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Test Test Testing
I am not a fan of the unknown. I don't tend to savor surprises and fret easily about impending mysteries. Everyone thought I was a bit odd for embracing the most aggressive prenatal testing when I was pregnant with Felix and I got it again this time around, although I should say that in neither case was I really "out" about being knocked up until long after I had already done my invasive testing and heard the results. I never had time for screenings because percentages and ratios don't comfort me. I want all the facts not probabilities. It was CVS testing all the way for me. I know more about my kid and the one I'm currently working on than my parents know about me... genetically speaking.
Most people I know are not this wild about testing. They are happy with being told that things look good and don't press for more. I wish I were more like this.
The New York Times revealed that in some ways people may be shifting a bit in my direction. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is now suggesting that all women should be at least offered the option to have their unborn children screened for Down Syndrome. This shift is away from the standard line that only women 35 and over have to consider this seriously.
Now, screening doesn't do it for me, but for many, I think the recommendation should be reassuring. It gives them the power to assuage fears and a way to negotiate them, whcih is something I find is one of the most insidious aspects of being knocked up. There's always something mysterious going on, and unless one is psychic, it is hard to rest easy about the sneaky secret things happening inside one's body.
So I'm in favor of making testing, or at least screening available to more people. In my case it is a comfort.
LESS of a comfort, however, is the incredible speed with which I have suddenly become quite large. I think this happened last time, too, but appear to have amnesia. One goes into being pregnant thinking everything will happen gradually and then one day you wake up quite a lot larger, with a lot of heartburn.
posted by Elise at 7:54 PM
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