Chorionic Villus Sampling

Hi Alix!

How did the cvs go? Did you find out the gender, or still waiting for results?

I have been thinking about you this last week or so...

Congratulations!! 8 weeks is already past two thirds of the terrible first trimester! I know exactly how you feel, we also decided to curb our enthusiasm and try and remain unemotional about the pregnancy until after the results of the NIPT. Wow!! A whole month for the genetic tests! I cant even imagine how uncertain you must feel! Is there no way they can give you some info before that? I'm sure even knowing the gender a bit earlier might help, especially if it is confirmed a girl. It was very stressful for us too, the results took two weeks and even now I worry about something going terribly wrong, despite the low risk results (after all, there is still a 1% margin of error )

I am due 14th November, but the c-sect is scheduled for 2 November. I am 26 weeks pregnant tomorrow My daughter will be turning 3 on the 22nd October, so we hope baby doesn't come early, that I can still give her a nice 3rd birthday party before baby arrives. How old is your son, btw?

We are starting to get very excited now, up until today there were so much to do and to worry about. We put our townhouse in the market, bought a bigger house, renovated the bigger house, and have now mostly finished moving in and selling the townhouse. All of this actually helped keep my mind off the pregnancy risks (I am a terrible worrier, I get "sky falling on our heads syndrome" the moment I have something to worry about ).

All of the best with the next month, I am thinking of you.

Same here! My amh levels are non-existent by now (they were a very low 0.2 three years ago) and we have issues on my partners side as well. I was told that the chances of me falling pregnant naturally were non-existent! Although we desperately wanted a 2nd child after my son's diagnosis and then finding out the cost of IVF/PGD (over 100k) together with my age, we left it. Anyway I discovered today that I am 8 wks and am booked for cvs at 11 wks. Weird to think I will know the gender within the month! I am also going in for the more comprehensive screening - not just the usual Downes etc. I very disturbingly established that D&C's can't be performed after 12 wks The genetic testing takes up to a month. So I am trying to remain as emotionally distant as possible from this pregnancy as I am not terribly optimistic. When are you due - you must be terribly excited!

Congratulations And all of the best! I know all about unplanned pregnancies, both my LG and my current pregnancy with LG2 were unplanned. We had basically given up after 5 years of trying since there were lots of issues on both sides and then KABLAMM!! what I thought was a bladder infection turned out to be LG1. After her birth I didnt even go on the pill due to my chances being very small, and I wasn't monitoring cycles either. When we found out I was pregnant with LG2, we both thought it must be a false positive.

It is awesome to finally fall pregnant after years of accepting that the chances are slim, and moving on with one's life, but it doesn't make the shock any less shocking And then starting to rearrange one's life for a massive life change that was not even a possibility yesterday...

All of the best with your journey and keep us updated!

Will do Clueless. I would estimate that I am around 7/8 weeks. This was an unplanned pregnancy to say the least and I have become terrible at monitoring my cycle..I'm finding out next week for sure.

Hi Alix,

Yes I was worried that NIPT might not be specific enough if it comes to particular conditions. I assume they try to cover a wide variety of conditions, while still standardising the test so as to keep the cost as low as possible. I agree, it is unfortunately very expensive, and I think it only makes sense to do if you know that you will have a high probability of terminating if the test is high risk.

I am glad that you found a good specialist that will do the CVS. I also find this fascinating. Please let us know what the outcome is? How many weeks are you now?

Very interesting chat with the genetic counsellor.

I would definitely have gone the route you did (NIPT - non invasive prenatal test) Clueless if it wasn't for the very specific genetic test that can only be done by the NHL for the known condition I mentioned I am a carrier for. I think I would also prefer more extensive chromosomal testing given my history - I am high risk.

So I am going for CVS at about 11 weeks (with Lou Pistorius at Panorama).

It is fantastic how prenatal testing techniques are becoming more sophisticated. I hope NIPT becomes available in SA as the costs makes it such an expensive option I don't think many would be able to afford it. I have had a lot of exposure to prenatal genetic testing practices over the last few months and SA is definitely lagging in capabilities.