Feb-May 2011 Mommies

Joli - the bloods must be done at or before 13 weeks - so 10 weeks was fine - just not later than 13 weeks.

Emsmom - so true waht your dr said.

Schatsie, sorry you had a bad time with Dr Muller. We went to her with Em, and she is cold and clinical, but the best in her field. I think sadly with having to deal daily with parents of children with porblems - often those who might have to abort, she cannot get emotionally involved with each person, so to protect herself comes across as such.

My Dr even said that she wont win any personality prizes, but is the best of the best.

Ai Schatsie I can't help with the Dr., but my heart goes out to you. Can you not find another doctor? When I had my 12 week scan, I was told to go for bloods that very same day as the results for Downs is most accurate when you first do the scan and then not later than 24 hours later the bloods. And yes, she should have checked the nose bone as well. As what I can understand, you went for bloods at 10 weeks and had the scan at 13 weeks and the results then got combined?? Doesn't make sense. Shame hun, you must be so stressed. I'm praying that all will work out just fine for you.

Hi Schatsie
I am sorry you had such an unpleasant experience with Dr Muller. She is very clinical in her approach and can appear very cold. I found her to be stern yet professional. I went to her for my 13 week, amnio and 22 week assessments, and truth be told I think she is one of the top in her field- Although my nuchal fold was within the norm, because of my age -39- I opted to go for an amnio- Her risk of complications with an amnio is 1:400 - which is really good. I was totally comfortable with her during the amnio, had no cramps or bleeding.

She sometimes comes across as cold - but like I said she is very good at what she does! I also think that she doean't want to give flase hope so she sticks to the facts until she is sure, by means of the aminio, that there is no downs.

She did look at the organs and especially the heart -cardiogram - and advised that all the orgnas were functioning properly.

Take note that the case was in 2004 - I read the article before I went to see her in August- Remember the article does not mention what judgment was made.

Ultimately it is a personal choice - I was satisfied.

Good luck with your decision

I would be interested to hear from other Cape Town mommies whether they have had any dealings with Dr Linnie Muller from Panorama.

We went to see her for my 13 week scan & Downs risk factor assessment last week. We found her to be extremely cold and completely lacking bedside manner/people skills! She was telling us that our babies nuchal fold was thicker than it should be and that we have a high risk of our baby having Downs syndrome and that we should therefore do an amniocentesis. But she was telling us this as if it was the most common thing on the planet. Not considering that we are in fact human beings, that I battled for years to fall pregnant and that this baby means the whole world to us!

She failed to give us the results of the blood test I went for or the actual Downs risk factor, failed to mention that the baby's other development (e.g. brain, heart, stomach, arms and legs, etc.) are completely on track or that there is a false positive incidence of up to 13% for this test! She also completely failed to check for a nasal bone – a lack of which would be a very clear indication that the baby could have Downs. When I mailed her after our appointment to ask for more details, I received another cold, clinical response from her admitting that my risk factor was only 1 in 371 - not even close to the 1 in 100 risk which is likely when you are 40.

You would think that a so called specialist in fetal medicine would somewhere in her career have acquired some skills as to how to deal with people under stressful and sad circumstances! We were shocked and appalled by her behaviour and have subsequently cancelled our appointment for the amnio with her and scheduled it at another hospital.

I also came across the following article on the web:

www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/woman-su...nancy-drama-1.122161

Honestly, doctors like these who work with human patients under potentially difficult circumstances should go for training on how to deal with people appropriately – not just charge us almost R1000 and then try and get us out of their rooms as quickly as possible!

Hi all. Sorry, no personals, as usual. On my way to a 2 hour meeting .

Anemia was ruled out and my blood pressure returned to normal. So it was just the drop in my blood pressure that made me feel so bad. I still have the head aches, but the doctor said it's due to the estrogen and might be with me up to 28 weeks. I am hopeful that this won't be the case.

Could hear LO's heart beat with my Doppler on Saturday. This was the first time I heard it as the gynae didn't let me listen at my 2 scans. Was nice hearing it and knowing it is the heart beat of a new human being .

Finally I have a picture to share!

Here is our precious little miracle at 13 weeks.