12 week appt? What to expect?

Keribells

I will be 12 weeks next Tuesday...what should I expect at my appt on the 22nd? It is my 12 week appt. I know I will have another sonogram for the 1st trimester screening.  What else ladies?

Mrs.Purdue

probably depends on your doc.  i think at my 12-week, we did the typical (pee in a cup, blood pressure, weight check) and asked any questions we had.  I don't *think* we did the doppler to hear the heartbeat because we also opted for the NTscan, so we got to see the heartbeat on that.  Definitely by the 16-week appointment, we were doing the doppler heartrate too. 

The NT scan (for us anyway) was the ultrasound and a blood test.   some people choose not to do the blood test, but we didn't really hear that it was an option and just did both because that's what is typical. 

SarahPLiz

I had a 10 week, and we did all the background info stuff, and then at 12 weeks was our NT scan. It all depends on how your doctor does it though,. 

ali-1411

Every appt was the same.  Blood pressure and weight check with nurse.  Pee in cup.  Doc comes in, measures belly.  Listens to heartbeat on doppler, but not when there's an ultrasound.  Discuss any questions or issues I had, which rarely happened.  I had textbook pregnancies.   

That's it.  So boring.  Only reason I looked forward to appts was because I got out of work early

PrincessBrideSarah

Regarding the NT scan and the first trimester screening blood test that goes along with it--

Both are presented as routine, but you can opt out of either or both tests. You may want to consider what you will do if you get "high risk" results since these two tests are used to screen who is high risk for chromosomal disorders (Down's Syndrome and Trisomy 18 and 13). One of the other posters has referred to these tests as gateway tests for CVS and amniocentesis, and I think that is  accurate.

Our NT scan had a measurement in the low risk category, but a week later I got a call stating the blood test gave me a high risk for Down's Syndrome. DH and I had to decide within a day or so if we wanted a CVS, if we wanted to wait until 16 weeks to do an amnio, or if we wanted to just wait out the pregnancy for 6 more months.

The answer to that question depends somewhat on what course of action you would take if you were to find out that your baby had one of those disorders as well as if you were able to just wait out the pregnancy not knowing if your baby potentially had a big health problem. 

Of course, no one explains all that when they ask if you want to do the NT scan and the blood test. It is presented as routine and many people don't even realize they can opt out. 

I'm not trying to be negative about all of this, but the blood test results gave me so much anxiety and worry about the baby. I never thought I would agree to having an amnio, but I just could not deal with not knowing. It was a very long month or so waiting to be able to do the amnio and then waiting for the results.

The NT scan is very cool to watch. At the office I go to, they look at lots more than just the neck measurement. You get a good 15 to 20 minutes of watching the baby, and the baby really looks like a baby. Amazing considering how little the baby actually is at that point!

Mrs.Purdue

PrincessBrideSarah:

Regarding the NT scan and the first trimester screening blood test that goes along with it--

Both are presented as routine, but you can opt out of either or both tests. You may want to consider what you will do if you get "high risk" results since these two tests are used to screen who is high risk for chromosomal disorders (Down's Syndrome and Trisomy 18 and 13). One of the other posters has referred to these tests as gateway tests for CVS and amniocentesis, and I think that is  accurate.

Our NT scan had a measurement in the low risk category, but a week later I got a call stating the blood test gave me a high risk for Down's Syndrome. DH and I had to decide within a day or so if we wanted a CVS, if we wanted to wait until 16 weeks to do an amnio, or if we wanted to just wait out the pregnancy for 6 more months.

The answer to that question depends somewhat on what course of action you would take if you were to find out that your baby had one of those disorders as well as if you were able to just wait out the pregnancy not knowing if your baby potentially had a big health problem. 

Of course, no one explains all that when they ask if you want to do the NT scan and the blood test. It is presented as routine and many people don't even realize they can opt out. 

I'm not trying to be negative about all of this, but the blood test results gave me so much anxiety and worry about the baby. I never thought I would agree to having an amnio, but I just could not deal with not knowing. It was a very long month or so waiting to be able to do the amnio and then waiting for the results.

