Tests, tests and more tests

Today's pregnant woman has the advantage of a whole bunch of technology not available to our mothers, grandmothers, etc. But the past month has made me wonder... is too much information a bad thing or a good thing?

As I posted previously, I had my ultrasound to see my lovely baby boy. That technology made me happy. On that same day I had what is called the "Quad Marker" test, which is a blood test to help detect problems with the baby. Well, I wish before they did this test that they warned you what a "marker" really means (it's merely a statement of odds) and how common it is for "markers" to pop up. But no... no one told me that and so has ensued nearly a month of stress now.

I got a call from my doctor saying my quad marker showed "a hightened marker for Downs Syndrome." I panicked, ran to the bathroom to cry only to find a friend from work in there who said she had the same thing and it was quite common. I then called my mom who had just talked to a family friend who also had the same happen to her. After reassuring myself with the numerous stories I was getting about how common this was and how only a teeny-tiny percentage of results are true "positives" and the rest are just panic-inducing false positives... I began to relax. I scheduled my high-resolution ultrasound with a peri-natologist and waited.

After returning from a vacation with my husband, I visited the peri-natologist ready for some further reassurance. The first step was to talk to a "genetic counselor." Counselor to me implies one who counsels, gives you tools and informations, etc. It felt like her job was more to scare the living shit out of us. Mike and I went in there reassured at our VERY SLIGHT chances of anything being wrong, only to finish with the counselor and want to cry.

We then moved on to the ultrasound and got to see our boy again. The ultrasound proved to be the reassuring part as they looked for 20 markers for Downs Syndrome and found none. Whew... I was ready to breath a sigh of relief... and then the doctor walked in. He said that while he could find no markers there was a "gray area" because the baby's limbs weren't developing in time with his head. Panic again. He said that while it was not an immediate cause for concern (baby's can develop at all kinds of rates, etc), it was still a "gray area"... not a marker, a gray area. He then said that it was basically an mathematical game at this point. My "odds" of a Downs child was 1/141, less than 1% (a woman my age typically has a 1/450 chance). I could get an amniocentesis if I needed to be ABSOLUTELY sure, but it wasn't necessary as my odds were low, I was marker-free according to the ultrasound, etc. Plus, the amnio presented a 1/300 chance of miscarriage (I was getting damn sick of statistics at this point, let me say).

He left us to think about it, but I pretty much knew what I would do. I knew I could not enjoy the rest of this damn pregnancy with odds floating around in my head... I got the amnio. It's a somewhat scary and painful procedure where they stick a rather long (but thin!) needle (with the help of ultrasound) through your stomach and into the amniotic sac to get fluid. It really hurts less than one of those shots they jam in your ass to give you demerol at the hospital though, so I lived.

I had a day of soreness following and then yesterday I had some pains/cramping that caused me to stay home from work on the advice of the doctor. They were sure the amnio hadn't put the baby in danger, but my pains made them a tad concerned, so I was to take it easy for a day.

Now, I'm waiting.... waiting for the results. It can take up to about two weeks for amnio results and I'm just sitting here wondering... is all this technology worth it? A friend at work chose not to have the quad marker test due to the high number of false positives and stress. But then there's that part of me that really likes to plan and prepare... so that if I have a special needs child, I can start planning now. But with my odds so low and chances are I'll hear in about a week that I have a perfectly healthy boy... I'm wondering if my need to know and plan is just causing me a much more stressful pregnancy than necessary.

Hmmm... food for thought. How much better is technology going to get? And will it be worth it? Or will pregnant women run around with odds in their heads for an entire 9 months not able to relax?