During the appointment, I also donated a vial of blood for the AFP test. AFP is a protein secreted by the fetal liver and excreted in the mother's blood. It is generally used for detecting neural tube defects, but it can also indicate: abdominal wall defects esophageal and duodenal atresia, some renal and urinary tract anomalies turner syndrome, some low birth weight fetuses, and placental complications. A low level of AFP could also indicate Down Syndrome. Out of all of these, I'm most concerned about the neural tube defects.
Edit: Got a message from the Dr on Wednesday (2/2/11) morning. It said: Your AFP, which is the screening test for Down syndrome, Spina bifida, and trisomy 18 came back negative. Yay! However, they didn't give me the odds, so I'm going to hound them later on today. I like to obsess over numbers.
Edit part 2: My doctor office has the worse staff. Another nurse called me back and gave me the "real" results: 1.73. It should be under 2.5. The AFP tests for other NTDs.
This morning I went in for the Glucose Tolerance Test. An hour before the blood draw, I had to drink a 10 oz bottle of what tasted like flat orange soda that burns that back of your throat in a five minute period. Personally, I would much rather have eaten a huge piece of chocolate cake or drank a Mt Dew for the same amount of sugar. It sucked that I was drinking that large amount of sugar (50 grams!!!!) and calories without enjoying it. I'll get my blood results in another few days. As long as my sugars are below 140, then I'm good to go. If they are above 140, then I go in for another test, where I'll drink the same stuff and they'll test my blood three times within three hours. If the results are bad on that test, then I'll get labeled as having Gestational Diabetes. Good times.
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| My breakfast this morning. Wish I could say that I enjoyed it. |
