Do leprechauns get angry when you make fun of their height? Yeah, but only a little!

I haven’t updated this blog for awhile because there isn’t much exciting going on. With regard to Max, I spoke to the nurse today, after a short game of telephone tag, regarding the Maternal Serum Alpha-Fetoprotein Test (aka AFP) (which mainly tests for neural tube defects). The test results were negative which is great.

I posted a few weeks ago a scanned copy of an ultra sound photo from the Anatomy Scan Ultrasound. In general, the scan went well. They did locate what is known as a soft marker for Downs Syndrome. This does not mean that Max has Downs, and it probably means nothing at all, but one of the things they look for during the scan to diagnose Downs is the length of the femur. Max’s femur length is running a wee bit small. It only increases the chances of Downs from 1 in 6500 per the Nuchal Fold Screen, to 1 in 4500, and as neither J nor I could ever claim to be tall, and J actually has incredibly short legs, we are betting on it just being genetics.

An Amniocentesis would give a very accurate diagnoses one way or the other, however, the risk of miscarriage after an amnio is 1 in 400. Because the odds of Max having Downs are currently at 1 in 4500, they would lose 10 healthy babies performing an amnio to find one with Downs. Woah, I know, way too much math.

Of course, I’d have preferred them to have found nothing out of the ordinary with the scan, but we are staying positive. As J said, I do come from a long line of Irish leprechauns.