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Day 73 of 280 · 10 weeks + 3 days

Screening or diagnosis

Last reviewed · 3 min read · 10 sources · Plain-text version

Ten weeks and three days. CVS, the first diagnostic test, can be done from about now. The difference between a screen and a diagnosis, on one card, with the right to say no to either.

Size this week
about the size of a small apricot
Length this week
around 30 mm from head to bottom
A woman in a loose cardigan sitting across a desk from a genetic counselor in a plain office, an index card and pen in front of her, her partner beside her, soft daylight.

Ten weeks and three days. Day 64 was screening. Today is the other kind of test, the kind that answers, and the one thing you need to hold onto about both.

Your baby

A single small apricot on a plain pale wooden table, soft window light.

Around 30mm from head to bottom (NHS). This week the facial features are forming: the ears, the nostrils, and the jaw, with the milk teeth already forming inside it (NHS).

Your body

Chorionic villus sampling, CVS, is the diagnostic test that can be done earliest: most often at about 10 to 12 weeks, and earlier than amniocentesis (MedlinePlus); the Office on Women's Health gives the window as 10 to 13 weeks, and says it diagnoses certain chromosomal and genetic disorders (OWH). It is done through the cervix or the abdomen, the procedure itself takes about 5 minutes, most results come back in 7 to 14 days, and genetic counseling is recommended before it (MedlinePlus).

The cost is real and worth saying plainly: miscarriage occurs in up to 1 in 100 women who have CVS (MedlinePlus). That is why it is offered rather than routine. Genetic testing is recommended based on personal or family history, and often considered at age 35 or older (AAP); a positive cfDNA screen is another reason, since a screen can't confirm a diagnosis and CVS between weeks 10 and 13 is one of its follow-ups (MedlinePlus). CVS does not detect neural tube defects (MedlinePlus).

Try today

  1. The diagnostic-or-screening card

    Time: 5 minutes

    1. Take an index card and write three lines: "Screening estimates risk." "Diagnosis answers." "I can say no to either."

    2. Under "screening", write cfDNA, from the 10th week; a positive result means increased risk, not a diagnosis (MedlinePlus).

    3. Under "diagnosis", write CVS, about 10 to 12 weeks, miscarriage in up to 1 in 100 (MedlinePlus).

    4. Put the card in the folder you take to visits. When a test is offered, read the three lines before you answer.

    Make it work:

    If anyone offers CVS without counseling first, ask for the counseling. MedlinePlus says it is recommended before the procedure (MedlinePlus).

Watch for

  • Normal

    worrying while you wait for a result. Anxiety in pregnancy is as common as depression (AAP).

    Call your provider

    if the worry won't lift; both can be treated, and the AAP says they won't go away on their own (AAP).

  • Normal

    period-like cramps and the occasional pull as things stretch (NHS).

    Call your provider right away

    for constant, severe abdominal pain, or pain with bleeding or fever (MedlinePlus).

  • Normal

    milky white discharge (NHS).

    Go to the ER

    for vaginal bleeding or fluid leaking; CDC says to seek medical care immediately (CDC).

For you

Genetic counseling can explain how genetic conditions may affect you or your family (CDC). That is the whole job: to explain. A counselor is not there to talk you into a test or out of one, and "I'd like to think about it" is a complete answer.

If you're the partner: the 1 in 100 is her risk to weigh, in her body. Your job is to know the number, say it once, and then listen.

Sources

This guide is general education that summarizes published research and guidance from groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, and the WHO. It isn’t medical advice, and every child develops on their own timeline. Your pediatrician knows your child; if something feels wrong, call them. In an emergency, call 911.

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