A day trip to London

In the "olden days", women just got pregnant and, nine months later, gave birth in a flurry of hot water and towels. Proud fathers handed out the cigars and supped brandy while the midwife cleared up the mess as the new mothers had a "jolly good rest".

Or something like that.

Point is, nowadays there are loads of tests offered to prospective parents, and we were no exception. The first scan (called the "dating scan") was fine, with no abnormalities detected, and now we were being offered tests to detect Down's Syndrome. Michele could either have a series a blood tests, called the Triple Test, or we could go for a special ultrasound scan.

A friend of Michele's had the special scan at a hospital a bit further up country. It's part of the same NHS trust, but we were unable to have our scan there, which seemed a bit illogical. The "special" scan is an ultrasound scan, but special software is used to calculate the odds of the baby developing Down's Syndrome (DS). The hospital where Michele and I work didn't have a license for the software algorithm, while although the hospital where Michele's friend was scanned did have the algorithm, it didn't cover patients from our area (despite being, as I said, part of the same Trust). The only option was to go King's College hospital for the day for the scan.

London it was.

At the back of the baby's neck, there is a space filled with fluid and depending on how big this space is, the more likely the baby is to have DS. This is called "Nuchal Translucency" (NT) and we were due to have to a NT ultrasound scan.

King's College hospital, like all major London hospitals, has the air of "perpetual motion" - it always seems busy. Not that our hospital doesn't, it's just that there are "quiet periods" in the main buildings. Oh, and the size of the place was a bit daunting. Like so many sites, the original red-brick buildings, once containing the whole hospital, now act only as a front to a mini-city of larger blocks and towers. Eventually locating the flash main entrance, we went up to the ultrasound clinic and took our place in the queue.

The set-up for the scan was the same as in our hospital, but this time a nice (read "very nice"...) Spanish Doctor was performing the scan. On went the jelly and we had a slight repeat of the first scan - baby wasn't in the right position. To my delight, Michele had to raise her bum off the couch and slam it down in an effort to move the foetus around. After several of these, increasingly amusing, motions, Michele was asked to go for a walk and come back. Oh, and to have a Mars Bar and a fizzy drink - to increase the sugar level and get the baby moving.

Yeah right! I think it's just a conspiracy among women where, for once in their lives, they can eat what they want. After all, there is that excuse - "Well, I am eating for two now....".

Anyway it did the trick and we got some lovely pictures of the baby. They calculated the odds to be quite low for our baby to have DS, and we went away relieved and clutching a handful of new pictures. This scan was performed 21 weeks into the pregnancy, and the baby had grown so much since the first scan. You could see jaw lines, spine, fingers etc. - something that looked a lot more human. As I wanted to know the sex, I asked if we could see anything, but the baby had his/her legs together, not giving anything away. Michele was pleased, though, as she wanted it to be a surprise.

And so ended our last day out in London.