Pregnancy Guide – Week 11
It is just about time for your next monthly check up, as you come up on the end of your first trimester – that means that you are just about a third of the way through this process. It is most likely that at your monthly check up this week, you will be asked if you want to have Chorionic villus sampling (CVS) done, as well as a QUAD test in addition to testing for sexually transmitted disease like HIV/AIDS, Chlamydia and Gonorrhea. The QUAD is a genetic test (completed by drawing blood and sending it to a lab for analysis) that will check for down’s syndrome, Tay-Sachs, forms of cystic fibrosis and sickle cell anemia. Depending on your OB/GYN and your personal risk factors (for example the risk of Down’s Syndrome increase with a woman’s age and some of the other conditions are related to heredity), you will be given the test or given the option to not have the testing done. In my personal opinion, if you have no real risk for these issues (they don’t run in your family and you don’t fall into any of the risk factor categories) and/or the outcome will not affect your decision to continue pregnancy; you may want to pass on this test. It is just one extra stress (as the results will take 1-2 weeks to return and even then can be inconclusive) that you don’t need at this point. And yes I did say “continue” pregnancy. In some extreme cases a couple may choose to 
terminate the pregnancy in an effort to not subject a child to the lifelong effects of certain malformations. Please before you get upset with me, just know that I want to be fair and put all of the options out there and I am not at all implying that any of these conditions are not manageable, but everyone’s life has different circumstances. Another thing that I want to point out is that I am not encouraging to not get tested out of fear of the results. If your doctor feels that this test would be medically necessary you really should listen to their advice.
Word of the Week:
Down syndrome–noun Pathology . a genetic disorder, associated with the presence of an extra chromosome 21, characterized by mild to severe mental retardation, weak muscle tone, a low nasal bridge, and epicanthic folds at the eyelids. (www.dictionary.com)
