Well, I pretty much got the scare of a lifetime yesterday.
At my last appointment they took blood for a "quad panel" test, which tests for fetal abnormalities. My OB called yesterday around noon and told me that my test came back with abnormalities in the downs syndrome blood count. Women my age are supposed to have a 1 in 500 chance of having a baby with downs, and my blood test indicated that our baby has a 1 in 160 chance. When she first told me that, you could've knocked me over with a feather. My heart was in my stomach.
Then she said, "Please don't panic - there's still less than a one per cent chance of your baby having downs syndrome." Then she told me to cancel my 20-week ultrasound appointment at their hospital and schedule it at Evanston Hospital instead, because they have level two ultrasounds available at their High Risk Fetal Evaluation Center. High risk. That term sent my heart rate skyrocketing too.
She kept saying, "It's really nothing to worry much about. We send a lot of our patients there. It's just a precaution...."
So I got off the phone and sat down on my bed and bawled. I could not stop crying. She had just told me that our baby has a higher-than-average risk of downs syndrome. I was beside myself with absolute terror. I got my sister on MSN instant messenger and told her about it. She had a lot of comforting things to say, including the fact that she has a friend whose doctor told her the exact same thing while she was pregnant. She, too, completely freaked out. But her child was born absolutely perfect. Then I called Scott, still bawling my head off, and he left work right then and there and came home to me. I am SO glad he came home - he got here so fast and I needed him more than ever. We spent the afternoon together and he was just so wonderful. At one point he grabbed this double deck of cards that we have. It has 104 cards in it. He made a mark with a pen on one of the cards and then shuffled them really well. Then he had me randomly pick a card, so I did. I didn't pick the one he had made the mark on. Then he said, "The odds of you picking the card I wrote on are *greater* than the odds of us having an unhealthy baby." 'Course, then I cried all over again. He is such a gem.
While I was waiting for him to get home, I posted on the message board about it and my dear friends there were so wonderful too. Devon said she didn't have that particular test taken - and she was smart not to. I wish I hadn't. I think it's causing a lot of unnecessary stress and worry. Her doctor told her that a lot of the time, those tests come back with false positives. It's just not a reliable test, and a friend of my mom's said the same thing. She said there are SO many factors that can affect the outcome of it, so much so that it's almost useless. And Patti - good ol' Patti, one of my favorite voices of reason ever - said, "That's a 159 in 160 chance of normal, dude." She rocks.
I also called my mom, of course.
In hindsight, now that I'm feeling much, much better about it, I think I freaked out too much. But hearing those words she told me struck MAJOR fear in my heart. I want my baby to be perfect and healthy and happy - nothing less.

But now - let me tell you the GOOD part of this: I scheduled the ultrasound at the high-risk center, and it's happening this coming Monday, the 24th!! I'll only be 18 weeks but she said that's plenty far along to be able to determine the gender. The ultrasound they do at this place is more detailed than the regular 20-week one - more measurements and stuff, I guess. But this means that we will know the gender in TWO DAYS instead of THREE WEEKS!!! I am so NOT complaining about that! Of course, that depends on if the baby's camera shy or not and whether or not s/he shows us the goods, but as wiggly as this peanut is, I have a feeling that won't be a problem! So if all goes well I will have an exciting update on here in a couple days - boy or girl!!

On another note - my nose has been soooooooo stuffed up for the past few weeks and yesterday I got a prescription for Rhinocort Aqua nasal spray. You use it once a day and it's for chronic congestion. I've used it twice so far and it already seems to be starting to help a bit! It will feel SO GOOD to be able to breathe again!!

And one last thing - we went to Motherhood Maternity today and I got a pair of jean capri's and a pair of jean shorts. They fit me now, but with room to grow! :)

And with that, I'm signing off for now. Bless your heart if you read this whole entry. Yikes!