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Old November 2nd 03, 10:55 PM
Dagny
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Default What to expect at 12-week appointment?



"J" wrote in message
. com...
(in the U.S.)...I am just wondering what to expect at my 12 week
appointment. They did a sonogram at 8 weeks, so I doubt they will do one
this time, they said they measure the belly- how do they do this? With a
machine or something more traditional?


Oh boy. You're way into the doctor authority, pregnant womam vessel
syndrome. Been there, decided I didn't like it.

Measuring tape.

I think they may want to do more of those blood tests for neural tube
defects etc.


Shouldn't this be about what *you* want? Is this what you want? Are you
aware of the false positive rates for the test? How are you going to handle
a positive result? Would you abort? Would you have invasive testing? How
invasive?

Other than that, what can I expect?


Weight, urine. They may try to hear the baby with a Doppler ultrasound
device. Warning, this will probably make you very nervous if they can't
find the heartbeat yet.

Oh by the way....when do they do the sonogram to determine the sex of the
baby- isn't that at around 5 months?


Well, let me nitpick, they do the sonogram to see if there are any
defects -- most of them (not all) are not anything they can help in utero,
but by increasing the rate of elective termination, the doctors better their
stats at birth. Or as my doctor said, I can lower your risk of Down's
syndrome if you will let me do the ultrasound. ROTFL. They do it at 18-20
weeks' gestation because abortion at that point is still legal.

Parents flock to the second trimester ultrasound because of the sex
determination, however.

I feel like it's a girl..and the heart
rate is high so by the old wives tale, it's a girl too...I really truly
honestly feel this feeling that it's a girl, I can't explain it.


Yeah, I felt mine was a girl and she was!

Take care,
Dagny