Basically, what happens is that the doctor snips out a teensy bit of the baby’s placenta and that – rather than baby-cells – gets tested for genetic problems.  The advantage is that it’s a test that can be done very early, and the results are pretty damned definitive – they’re also available in 24 hours, unlike the week or so you sometimes have to wait to get amnio results back.  And in the hands of a specialist, it’s as safe or safer than amnio.  This all sounds great, right?  Well, maybe it does until you take into account that there are only two ways that Doc is getting into your uterus to take a sample – it’s either cervically or trans-abdominally.  Being the lucky girl that I am, I got to have both my CVSs done trans-abdominally.  Needles instead of flexible catheters.

Seriously, I thought I was past worrying about needles by this stage of the game, but these were really big honkin’ needles.   Not to worry anyone who’s considering this test, but it really sucked.

Not the needle-jab itself.  That was no big deal.  I mean, needles in the belly, yuck, but whatever.  We’ve all done this by now, right?  Once the pointy part is actually past that top layer of skin you just don’t feel it.  Doc doesn’t even do the numbing cream thing, because really, skin just isn’t that sensitive.  But my peritoneal lining?  Let’s just say it’s a damned shame they couldn’t have slathered a numbing cream onto that, because it felt like the doctor’s entire hand was poking around in my belly up to, about, his wrist.  (The Boy assures me it was just a needle, but I’m not entirely sure I believe him.)

Owie.

To be fair, Doc said that because of the angle of my uterus, he had to go in at an oblique angle, so that probably made it more uncomfortable than it would be normally.

And to be even more fair, it wasn’t like I was in writhing agony with tears running down my face (though I did whimper a couple of times.)  It just felt gut-wrenchingly – if you’ll pardon the pun - wrong.  Wrong to have anything moving around in there that wasn’t, you know, gas or half-digested food.  The full-to-almost-leaking bladder didn’t help matters either.  You know, staying tense so as not to wet myself sort of made it hard to relax those belly muscles when the time came to relax.

And then I got another jab because I’m rh-negative, and needed a rhogam shot.  I just can’t get me enough of those needles!

Anyway, I’m glad it’s over.  It sucked, but it still wasn’t as bad as I was expecting, and it was FAST.  Took longer to wipe my entire lower body down with iodine & alcohol than it did to actually do both procedures.   It will take even longer to remove all that iodine, I’m sure.  Which I’m about to go do.

But all that said?  I’m still really (really really) glad it’s over.  Going to go try to catch up on some of the sleep I lost last night, worrying about this procedure.  Sleep sounds like a really good thing right now…