So, we got the results of the afp (Alpha fet0-protein) test back and my chances of having a baby with spina bifida were 1 in 4 according to the screening. So we went in for an ultrasound of course dreading it, but nothing major was found. The doc (different one from my normal OB) thought there might be a vertebra with a slightly bigger opening than the others, but skin was covering the spine there, so if there is something it's very minor. He even said as much since he had to look so hard to find anything. His exact words later were "I'm not actually sure I even see anything" But he wants us to come back every month so he can watch that spot.

Personally, I'm just happy he didn't find a major loss of backbone with spinal cord protruding from the area. He wanted us to do an amnio but we declined after speaking with a genetic counselor. I have what he calls 'lakes' in my placenta, which are these dark spots on the ultrasound. They might be blood-filled or not, and it's probably left over from the tearing of the placenta I had early on when I had a moderate flow of blood at 5 weeks. The dark spots could just be whats left and are healing up. The blood flow is good from me to the baby through the placenta though, so the lakes don't appear to be anything to worry about. The doc says they are very rare, and I think it's his curiosity that prompted the amnio request.

There's a 1 in 500 chance of miscarriage with amniocentesis, so if we have it done it will be very late in my pregnancy where the chances of a live birth are greater is anything goes wrong. The genetic counselor even said that amnios are more often for the practitioners benefit than the patients, since they pinpoint what exactly is going on inside, if anything, and can help them plan what type of delivery might be best. Anyway, it was a load off to know that there was nothing major, and most likely nothing wrong at all! I do resent having to see another doctor throughout my pregnancy, even though it's probably for the best. It's a lot more driving (to Boise, not Nampa) and later in my pregnancy both docs will want to see me more frequently which means I'll probably be seeing both docs every two weeks. A pain in the butt, and I hope this doesn't lessen the likelihood of having a natural birth. Oh well, that's the update on the saga. I wasn't planning to tell everyone about it, since I was hoping it would be a false positive and a 'oh, you're fine go on home', but since I have to have follow-up care and there's a suggestion that there could be something very minor, I figured I'd document it in my blog. Can't have kiddo number two thinking I don't want to write about him/her as much as the first one!