Chorevia

Day 88 of 280 · 12 weeks + 4 days

The family history page

Last reviewed · 3 min read · 11 sources · Plain-text version

Half of your baby's DNA came from each side. Today you write one page of both families' health history to hand to your provider.

Size this week
about the size of a plum
Length this week
5.4 cm from head to bottom
A Latina woman in a loose sweater at a kitchen table, writing on a single sheet while her mother talks on a video call on a propped-up tablet, warm evening light, not visibly pregnant.

Twelve weeks and four days. Today is a page of writing, and a couple of phone calls to relatives who know the answers you don't.

Your baby

A single dark plum on a plain pale wooden table, soft window light.

Around now your baby is 5.4cm long from head to bottom, about the size of a plum (NHS). The sex organs have formed, though a scan usually can't reveal the sex until later (NHS). The baby's DNA was set at conception, when one sperm fertilized the egg and formed a single cell carrying half its DNA from each parent (MedlinePlus). Which is why today's page has two columns.

Your body

Genetic testing is recommended based on personal or family history, and is often considered at age 35 or older; amniocentesis and CVS are the most common diagnostic tests (AAP). Genetic counseling may also be recommended after two or more pregnancy losses, or for a pregnancy at 35 or older (OWH). Your provider can only act on history they know about, and most of it lives with relatives.

If you've already had cell-free DNA screening and it came back positive, the follow-up tests are CVS between weeks 10 and 13, or amniocentesis, usually between weeks 15 and 20 (MedlinePlus). Genetic counseling is recommended before either procedure (MedlinePlus). The page you write today is what a counselor starts from.

Try today

  1. The family-history page

    Time: 20 minutes, plus a phone call or two

    1. Take one sheet and draw a line down the middle: your side, the other parent's side.

    2. In each column, write the conditions that run in that family, back to the grandparents if you can, and anyone who died young, with the cause if it's known. Personal and family history is what testing recommendations are based on (AAP).

    3. Add your own pregnancy history underneath: any previous losses or previous pregnancy problems. Two or more losses is one reason counseling may be recommended (OWH).

    4. Add your age at the due date; 35 or older is another (OWH).

    5. Call the relative on each side who keeps track, fill the gaps, and fold the page into your notes for the next visit.

    Make it work:

    If one side is unknown to you, through adoption or estrangement, write "unknown" and say so. That is an answer too.

Watch for

  • Normal

    a pull or twinge that eases when you sit down or change position; MedlinePlus says moving slowly or changing positions may help (MedlinePlus).

    Go to your provider right away

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

  • Normal

    feeling hot; the NHS lists it among the common signs of the weeks ahead (NHS).

    Call your provider

    for a fever of 100.4°F or higher (CDC).

  • Normal

    needing to pee more often than you used to.

    Call your provider

    for pain when passing urine; it is on MedlinePlus's list of reasons to call in the first trimester (MedlinePlus).

For you

Counseling explains; it doesn't decide. The CDC's line is that genetic counseling can explain how genetic conditions may affect you or your family, and that screening tests can help identify whether there may be a concern (CDC). What you do with any of it stays yours. A full page of family history isn't a verdict, and an empty one isn't a clean bill.

If you're the partner: your column is half the page. Half the baby's DNA is yours (MedlinePlus), so make the call to your own side tonight, and don't leave it blank because it feels like her appointment.

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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