Selia's pregnancy diary

I still felt horrible - the morning sickness hadn't subsided. The only things I could eat were toast, cereal and tinned peaches (odd, but there was something about the sweetness). I was starting to feel extremely weak and my face was pale and drawn. I thought I'd never experience the whole pregnancy 'bloom' thing! A few people at work asked if I was okay - I wrote it off as stress. I thought they must have suspected something. I found it hard to make it through the work day.

Physically, my body was just starting to change. My waist seemed thicker and my trousers were getting tight.. My husband was keen to take pictures every week of my profile to catalogue it all - but there was no sign of a bump. I actually lost some weight - which wasn't surprising given the lack of food in my body. I read that morning sickness should pass by 12 weeks - so I lived for that day.

Good news and bad
The next big milestone was my 12-week scan - they took measurements of the baby and specifically looked at the nasal bone and the nuchal fold at the back of the neck. They were looking for possible indicators of Down's Syndrome. Everything looked good and the baby was moving around - performing somersaults and such like.

Then I had a blood test where they measured my hormone levels. All the results and measurements were put into a computer programme, to give my risk factor for abnormalities. The doctor came back with a rather serious look on her face.

Apparently my hormone levels were off the charts and there was a 1 in 12 chance that the baby could have Down's Syndrome. (The normal risk for my age is about 1 in 400.) My husband and I were stunned. The doctor recommended a CVS test (chorionic villus sampling) which can rule out Down's and other chromosomal defects. Unlike an amniocentisis, this test can be performed earlier in the pregnancy and the results come back quickly. This all has to be weighed up with the risk of miscarriage from the intrusive test, which is about one per cent.

I was completely torn - I didn't want to risk miscarriage, but I also didn't want to spend the next six months worrying about the baby's health. Down's Syndrome often leads to serious heart problems and other health issues - would it help to be prepared for this? We decided to go ahead with the test. In my case, the sample was collected by inserting a long, thin needle through my abdomen into the placenta, where cells were taken. The pain was numbed by a jab and it was over in a matter of minutes. But the gravity of it all was too much and I started to faint.

Waiting for the results was the worst part. I was literally sick with worry. But the call came in a few days and it is good news. Everything is fine. And there was a surprise - I could find out the gender of the baby from the test. It's a girl! I was just so thankful she was okay.