It's possible that you don't know us (personally) or our story... unless the only people reading this are my parents and in that case, HI MOM!Our story is a common one, though, not commonly talked about. Usually when I say this part, people get really uncomfortable... We had two miscarriages prior to the birth of the nugget. If you are interested in our story, here are a few blogs that I wrote along the way:
During the third (and ultimately successful) pregnancy, one thing I knew we would be doing was NIPT - Non-Invasive Pregnancy Testing. This simple blood test most often removes the need for other, more dangerous testing, like Amniocentesis. At 10 weeks I had blood drawn and by my 12 week appointment we had our answers, no chromosomal abnormalities. After having at least one miscarriage due to chromosomal abnormalities, this was incredibly reassuring. Granted, I didn't stop worrying that the pregnancy might not end with a healthy baby but it really gave us some peace of mind.The company that made our test, Illumina, did a little video about our experience and how wonderful NIPT was for us.I think it came out beautifully and gave us some amazing footage of the nugget at five months old. I am sharing it here and I hope it can inspire and give some hope.I do want to say one thing, there are some negative emotions around NIPT. There has been controversy (and misconception) that it is used to terminate Down's Syndrome babies and some couples think it's just a fun way to find out your baby's sex super early. This was not my experience. We utilized this test as a way to ensure this baby (my third pregnancy) was healthy and though if it showed the same abnormality as our second child, a daughter, we couldn't/wouldn't have done anything differently, it would have given us an opportunity to prepare for that outcome. An even broader version of these tests benefit loss moms, especially when there is emotional trauma around pregnancy and loss. Each woman's pregnancy is unique and so our choices are unique as well. The loss of a child in any stage is devastating and I admire moms who have had to make intensely harder decisions than I.https://youtu.be/sZg0Yajgajk