The flurry of doctors' appointments has started. I hate it already.

Yesterday, a meeting with a genetic counselor from Robert Wood Johnson at the Medical Arts Building of CentraState Hospital in Freehold. She drew a family tree based on my answers to her questions. Lots of data points: six kids in Jeff's immediate family and five kids in mine. And most of them have kids, too. No birth defects.

There's a new blood test, well, two years old, that's more accurate than the quad / AFP test and is performed earlier, 11 - 14 wks. instead of 16-20 wks.. I felt with my last pregnancy that the clock was always ticking, throughout the 40 weeks. But, in that case, an early ultrasound falsely showed an anomaly which made matters much more hectic.

But, the push is to run these tests earlier and earlier for those who want to terminate. 20 weeks seems to be the magic number for the doctors.

So, I'll go the screening route with this new, earlier test and see if my odds improve. Just from my age, the odds are 1 in 100. Last time, my AFP came back 1 in 600. Something like that would be nice again for peace of mind.