The NT scan is very cool to watch. At the office I go to, they look at lots more than just the neck measurement. You get a good 15 to 20 minutes of watching the baby, and the baby really looks like a baby. Amazing considering how little the baby actually is at that point!

I just wanted to clarify my response a little... My office (RWG) explained all this really extensively.  asking us to consider what we would do if there was an increased risk, etc.  They also told us about how we would have to wait a while before we could do the amnio, so that we would be prepared if we needed/wanted to go down that route.  They definitely presented the entire NT scan as optional and not really routine.  That said that many of their patients don't do it.  truth be told, we mostly wanted to just see the baby.  increased information is always good too, but if i'm being honest, I let the idea of the extra ultrasound sway my opinion a lot. 

The part that I didn't necessarily know (ask) about was that the ultrasound and blood test don't have to go hand-in-hand.  I thought they were a package deal, so I did both, but apparently you could opt out of one or the other.  I still would have done both, I just didn't realize that they didn't HAVE to be done together. 

Keribells

Yeah, I posted about the 1st trimester test after my first appt. The dr definitely did say it was optional and up to me but that she recommended it. I've already done the blood portion of the testing just the sonogram this time and I guess results? I go with the notion that I'd rather be armed with information if the situation calls for it. Of course, I'm hoping it all comes out just fine but you never know.

PrincessBrideSarah

Mrs.Purdue:

I just wanted to clarify my response a little... My office (RWG) explained all this really extensively.  asking us to consider what we would do if there was an increased risk, etc.  They also told us about how we would have to wait a while before we could do the amnio, so that we would be prepared if we needed/wanted to go down that route.  They definitely presented the entire NT scan as optional and not really routine.  That said that many of their patients don't do it.  truth be told, we mostly wanted to just see the baby.  increased information is always good too, but if i'm being honest, I let the idea of the extra ultrasound sway my opinion a lot. 

The part that I didn't necessarily know (ask) about was that the ultrasound and blood test don't have to go hand-in-hand.  I thought they were a package deal, so I did both, but apparently you could opt out of one or the other.  I still would have done both, I just didn't realize that they didn't HAVE to be done together. 

Your office is doing a good job with presenting the test and the potential implications of the test. My doctor's office did not go into a detailed explanation, and definitely presented the scan as routine (no one asked me if I wanted to do it or said that the scan was optional, although I did know that piece of information). Some of that may have been because I have gone there for a long time and they know I am pretty knowledgeable of the tests, procedures, etc. I knew in theory what I would do with non-reassuring results (nothing/continue with the pregnancy and hope for the best). The theory just completely fell apart when I was faced with the reality of scary results.

About the testing--I know you can do the scan without the blood test because my doctor's office did present that as an option. I don't know if you can do the blood test without the scan. The best, most accurate, and most predictive results are when you take the blood levels and the scan measurement together to get an overall set of probabilities. 

I have very mixed feelings towards the NT scan/ 1st trimester blood test after my experience. 

aaand I feel like I totally hijacked this post. Sorry about that. 

Good luck at your appointment!

bobcatsteph

Starting at 12 weeks, my appts were like ali's. No sonogram until the anatomy scan.

I opted out of all the screens and NT scan.

A coworker's SIL got bad results from the NT scan and had decided to abort their baby girl (they were told that the baby wouldn't make it to delivery, and if she did, she wouldn't survive for more than a few minutes). She found out a week later when blood results came back that everything was fine with her baby boy and he's now a perfectly healthy 3 week old.

ssinca

bobcatsteph:

A coworker's SIL got bad results from the NT scan and had decided to abort their baby girl (they were told that the baby wouldn't make it to delivery, and if she did, she wouldn't survive for more than a few minutes). She found out a week later when blood results came back that everything was fine with her baby boy and he's now a perfectly healthy 3 week old.

oh.em.gee - I can't even imagine. 

from the other responses, it sounds like each office operates differently.  we had our NT scan at 12 weeks with an awesome sonogram, but I know a friend of mine doesn't see the doc between weeks 8 and 16 (which would drive me batty).  or maybe she did go in just for blood/pee but didn't tell me.