Hi Dipsy
At 27 years old I would say that you are a low risk of having a Downs syndrome child. The test your doctor is talking about is done by an ultrasound and measurers the fluid at the back of your baby’s neck. This test will not tell you that your baby has downs but it can indicate that your baby is at a higher risk of being born with downs syndrome.
Amniocentesis does increase the chance of miscarriage by between 1% and 2% however it is a much more accurate test.
One of the things you need to consider is, should the test indicate that your baby does have downs syndrome would you have a termination? If the answer is no then there is no real point in testing for it. As I said earlier you are young and if there are no other risk factors such as a downs syndrome child in your family then i would say that you are at a low risk.
The test that they are talking about will only give you a risk factor and chances are that, based on your age, the risk will be low so that's why some doctors see it as a waste of time.
Once you hit 35, they recommend testing because the chances are higher solely based on your age. But the 12 week test only gives you a risk factor, it doesn't give you a definitive yes or no.
If the risk is higher than about 1 in 300, they recommend that you have an amnio because that will tell you yes or no. But the downside of an amnio is that it can carry a risk of miscarriage.
These days more babies with Downs are being born to women aged BELOW 35, probably because women over 35 test for it and then go on to have amnios and terminate.
I had screening because of my age with DD and luckily my risk was low so I didn't need to have an amnio.
People don't just have amnios with a view to termination. If I was in a situation where the first screening results were not good, I think I would have an amnio so I knew for sure. I have thought and thought about what I would do if the result was positive and I just don't know BUT I do know that I would want to know beforehand and mentally prepare for having a child with Downs.
Having said all that, you ARE low risk because of your age so please don't worry too much - the statistics are on your side in this.
I fell pregnant with DD#1 when i was 27 and i didnt have the full tests. Im 33 now and pg with #4 and i will be having the screening done in 2-3 weeks time.
I agree with Fionas - i intend having it done not because if there were a risk of downs i would necesarily terminate, simply i would want to be fully prepared and equipped with every ounce of knowledge and support should i receive unpleasant results......
i think saying that you should only have the test if you're prepared to terminate if you have a child with Downs is frankly appalling! no offence to anyone that thinks like that - but terminating isn't your only option - being prepared for the different life you're about to be faced with is just as important for many people.
i WILL be having the NT scan - i'm 28 - and yes, we have family with history of disability - not DS - but other genetic conditions which i believe might be shown as higher risk via NT scanning. i will NOT have CVS or amnio, i would never terminate unless there were chromosomal abnormalities incompatible with life. But i would sure as hell handle the notion of a Downs child better if i knew my risk was 1 in 5 as opposed to 1 in 5000. it wouldn't change my love for my child - but it will prepare me for the possibility that it might happen.
if you want to have the screening test, have it - your doctor ing amnio/termination is a load of crap - that's essentially dismissing the life of a child just because it has DS - and i find that disgusting. if you choose to just know what your chances are, it is entirely YOUR choice
ETA - a friend of mine came back with a high risk based on NT scan and bloods - she chose to have amnio and confirmed that her little boy had DS - the amnio resulted in a leak of amniotic fluid, and at 24 weeks her boy was stillborn. she didn't regret the NT scan - she would have embraced her little DS boy - she regretted the further testing that resulted in him losing his life
I guess that for us (I was 23 at the time) we approached the NT scan as really a fun chance to see our bubs for the first time. i felt that it would be a good bonding for all of us DH included to actually see that gorgeous heart and limbs and head moving around in there. really the nuchal test was just the sideshow to the glorious moment of seeing our little baby. I will do it again with other pg no doubt.
it was nerve racking having to get the results a few days later, no one wants to be told that there may be something wrong with bubs, but like the others have said, i also wanted to know so that i could start to think about what our options were and how far we would be prepared to go for testing. i know that i will go for further testing if the results were high risk, but again, that's a truly personal decision.
p.s. we stuck the ultrasound piccies on the fridge so that everytime we went into the kitchen we could see our baby! lovely!
I'm 34. I was always going to have the NT test, and if the risk factor was high, I would have had an amnio to test further.
My reasons for having the test were:
- if we were going to have a child with a high chance of a detectable problem such as Downs Syndrome (as I understand it, the test doesn't only test for that, but will also pick up on other possible chromosonal problems), I wanted to know about it. This would allow my husband and I to first decide whether to keep that pregnancy or not, and if we did keep it, to prepare as best we could for the particular things that life was going to present for us. For me, it would be really bad to not get the test and then to have a baby with some problem that would have been picked up by the test. Not because it would be bad, necessarily, to have that child, of course, but because we would not have had the opportunity to discuss it between ourselves and to make what we felt was the best decision for our family.
Basically, there was no way I would put myself into a position where we would later regret not having the test because we actually needed that information.
I absolutely agree that there can be very good reasons for having the test even if you know you would definitely not terminate a pregnancy with a high chance of Downs Syndrome.
- secondly, it's another chance to get a look at the baby, to see that it's there and growing and healthy. And this is a wonderful thing
I did some reading about the amnio procedure, and my conclusion was that it matters a lot who does it. In this case, all doctors are not equal. So if I needed an amnio, I would have asked my OB to refer me to whoever she thought was the most highly skilled person in my city to do it, and we would certainly have cheerfully paid whatever it cost to do that. My understanding is that this would dramatically reduce the risk of amnio-induced miscarriage, so worth paying for, in my opinion.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks