The second attempt at the Nuchal Translucency test was successful yesterday, although it took a while, and several quarts of water in the mommy’s tummy. But at last, the fetus was ready for its close-up, and the thickness of the nape of the neck could be measured well enough.
Whew! Combined with the blood tests, this measurement indicated that our little bean’s risk of Down’s Syndrome is pretty low (1 in 520), and the risk of a different chromosomal disorder was even less (1 in 13,000). That’s a big relief for us. We’d been trying for so long that we started approaching the age where statistics show we’d be at increased risk.
So, after I heard this news, I felt like everything was going to be just fine for the rest of the pregnancy, and I could feel safe in telling everyone about the big news. You see, so far, we have been keeping our pregnancy to ourselves, because we were so nervous about a miscarriage or other problems. We didn’t want to tell friends and family and then have to break bad news later and explain it all to them, forcing us to repeat and relive such a sad and negative event over and over.
But, I think that’s all behind us now. I’ll still wait until the official end of the first trimester to tell people, but now I’m feeling excited and happy about it, rather than apprehensive and hesitant. It was really a fundamental change in how I felt about this pregnancy. It’s starting to feel more real now, starting to feel like “This is really going to happen!” While I don’t think it’ll sink in fully until she starts to get the pregnant belly, it’s good enough for now.
Actually, I have to give some good credit to my great wife for some of this. After she got these test results, she texted me with the news, and she also said that the ultrasound showed the little one’s nose (another good sign of low risk for Down’s). And then she wrote, “It looks like your nose! 
” Aww. While I knew that was a joke, it was both a nice compliment (my wife really likes my nose and not so much her nose – I feel the exact opposite) and a reminder that this child is also mine. It’s part of me, and will probably look a little (or a lot?) like me, and be like me, and I’ll be a father! So, thanks, Wife!
Speaking of telling other people, another interesting thing happened. At my work, there are several guys in my group that are all married with no children, in “prime position” for having their first. I was chatting with my wife about this (“What if we all had children around the same time?”), and then the very next day one of the guys tells me that his wife is pregnant! And then it turns out that she’s due just a few weeks after ours! Weird. So, now I’m waiting for the rest of them to make announcements. Our entire group will be out on paternity at the same time. Haha! That would be awesome. Wonder how the company and our management would handle that…
Final thought for today is about flatulence. That’s right, farting. The pregnancy books say that pregnant women experience, among many other symptoms, various bowel distresses, including constipation, bloating, and gas. My wife has been lucky enough to avoid morning sickness and most of the other “classic” symptoms. This was in fact an early worry for us, because she just never “felt” pregnant. HOWEVER, she has not completely escaped the gas. I’m not criticizing or complaining, just observing. She’s very discreet and considerate. (And, being a guy, my every-day fart count is higher than hers on a bad day. Heck, I even have a fart sound program on my cell phone.) So, all this is just to say, when she lets a little <fbprraap> escape, and she sees me smile, I’m not enjoying the aroma, I’m appreciative that she really is pregnant!
-Asawang Buntis
