Hi All

Sorry for not being able to post for sometime - I was a bit concerned about my ultrsound. Finally it happened today. I saw my baby the first time - its really exciting!! They also gave me some pictures. I was trying to know the sex as well. But the doctors could not confirm. The baby was sleeping in such a position that they could not identify . But they were leaning towards girl. But that will be a surprise in Feb'03. Thats good - I suppose. What we want is a healthy baby.

By the way, does baby's sex matter to anybody? My husband wants a girl and I was more towards boy.I dont have many boys in our family(my side) and my husband's side - all boys. So you must realize why we think in that way :-)

But most important - everything looks ok. All organs look fine.

Tomorrow I have docs appo - and will know more.

I hope everybody in this board is doing well. After the baby is born - then I will have another long discussion with my husband where the baby should be born and brought up - here in US or India? Ofcourse, education will be the first priority and then life-style.

Any thoughts??

Take care
Debi Rathi Ramachandran replied. Hi,

My sincere advice about taking this AFP Test is please don't go for it. You'll be shocked to hear this but that's what i feel. I took this AFP test and found that there is a risk for down syndrome. The doctor gave me an option of taking amniocentesis test to confirm it. She also took an ultrasound and found that the baby is doing very well and couldn't find any abnormalities. The doctor also told me the risk of having miscarriage and infections after the amnio test and indirectly kept saying not to go for this test by saying repeatedly that the baby looks very well in the ultrasound and doesn't find any symptoms of down syndrome. Also she said that if the baby is normal, then why go for the amnio test and take the risk of inducing infections and miscarriage? So, I recommend you to take AFP test only if you're planning to go for the amnio test after finding the AFP test positive. And this AFP test is sort of confusing and doesn't give you any reliable results. So decide. All the best!!

Take care,
Rathi ramachandran vidya replied. hi Debi and all mommies!
how r u all doing...am doing great now with nausea completely under control ..i had my checkup this week and doc. checked for baby's heartbeat..it felt wonderful and doc. told everything is fine...my US is on oct.10'th...so just waiting for it to see the little one..
hey Debi! I bet u have a great sense of humour ;-)!!! had a hearty laugh reading u'r msg..well, am just wondering whether i'd go for sex determination or not...as far as education is concerned, here in kuwait, there r lot of indian schools all with cbse syllabus...so I dont have any prob. with education as of now.....
AB, its really good to hear abt. u'r scan...and smitha i bet u are getting bad dreams b'cos u r very excited thinking abt. the baby all the time.....pls. dont read newspapers or hear news before u sleep...
read that baby starts hearing from 5'th month onwards...so i'm sure we need to be extra careful in listening to good music and speaking good things only ;-)
i read in an article 3-4 months back that there is a new music cd released esp. for pregnant woman and their baby with vedic lyrics which calms the mom and very good from the baby's side too...i wish i remember the name..in case u guys hear abt it, do write the name....
btw, dont forget to apply cold cream or vitamin E oil if u start getting a slight itchy feeling over your tummy...even applying a paste of turmeric and besan is good when taking bath...
am having a stuffy nose for the past 1 week and can sense very light movements in my tummy when i lie down for few mins..
take care u all !!!
luv u lots...
vidya ritu replied. Hi Debi,

I think that of course India has a better education level than the US and many other countries. But, college is definately better in the US, in the sense that it is recognized all over the world..hit or miss a few.

Just curious, why are you not going for a AFP?

Take care,
Ritu