A/S & CF Update

jhjocelyn

So we had our a/s on Thursday and then went away for the weekend so I'm jut now catching up here. It's a bit of a rant/vent, sorry!

 First, we had to meet with a genetic counselor to discuss our risk of Cystic Fibrosis. I filled out a questionnaire before the appointment that asked our level of education, lines of work, family history(which is perfectly healthy), our understanding of why we were there and what our questions were. Once we got to the meeting the GC said "So you've been doing you're research fantastic, yes the odds really are 25% for you specifically, no there's nothing that doing an amnio would change, here's a great website, I'm sure you've already found." and somehow managed to throw in pressurized guilt over turning down the amnio... Seriously? It won't change anything. It has risks. It can be done later. The most they can do know is look at LO's bowels for blockage which they did during the a/s. ggrr we were frustrated with the uselessness of the gc.

Then we get to the scan, did I mention before that they notoriously run 30-45 min late for appointments? Thankfully I asked about getting the dvd so they made sure to record it for us. If I hadn't asked it would have been missed. We had a student/resident start the scan and then the regular (personality-less) tech took over. Super matter-of-fact, she seemed ready to be done with her day. blech. She nearly forgot to check the sex! She had to be reminded twice (remember the res/stu started so her normal pattern of what to do when was off), so she goes for the moneymaker shot, and baby is all crossed and tucked up not letting us peek. She talked to the res/stu (not us) about how it looks like a girl, but sometimes when it's like this they move and it's a boy. Baby never changes position, she calls it as a girl and we are done. uumm... are you sure? Or do you just want to go home?

They leave the room to have a doc review the pics and come back with the irritating GC; there is a spot on the baby's bowels, so we will have monthly ultrasounds to monitor it in case it becomes a blockage. This does not necessarily mean it is CF, there are other things that can cause it (but no "or it could be nothing" option).  They offer the chance to ask a doctor any questions, since we don't know if there are any more to ask; we assume everything else was fine. They used a lot of "that's normal" or "within range" as they(tech & res/stu) discussed the other measurements and such (thank goodness the res/stu was there to talk to the tech or we wouldn't have known anything). Before the GC left she again laid on the pressurized guilt, "Oh and if you want an amnio we'll give you two more weeks to decide". I ask again, "what would that change?" and again she says "oh nothing, just give you peace of mind"... Apparently you missed the part where we opted for less peace of mind and more safety for our lo. Thanks for paying attention and listening.

To the res/stu's credit she did try to keep us in the loop, she talked as she took pics it just took so much concentration for her to get what she needed that she really couldn't multi-task. The tech on the other hand took about 2 seconds to find the pics she needed, so the res/stu was trying to learn/observe and keep us informed. It was awful.

Oh and I'm pretty sure they forgot to take a pic of lo's profile, they totally forgot to print any pics for us at all. Wonderful. Well, we "forgot" to pay for the dvd. Guess we're even. :-p

Bottom line: We think we're team pink, and we think there may be CF present. We'll know more in a month. Overall, we're just happy there's a little one moving around and growing. There is no family history of any illnesses at all so it's a shocker to be considering the CF possibilities but, we are taking it one step at a time.

nbbride06

Sorry about all the lack of empathy!  Geez.  Have you asked about the MaterniT21 testing?

ETA: Preg brain...not for CF...

DamnPrecious

Those people suck! I'm sorry you have all that to deal with.

sugarland726

Please make sure you complain to the OB. Whether or not it is the end of their day, it is still a business where they have customers/clients and need to act as such. But that extra guilt about the amnio would be very frustrating to me too.

Ninjafarmerswife

Sorry to hear that your experience was less than great, it sounds like both the GC and the tech need some reminders on patient interaction.

Fingers crossed for better/clearer answers next month.

jhjocelyn

Thanks Ladies! I do plan to let my ob know that it was awful. I'm also going to ask if there is a different option for the continuing follow-ups. I think this is the only place around that has the ability to handle our needs but, I'm hopeful maybe it's just the one my ob prefers to use.