Post by Rilith on Feb 9, 2006 22:48:17 GMT
My Bounty Friendships
I joined Bounty when I was about 9 weeks pregnant, and I was instantly intrigued by one of the threads that had started, it was called “the knicker checker” I had never laughed so hard in my life, the tears were rolling down my face. Little did I know at this point, that this was going to be the start of a long and beautiful friendship.
Things were moving along, we started to see people come all happy and excited with their BFP’s, and sadly we saw people leave too. It come to a point when people were talking about the October curse, we had lost so many ladies that they had started their own thread on baby loss. People were having their scans and either popping on to say everything was OK, or nipping on to say good-bye. Then it was my turn….
I felt confident, I had already had 2 boys, and I’d never had any miscarriages. Everything was going to be OK. I got a high result from the nuchal fold scan. I had no idea they were scanning for this. I numbly listened to what the consultant sonographer was telling me about what the possibilities were, possible Downs Syndrome, possible Turners Syndrome, or possible heart defects. The only way to be sure was an amnio. I was only 11 weeks at the time, I had the option of travelling to Birmingham the following day for a CVS, but felt it would be better to wait for 16 weeks and have the amnio done then.
A couple of the girls were waiting for their amnio’s at the same time as me, and we found comfort in each other, and did our best to be supportive. Each of us going through in our minds what would we do if the results came out negatively. One by one they had their results and one by one they posted all happy and relieved that there was nothing wrong, and their babies were fine. Again it was my turn… The phone rang, the tone of the voice on the other end said, “I’m sorry, but it’s not the results you wanted to hear” All I could think was please let it be just trisomy 21 (downs), and not 13. She then told me it was positive for Downs, and in a weird way I was so relived.
I posted in my due month the results, I can’t tell you how upset, but how supportive the girls were. Once they knew I would carry on with my pregnancy they were so positive about it and really made me feel I had made the right choice.
The road wasn’t smooth though, everyone started to go for their 20-week anomaly scans, and people were posting their pics, and finding out the flavours. The bad news had stopped coming now, we were still getting new ladies joining, and started to get to know the regular posters. It was my turn… I went for the anomaly scan, and there it was… a problem… Baby looked like it had a hole in the heart, and I was referred to Birmingham to have it checked by the Fetal Cardiologist there. And he confirmed it to be fallots type AVSD. Bubs could be taken away soon after birth to have a shunt put in to keep the pulmonary artery open, and will also need surgery to seal the hole when he/she is a bit stronger.
I am 31 weeks pregnant now, and although it has had its ups and downs it has been a great pregnancy, and the closer D day comes the more apprehensive I am becoming and all I want is to hold my baby. I couldn’t have gone through all this without the support of my wonderful husband, and the everlasting warmth, and friendship from people I have never met. Thank you, to all the girls Due in October. You have been wonderful.
I joined Bounty when I was about 9 weeks pregnant, and I was instantly intrigued by one of the threads that had started, it was called “the knicker checker” I had never laughed so hard in my life, the tears were rolling down my face. Little did I know at this point, that this was going to be the start of a long and beautiful friendship.
Things were moving along, we started to see people come all happy and excited with their BFP’s, and sadly we saw people leave too. It come to a point when people were talking about the October curse, we had lost so many ladies that they had started their own thread on baby loss. People were having their scans and either popping on to say everything was OK, or nipping on to say good-bye. Then it was my turn….
I felt confident, I had already had 2 boys, and I’d never had any miscarriages. Everything was going to be OK. I got a high result from the nuchal fold scan. I had no idea they were scanning for this. I numbly listened to what the consultant sonographer was telling me about what the possibilities were, possible Downs Syndrome, possible Turners Syndrome, or possible heart defects. The only way to be sure was an amnio. I was only 11 weeks at the time, I had the option of travelling to Birmingham the following day for a CVS, but felt it would be better to wait for 16 weeks and have the amnio done then.
A couple of the girls were waiting for their amnio’s at the same time as me, and we found comfort in each other, and did our best to be supportive. Each of us going through in our minds what would we do if the results came out negatively. One by one they had their results and one by one they posted all happy and relieved that there was nothing wrong, and their babies were fine. Again it was my turn… The phone rang, the tone of the voice on the other end said, “I’m sorry, but it’s not the results you wanted to hear” All I could think was please let it be just trisomy 21 (downs), and not 13. She then told me it was positive for Downs, and in a weird way I was so relived.
I posted in my due month the results, I can’t tell you how upset, but how supportive the girls were. Once they knew I would carry on with my pregnancy they were so positive about it and really made me feel I had made the right choice.
The road wasn’t smooth though, everyone started to go for their 20-week anomaly scans, and people were posting their pics, and finding out the flavours. The bad news had stopped coming now, we were still getting new ladies joining, and started to get to know the regular posters. It was my turn… I went for the anomaly scan, and there it was… a problem… Baby looked like it had a hole in the heart, and I was referred to Birmingham to have it checked by the Fetal Cardiologist there. And he confirmed it to be fallots type AVSD. Bubs could be taken away soon after birth to have a shunt put in to keep the pulmonary artery open, and will also need surgery to seal the hole when he/she is a bit stronger.
I am 31 weeks pregnant now, and although it has had its ups and downs it has been a great pregnancy, and the closer D day comes the more apprehensive I am becoming and all I want is to hold my baby. I couldn’t have gone through all this without the support of my wonderful husband, and the everlasting warmth, and friendship from people I have never met. Thank you, to all the girls Due in October. You have been wonderful.