Testing Merryn

I forgot to mention I finally took Merryn in to be tested for FXS. I've been holding off for a while because she is so little and I knew the blood taking process wouldn't be fun. Had I known how bad it would be I might have waited another few months!

The problem was the nurse decided to use the heel prick method. I sat in the chair and held Mez while she negotiated a kicking leg. Of course as soon as the prick was done and she started squeezing blood Merryn got upset and starting kicking harder. I started breastfeeding her and immediately she calmed down. So at this point I thought it was all going swimmingly. Then I looked up to see a try full of blood soaked cotton wool balls and hardly a drop on the vial! Apparently the vial had a thread on it that was making the blood go everywhere but in.

She went out to see if she could use a different container while I played with Mez. When she returned she said she had approval from the genetics testers to use another vial with no thread so we swapped sides and started again. This time Merryn was having none of it. As she screamed louder and louder the nurse squeezed and squeezed. At one point she actually spilt some of already collected blood on my skirt as she tipped the vial up. It was disastrous! After what seemed like forever she finally called it quits with a tiny amount in the bottom of the vial. Apparently we only needed to collect 1ml so I am hoping that was enough. I don't want to do that again!

So now the waiting starts. Hopefully she will come back all clear from the DNA testing which should only take a week. *cross fingers*