having it was still very small and I just wanted to enjoy the rest of my pregnancy regardless.  So we decided not to do the testing.  It was still always in the back of my mind, and I knew it was a possibility, but for the most part the rest of my pregnancy was great!