I am in my 26th-week of pregnancy to our 2nd baby. With this pregnancy and before, I have undergone a few prenatal screenings. I complied with the screening tests that are non-invasive to the fetus like ultrasound and blood tests from pricking my fingers and a few tubes of blood drawn from me. I am grateful that although we had a few concerns before, we didn’t have to go further than that.

Basically the purpose of prenatal screenings is to find out about the fetus condition before being born. We find out the baby’s gender and if the vital organs are measuring and functioning well. With the 4D ultrasound, you can even see how the baby looks like. Also, some screenings gives the baby’s odds against down syndrome, spinal spifida, some chromosomal defects and developmental complications, among others. All the literature explaining prenatal screenings always suggest that there is no guarantee, that the odds doesn’t always tell the exact condition of the fetus but then they can tell an educated estimate.

As much as the screenings tell about the fetus, it also tells the position of the fetus in the womb, whether a normal deliviery is posible or a C-section is needed. Or if the fetus is developing in the uterus or elsewhere, like the fallopian tube.

If the preliminary prenatal screenings suggest fatal concerns then a more invasive screenings like Amniocentesis and others will be suggested. Amniocentesis involves taking a sample of the amniotic fluid by injecting the pregnant woman’s belly and sucking out the fluid. This screening process has a high risk to harm the fetus that may lead to miscarriage. Or ultimately, an option to terminate the pregnancy will be suggested.

What a terrible situation it will be when you have to make these difficult decision to undergo invasive procedures that may be harmful to the baby or to terminate the pregnancy. I know a few women who have terminated their pregnancy because of serious concerns and complications. Some of them have a fallopian tube pregnancy that they really didn’t have a choice. I know a few who found out that the fetus has developmental complications and had decided to terminate their pregnancy.

My heart swells in sadness for these babies who have been victims of these bad situations. And what about the moms and dads who have to make this difficult decision? I’m sure they’ve become so conflicted and so sad as well.

When we did the 20th-week ultrasound, they found what they thought is a choroid plexus cyst in our baby. I asked my OB over and over different forms of the questions ‘Is my baby alright?’. Over and over, he told me that the baby’s fine and that there is no indication of anything wrong. I did more research, googled about it. Nothing about the condition suggest any fatality or serious concern, that the condition is even quite normal, but it was still discomforting to alarming because of it’s association to some defects. Ultimately, I just wanted to hear “100% alright“, “100% normal ” but it just wasn’t the case and my OB just can’t tell me anything more. When I told my mother about this, she asked me if I’ve slipped or fell down, or skipped my vitamins or if something happened to complicate this pregnancy. But really this wasn’t the case. Then, we did the targeted ultrasound, still non-invasive procedure. What a relief it was, that the cyst is gone. We are back on track.

During those days of waiting for our appointment for the targeted ultrasound, I kept telling myself that the baby is alright and the ultrasound will confirm that, but at the back of my mind, there is that lingering ‘what if ‘. I honestly don’t know what I will do if those ‘what if’s ‘ were realized. Would we undergo the invasive screenings? I really don’t know. Hubby and I never really discussed about it. We basically comforted each other by a brief “The baby’s fine. It’s going to be alright. ” And just really prayed and hope for the best.

During those times, I asked myself why we had to undergo these screenings. We could have skipped them, not know and just hope for the best, just like they did in the days. Then we won’t have to worry about these ridiculous stuffs, just accept what comes ’cause we’ll deal with the situation we’ll have anyway. When we go looking for something, we shouldn’t be too surprise to find it. We did the screening to find out about the baby’s defects, we shouldn’t be too surprised to actually find something, when we can’t even be absolutely sure until the baby is born. Somehow, I questioned the relevance of these screening test because I dreaded the ‘what-if’s‘ and the decisions I have to make if these what-if’s were realized. And I dreaded all those other concerns that streams from it – like having a special-needs child. I dreaded to have to ask myself if I will be capable of that extra care and patience that a special needs child needs.

But then, these screening tests has been proven more helpful. If the pregnancy or the baby’s development is more complicated than normal and you go through with the pregnancy, then proper preparations can be made during delivery. The baby and the mommy will be given the specific care they need.

On our next appointment, my blood will be tested for glucose. We will find out if I have gestational diabetes. I had gestational diabetes while I was pregnant with Matthew, and it wasn’t fun! The dangers of gestational diabetes is that the baby may grow too big and disproportional in the womb, that a complicated delivery may result, among others. While I was pregnant with Matthew and with gestational diabetes, I had to see a nutritionist to plan my meals and food intake into proper portions. I had so many food restrictions. I had my blood sugar level checked by pricking my fingers for blood every after meals (that’s 3-times a day ). Aside from my OB, I had to see a specialist from Internal Medicine for routine check-up, really mostly for lecturing me ’cause I couldn’t get my sugar level down. It was really hard! I cried to my OB because the food portions were too little, I was hungry all the time and was really frustrated that my sugar level just won’t drop. But somehow, I got through with it without insulin shots. Matthew was born healthy on a normal delivery.

Also, on our next appointment, we’ll have the 4D ultrasound. We will see more clearly how the baby looks like. With that, I am excited!