Pregnancy Cravings, Aversions, and Screenings

Cravings (and there are many):

•  Pickles 
• Ramen
• 4 Cheese Hot Pockets
•  Dried fruits (apricots, cherries)
•  Nuts (raw almonds, walnuts)
•  Pluots
• Pasta
• Japanese food/sushi/edamame beans/seaweed salad
• Chocolate cake
•  Pizza
• Hot dogs
•  Tuna sandwiches (sadly have to avoid some of the things on this list while pregnant)
•  Chips (Ruffles Cheddar & Sour Cream, Lay’s Sour Cream & Onion, Doritos Nacho Cheese & Cool Ranch)
• Chicken wings (Wing Stop, Wing Box)
• McDonald’s cheeseburgers (gross, I know)
•  Hamburgers & French fries
• Taco Bell (chicken quesadillas, Crunchwrap Supreme, tacos, nachos with plain nacho cheese and jalapenos)
• Watermelon
•  Oranges, orange juice
•   Dairy (milk, yogurt)
•   Strawberry & vanilla ice cream
•  Sweet red beans in che
•   Eggrolls
•   Balut
• Mango lassi
• Okra
• Boiled eggs in fish sauce
• Mooncakes
•  Fruit pies

Aversions:

•  Indian food/curry/Biryani
• Fried/scrambled eggs
•   Mediterranean food (gyros meat)
• Chicken breast (especially plain)
• Zucchini

Screening Tests:

First Trimester (Tri1) screening consists of some routine bloods, along with any special tests the doctor feels should be looked at more closely due to heredity or personal health history. In my case, I have Hepatitis B, passed on to me by my mother from birth, so my baby will need extra screening to see if my viral load is high enough to warrant oral antibiotics to prevent damage to my own liver and the greater chance of passing it on. Since my blood mixes with my baby’s by way of the umbilical cord shortly after birth, the baby will receive 2 vaccines: one is the inoculation, and one is a preventative. I've been referred to a gastroenterologist to more closely monitor me.

The other blood tests, pretty routine for Tri1, include STD screening like the Gonorrhea/Chlamydia urine sample (note: mandatory test where you’ll have to hold your urine for an hour in advanced). Also HIV, some "prenatal panel" blood tests, hemoglobin (iron), and blood type so that they can test if I'm RH positive or negative (if you are one type and Baby is another, you'll be offered a Rhogam shot to make sure your blood mixing with Baby's will not harm it). This test is also called Indirect Coombs to check for the Rhesus Factor.

The SIS is the California Sequential Integrated Screening, which consists of two blood draws (for me, Weeks 11 and 15) and one Nuchal Translucency ultrasound scan at Week 13 (to measure the fluid at the base of the neck and detect the chance of Down's Syndrome). It's kind of like a more detailed Quad Marker screening that also checks for chromosomal/trisomy irregularities.

Due to family history and me being close to 35 years old, I'm also opting to do a Counsyl test, similar to MaterniT21/Harmony/Panorama, which checks the Trisomies 13, 18, and 21 (Patau's, Edward's, and Down's Syndromes, typically done from 10-13 weeks); sex chromosome abnormalities; and micro-deletions. This test also comes with a session with a genetics counselor to analyze your families’ histories to see if there are any major concerns. Since SIS and Counsyl each have a small margin of error, having two to compare data is most helpful, even though they seem to check for mostly the same things. Because Counsyl checks/counts chromosomes, they can tell the sex of your baby as early as 11-13 weeks by also checking for XX or XY. Gender is otherwise determined via abdominal ultrasound at the 19-20 week anatomy scan.

 For the 12-week ultrasound, they see how the baby is growing/progressing by doing another CRL (Crown-to-Rump Length) measurement and comparing it to the one done at 8 weeks to see if the baby's due date is spot on or needs to be adjusted.

We decide to skip the Cystic Fibrosis blood test since my OB explains that we are at low risk for a baby with CF. However, this test is also included in the Counsyl screening.