Hey mommas! So I have noticed people talking a lot about NIPT in this group and in other related pregnancy boards, and I just wanted to share my experience from last year.

My husband and I opted for the Panorama (brand of NIPT) because insurance covered it and we wanted to know our babies gender. We were so anxious to know the gender! We were not concerned about the genetic abnormality aspect because: I was 27, in shape & healthy as a horse - as was my husband (who was 32 at the time), neither of us had a family history that would lead us to believe we were carriers (we later found out we are not carriers for sure). They had mentioned that my papp-a levels were low, but that didn't concern my nurse or doctor since everything else was perfect...including the 13 week anatomy scan. They looked healthy, perfect, strong...my doctor smiled while doing the scan, pointing out the overwhelming positives. There were no negatives in that scan. The day we had the anatomy scan is the day we decided to get the NIPT done.

1.5 weeks or so later we get a call from the genetic counselor at my doctors office, thinking "Oh yay! We get to find out the gender!!!!" She said there was a 9/10 chance that our baby had a type of aneuploidy (genetic abnormality) based on the screening.

She said she was very sorry to bear the bad news & that while she was very surprised based on the way this pregnancy was seeming to go + our health history, that random genetic errors are just that - random. Though some women are at a higher risk based on factors such as family history and age, that doesnt mean they are the only ones at risk.

The reason I wanted to share is because I would have suffered less psychologically, and even physically, if someone had warned me to always expect the worst, while still maintaining cautious optimism and hoping for the best.

The rest of the story about that pregnancy...about the loss of my daughter... is full of pain, suffering and sadness. I wouldn't wish that kind of suffering upon anyone.

Fast-forward to now: 11 weeks pregnant and currently waiting on the results from the NIPT that we had done monday this week (today is Thursday) which we should have the results to this coming Wednesday.

So far everything looks good...but as we have learned, "looking" good can mean very little in the long run at this point.

I hope I have given some perspective to you guys, and though I hate to think of it, some of you may sadly go through something similar to what I went through last year. To those women, I want you to know that things do get better, and I hope that me sharing my story may have prepared you in some way for the things you will experience.

I hope that my current pregnancy goes well and I can tell you all that there truly is a rainbow after all of the storms from personal experience.

Much love & hugs to everyone here!

(I was going to say much pukey love and bloated hugs to everyone but decided maybe that was too extra LOL)

Update in comments 😉