Leaning towards not taking
- Thank you so much for all the honest posts. I'm scheduled for the first screening in two weeks. I have had anxiety and great fears in regards to taking these screenings since becoming pregnant. After reading the posts, I really feel that the screenings create unnecessary worry and anxiety during a time that is to be enjoyed not feared. I would like to know if it were a certain result (such as an amnio) otherwise I don't see fretting over being a statistic. I am a highly anxious person and I think hearing a result of an increased risk would leave me unable to function within the weeks of waiting for additional tests/screenings results.
- —Guest Jen
No testing for our baby
- My husband and I decided against all testing for a few reasons. Since I'm under 35 our risk is not that great in the first place. Our primary reasons, however, were that we felt that the major parenting challenges that come with a child with special needs would not come in the first year, I wanted to enjoy the pregnancy without worry, and above all, we love our baby just the way he or she is. It is a personal choice, but I feel good about the one we made.
- —Guest No testing for our baby
Had a similar reaction to positive AFP
- I'm 36, and this will be baby #2. I had the AFP with my first child because I couldn't decide whether to do the amnio because of my age. Test was negative and didn't give much thought to test until this pregnancy when it came back with increased odds of DS child (1/47). At first I thought: Well, 98 percent chance of a healthy baby. Those are still pretty good odds. When I started to read the posts by people who had DS children, tho, I began to cry. I thought my first reaction would be to cry if the baby was born with DS because I had such hopes of a "normal" child... Abortion isn't an option, but mental acceptance (after the initial disappointment) would naturally take some time. I just don't think it would be fair to my new baby to cry from disappointment on the day she is born... We'll see what the results are from the level II US, but if my baby does have DS, I would prefer to get my crying out of the way now so I can appropriately welcome my new little one later...
- —Guest Bubba
High AFP but glad I had the test
- I'm seeing so many responses saying that the test was wrong or false positive. The test doesn't tell you your baby has Downs or NTD, it tells you there's a increased risk of having a baby with it. If you're baby doesn't have either, the test wasn't wrong, your baby just wasn't that one in 200 or 1 in 15, it was the other 14 that came out fine. I had the test and it came back mildly elevated for NTD, I'm terrifed of course waiting for the repeat but I'm so grateful I got the test. It wouldn't change at all how we'd feel about our baby, it's about giving my husband and I the most information we can get. If there is something wrong with our baby, we want to know about it so we can educate ourselves and our family and make sure we're prepared as possible. Remember it's a screening test, it's not diagnostic.:-) I hope everyone who has abnormal results get the best news at their follow ups.
- —Guest Worried
Its God's decision....
- My wife had the first trimester test... Perfect!! Then the Quad... "Not so good." I read all of these responses and how worried some are with risk of 1/661. That means if you have 661 babies, 1 may have downs.... Our result was 1/8.. Scared us to death. We cried and prayed over and over. Then we did the level 2 US. Everything measured fine except there was a Choroid Plexus Cyst on my son's brain. This would have made me nervous, but my daughter had 3, which were gone 1 month later. This caused our risk to go up to 1/6. All physical measurements in the US were normal and we are now at ease with the fact that it is God's choice for you. It's not your own. It is what it is, and if God wants to bless us with a child with Down's, then thats the course we take. The Amnio is an option, but that has a 1/100 chance of losing the pregnancy, not worth it to us. If we are blessed to do this again there will be none of these tests. It does nothing but cause stress. May God Bless you all.
- —Guest In God's Hands....
Scared and Anxious
- I took the AFP test during my 18th week of pregnancy and was nervous even when taking the test. I am 38 years old and my husband is 41 - this is our second child. They just called me this morning to let me know that the test came back with a 1 in 64 chance of having Downs. The nurse who called was so vague and I undoubtedly had a million questions but her response was basically - the doctor has to answer that for you. i am scheduled to go in tomorrow for genetic cousneling and am sitting here today consumed with worry and stress and confusion. I thought my pregnancy would be joyful but now I am so stressed out right now there is nothing to enjoy - I wish I would have never taken the first screening
- —Guest Denise
false positive
- Last month I worried for two weeks because of a false positive HIV test. This month its a positive AFP. I'm thinking its not worth the stress. Oh well whatever the outcome, termination isn't an option.
- —Guest tired of test
triple screen?
- I am 39, 7 weeks with my 9th pregnancy. I have had 4 miscarriages and 4 live births of healthy babies. My new husband wants me to have the screening, as I really don't, but will for his sake (this is his first). He doesn't want to have a child with Downs, is his reason for the test. I won't abort even if I were to test positive. With all the false positives, the test really scares me. Why do they allow a test that causes such stress and worry? That can be so damaging in itself to the unborn child. After doing research on this I will be trying to let my husband know it doesn't really mean anything. I don't need the added stress, and would really like to just enjoy the pregnancy, which is looking good at this point.
