Its Done

I had the CVS procedure done on Friday afternoon.

Last ten days were spent doing a lot of research and hours upon hours of googling to read forums of people who have done the test, successes, failures and everything in between. 

By early last week I had made my decision to proceed. I am a very fact-based person and I know that a % risk answer that the NT and Quad scans provide would not be adequate for me. Plus I read that ICSI can increase the chances of sex chromosome issues which basically only CVS/amnio can confirm. My local MFM clinic never called me with my NT scan/blood results either so I basically had no data to go on and I was practically at the tail end of when a CVS can be performed. So all things considered, it was the option I chose.

I was fairly calm the night before and my bigger worries were (a) being denied the test since its a DE (b) getting inconclusive results which would surely suck.

The clinic I went to is up in the city so about an hour away, close to my RE's office. I first met with a genetic counselor. I was nervous thinking she would dissuade me but she was very understanding and professional. She really knew her stuff and spent a good 45 minutes with me.

Basically the CVS is a full genetic test, sort of like karotyping where it lines up all the chromosome to make sure they are all in pairs.  It can be used to detect single-gene diseases if there are concerns or known history.  We went over my donors history, ethnicity and prior testing they had done and between them they were negative for 4-5 of the common things like cystic fibrosis, etc.  She explained it to me really well saying that of this man and woman had come to her as a couple requesting that type of specific testing, looking at their individual screening tests she would not see any red flags that would suggest single gene testing. I was comfortable with that recommendation.

We also went over the clinic stats for CVS. She said the national miscarriage rate is 1/100-200, but the clinic had a rate of 1/350. Plus the Dr who was doing them does a lot of them weekly, so she was confident I was in good hands. I had already spoken to the receptionist and nurse etc the prior week and got the same feedback.

I had about an hour break between the counselor visit and the procedure. So, my Dad and I went to the hospitall cafeteria and had lunch.

The procedure was at 1pm. I needed a full bladder and after having experienced super full painful bladders for transfers I decided to not get it overly full.

The nurse called me in at 1pm and we went to the procedure room and did an U/S. Beanie was looking good and measuring on track at 13w1d. He/she was moving around a lot, stretching and waving its hands about.  Despite my having had 3/4 of a bottle of water, my bladder was not full enough so I drank more water and waited.

Then the Dr comes in about 1:30pm. Nice guy - quiet, but made me feel reassured. He checked out Beanie and looked at a few additional things on the u/s including some fetal blood flow etc.  He determined that he would do the procedure transvaginally but that my bladder was not full enough.

So we wait and wait.

Finally at 1:45pm I text my Dad to tell him we were waiting so he does not get worried in the waiting room.

At 2pm the Dr comes back in and we are ready to rock and roll....except ....my bladder has now pushed the placenta in an ackward position where cervically it would be difficult to get to, so it needs to be done transabdominally - through the stomach.

Yikes!

Well it is what it is.

He preps me, injects a tiny needle to numb the skin. He apologized for the prick and I laughed telling him that shots in my belly don't bother me after the 100+ shots I have taken with IVF.

He then inserted a huge needle (I did not see it) and my uterus cramped the moment it went through the muscle. Then I did not feel it. I kept my eyes glued on the monitor so I could see where it was....the baby and the amniotic sac were nowhere even close thankfully, all I could see was the placenta.

He then added a odd hand held suction device to the needle and started moving the needle around to different locations and suctioning the villa. The suction equipment makes an odd raspy sound which he had warned me about. It was quite uncomfortable and somewhat painful and the movement of the needle/suction best described like liposuction - not that I have had it, but I have seen it on TV.

I breathed through the pain and the nurse kept telling me I was doing a good job. It was only a few minutes. Then he removed the suction and emptied the contents into a  vial with a bright pink liquid in it and they looked at it to make sure they had enough.

I was praying they did cause I do not think I could have done it again. Luckily they did. He then had me take a deep breath and yanked out the needle.

And that was it.

I got cleaned up and given a bunch of pictures and was out of there. In all that rush I forgot to ask them to show me Beanie again on u/s. But I am sure he/she is fine.

I did have cramping on the drive back home. Thank god my Dad was driving since we got stuck in traffic and it took about 1.30 hrs to get home.

I went straight to bed. They said to take it easy on Friday and regular activities on Sat, except exercising and heavy lifting etc. But I decided to do complete 24 hr bed rest, only bathroom breaks. My Mom came over and stayed with me and left after lunch on Sat.

Overall the recovery has been fine. My belly is sore and has a slight bruise where the needle went in, but after the initial cramping on Friday afternoon for which I took Tylenol I did not need anything more. Since it was through the abdomen there was no spotting. I do get some odd shooting pains now and then on that side.

Then Sat night after dinner, I got really bad cramps. It was definitely gastric in nature but scared me, so I had my Mom come back at night to sleep over. I felt better after a few trips to the bathroom and the pain subsided.

Today also I just rested but am back to walking around and going up and down the stairs but not overdoing it. I would rather err on the side of caution, so have been lazing around all day watching NetFlix.

They say the first 24-48 hours are the most critical and once you are past a week the risk subsides. So, I am hoping that since its been 48 hours I can relax a bit.

Its definitely nerve-wracking but I am staying positive.

I should get the results in a week.