- —5thmom
michelle
- Took the penta test and is positive for DS. I am well aware that this is just a risk assessment test, took the level II ultrasound and all checked out except they "think" baby has ASVD a hard marker supposedly for DS. Pregnancy not very much fun now. I wish that I would have never taken that test. Have to go back for full cardio on heart in a week and just might pass. At this point pregnancy is null and void in my mind. Then I find out that my OB has had a malpractice suit in the last 5 years.
- —Guest Michelle
Mom of five
- I received the results of my penta screen the day that I was at my level 2 ultrasound and I tested positive for DS. I am awaiting another test to be done in a couple of weeks since there is some heart issues with the fetus. I am terribly scared and do not have chromosome issues with any of my immediate or extended family. Please just pray for my little girl that everything is fine. I will never take this blood test AGAIN. I am under more stress than I ought to be! I am also 39 years old and in fairly good health. Thanks for reading my post.
- —Guest Michelle
Get the amnio!!
- I'm 35, a physician, and having my first baby. I know the various risks of my situation, long & short-term, which sucks even more. I took a quad screen at around 16 weeks which turned out to be positive for Downs, 1/211 roughly. My husband and I had plans to abort if the amnio proved to be abnormal as well. It was done on a Friday and I had all weekend to sweat the results. By late Monday I finally heard that the results were all good. Reading web sites such as this one helped me through the agonizing days and weeks of the whole ordeal. Many people go thru this. My best advise is to keep in mind it is a screening test only. At times I thought I should just do amnio and not bother with the screening test. Some only do the screen, which would drive me nuts for the remainder of the pregnancy. Horrible if you ask me! Most of the info provided by others is accurate. If you really want to know, do the amnio because that's your ticket to the genetic makeup of the little one growing.
- —Guest Guest Doc
Positive Abnormal in Quad Screening
- I just visited my OB this morning and got the results of my quad...everything showed normal except the trisomy which was showing high. I don't have numbers or anything, just more worry. I am newly 37 and this is my 5th pregnancy...will be my 3rd live birth if everything goes right. I have had 2 blighted ovum/spontaneous abortions ('07 & '10). I am hoping for my little girl since I have all boys, oldest is 18 & youngest is going to be 7. I am waiting on getting my referral for the next step which is the US, but my OB called it a level 3 (not sure if she meant 2 or 3). We discussed my plans if it shows malformations and I told her that there would have to be extreme physical malformations before I would consider aborting...but she wants to rush the US so we can have those results and if necessary move on to the amnio since my state is not wanting to perform abortions beyond the 20th week if there was the worse case scenario to occur...I am at 17 weeks 6 days.
- —Guest Crystal
i have SB
- I am 29 years old, I have spina bifida occulta, I am pregnant with my 3rd baby, and my first 2 children were born healthy. This baby is due 18/09/11 and all tests have come back negative. To all the moms out there who have bays or children with sb occulta, I’m fine I live a normal life, I have a partner, children, social life, I did have a job until the kids came along, now I am a stay at home mom. I can ride a bike, roller skate, swim, drive, and play football with my son. I have to have regular check ups with doctors, consultants, surgeons, scans and all different tests. These are to make sure nothing has changed. I did have 3 ops when I was younger, but nothing for 17 years. I live my life to the fullest. Thank you for reading.
- —Guest spina bifida mom
Tested 1/12 for down's
- It's been a very stressful two weeks. I had a cvs done last week and have another 5 days for test results. It was the last test I wanted to do but because my percentage for down's was so high I felt it was necessary. My husband and I have not made a decision about what to do if the test is positive. Either way I feel it's so important to know. My obgyn was very honest in telling me about the suffering parents go through who decided against testing and had babies with medical problems- mostly because of the suffering the child goes through. I never want to feel that way. This test isn't perfect and thankfully most people are lucky to have good results despite positive screening results but I can't ignore the women on here who have just stated they were not so lucky.
- —Guest Mary
This is a screen, not a diagnosis.
- This might be a long shot, but I would just like to explain that these tests serve as a screening mechanism, not a diagnostic test. The difference is that with a screen, it catches pregnancies that should be closely followed since they show signs of certain disorders. For example, in children with Down syndrome a common finding during the fetal period is decreased AFP. So, if your AFP is lower than a certain point it is cause for concern. Also, there have been multiple studies showing the false positive rate is actually around 5%. I know it seems like many of the women on here are saying their child came back fine, but you have to remember that most pregnancies do not screen positive. So out of the women who do have a positive screen, there is a pretty high detection rate (about 75% I believe). Anyway, please just remember this is not a diagnostic test. A diagnostic test would be something like amnio, which gives you a yes or no, not a a risk percentage.
- —Guest Sam
