How many of you opt to have NT scan?

[Frangipani]

We had the NT scan done and we were given a high risk result with the downs syndrome (1 in 141 chance). The scan was actually looking ok, but apparently it was mainly the blood results that brought us down. We were booked to have an CVS - but the day before I decided not to a I knew I couldn't terminate. There is other little indicators they can see at the 20week scan - and most were ok at our scans (we also had a 30week - just to be sure). Turned out we were NOT that 1 in 141 - we now have a healthy little boy.

In saying that, I would probably still do the scan again...cause there are a few other things they look for. My cousin had her scan done and it turned out that the baby was not ok and that it wouldn't survive - so they could terminate early (still hard I know, but could've been even harder if they'd found out those results further down the track).

I also loved the opportunity to see our little one.

Good luck making your decision...obviously it'll come down to what feels right for you.

[Taurean]

We had our NT scan on Friday and yes, we did want to know if bubs was at risk but more than anything, we just booked it for a sticky at bubs!!!!

Besides the obvious (ie testing for downs syndrome) these scans can also pick up so many other issues so you can make any necessary decisions for the future if need be. They can also provide reassurance that all is ok in there. That was a huge relief for me and DH.

The scan was wonderful and so clear and we got to hear the heartbeat. We were very lucky though as bubs was behaving (performing!) for the camera. It was truly magical and we could have sat their all day (hey, all weekend!) and just watched bubs. If you're not concerned about possible problems then at the least its a great excuse to say hello to your little one

[misty]

I have had the NT scan done all three times. I do not know whether or not I would go ahead with further testing - I think it would depend on what the risk actually was. Even if I did proceed with further testing, I really don't think that I could ever go through with a termination. So the reason I decided to proceed with the NT scan was actually for two reasons.

Firstly, to give me comfort that bubs was alright, and that the risks were low (I am in a low risk category). Yes I am aware that this reason could backfire.

Secondly, so the if there was a high risk, I would have time to process this information, consider all my options and hopefully be able to look back and feel that I had made the right choice - whatever that is - based on the information that I had at the time. It would also allow me time to prepare myself for the knowledge that maybe my baby might be different to how I had always envisioned them to be.

[Snacks]

We had a dating scan. I didn't want the NT measurement as such, and didn't have the bloodtest - I believe I am low risk for DS and have heard lots of stories about getting inaccurate results anyway.
But I had a sense that I wanted to know if bubs was ok otherwise (i.e. healthy heart beat, all arms and legs etc!), so we had a 'dating' scan and I was reassured to see that in all other respects baby looked healthy.

[Rhia]

I wasnt exactly asked if I wanted the scan done or not, I just had it. It was very reassuring to see that bubs was actually in there, as there was no way I could feel movements at that stage. I was 13 weeks when I had mine and the BT came back extremely good (I am quite young aswell).
It is a personal choice, but if your going to stress about it throughout your pregnancy then I suggest you get it done. If it turns out you may have a high risk result, you can always sit back and look at your options, and get more information about it all.
It is really amazing to see just how much they change aswell! From my 6 week dating scan til the NT scan, it went from looking like a round little bubble to a tiny human!
Good luck with what ever decision you make and hope you have a H&H pregnancy!

[Evie76]

My main motivation for the first scan was always to just see the baby. Yay for seeing the baby - there's one in there!!

I now realise just how dangerous these scans can be. I was given a risk of 1:2 of 1:6 of Trisomy 18, which I was not expecting at all. I was expecting to have a look at my little baby and that be the end of it.

I had to wait four weeks for an amniocentesis - we would have terminated as we cannot or did not want to look after a DS baby see what Nae Nae said - she hit the nail on the head. After six weeks of stress and mental pain ( with two weeks waiting for amnio results) we were told nothing was wrong at all.

They are dangerous in that they are not just you being able to view the baby, they may reveal something you may have to make a very difficult decision on or something that may change your life or scar you, even if everything ends up being OK in the end.

I would say that if you are not going to terminate - don't have it. It will cause you nothing but grief if they see the Nuchal Fold like how they want. I am very cynical of this test and believe it has literally scarred me and instilled a fear in to me - sounds a bit stupid, I know. I didn't understand the true implications of it, until it was too late. I believe the implications should be highlighted by doctors more than they are.

Just remember, that's my opinion and I'm still not very happy with how things went, or how I was treated by the medical establishment.

[snowchickie79]

Just to put my 2cents worth in.

I had the NT at 12 weeks as scheduled, wasn't really offered if i wanted it or not, just given referral by my OB and off I went. I was 29 at the time and DH was 30. I got a high risk reading for DS with a 1 in 119 chance of DS (blood results were great, NT measurement was not). We had the CVS testing (under a huge lack of information - but that's another story) and all our results came back perfect. We did have to go for an additional ultrasound at 26 weeks to double check babies heart was all OK as I was told by my OB that a higher NT measurement (DD had a 3.8mm measurement, anything over 3.0mm is high) could mean a problem with the heart. So the extra ultrasound was to check things were all OK and if not then just meant we'd have to have specialists on stand by for my delivery. Luckily DD was all fine and born perfectly healthy but I'd probably have the NT test again just for peace of mind that baby was all OK.

It is really up to you what you decide to do. If bubba is healthy then you will have a relaxed pregnancy, but I myself would also like to know if something was wrong so that I could be prepared and have the medical staff needed as soon as that baby came into the world.

I was not at all happy with the experience simply because the "so called" Dr who gave us this news literally gave it to us in less than 4 minutes and didn't provide much detail about the positives of "there are still 118 chances that baby is fine" etc etc.. The Dr's bedside manner was shocking!!! If it wasn't for a work colleague who talked me through it after her own experience I would have had a stroke by the time I got my results.

I do agree somewhat with the idea of "if you won't terminate then not worth the stress" but at the same time it's important to remember that they aren't just testing for DS, they are testing for a host of other things which may not be life or death for your baby but will allow either yourself or your OB/Dr to be prepared for something different or provide additional care which may be needed. Remember that even if you have the NT scan, if you get a high result then you don't need to do anything (e.g. further testing) if you choose not to, but you could then at least be prepared should it become reality..

Good luck with your decision, no decisions during pregnancy are ever easy!

[tattoo_mama]

I got an NT scan more for curiosity, as my brother has DS and although his type of DS (mosaic) isnt hereditary, i still wanted to know. my mum works for the down syndrome association and i have been involved with fundraising, helping out and been around kids with ds all my life so i knew that if we did have a baby with ds we would have the best support available. i ended up being low risk, but remember this doesnt mean theres still not a chance. not trying to worry you but it just means your at LESS risk.

i would only terminate if it had looked like bubs would not fully develop/survive gestation, i suppose i am alot more informed and 'relaxed' (prob not the best word) about potentially facing DS, they didnt have scans like that when my mum had my brother so it was a total shock but she wouldnt change it for the world, neither would i or any of my family, he might not be 'normal' but has touched so many lives and lives life to the fullest.
alot of ppl say (not in here, just in general) that you should terminate cause they dont get to lead a 'normal' life, but its not about that, its about each person living THIER best life, reaching THIER potential. im not trying to stir the pot im just offering an opinion from someone 'in the know'

not meaning to blab on but basically i think you need to talk long and hard with your partner and discuss the what ifs before you go for the scan...cause if you DO get a 'high risk' result, you wont be able to think straight and may make a decision you will regret. GL

[tattoo_mama]

I was given a risk of 1:2 of 1:6 of Trisomy 18, which I was not expecting at all. I was expecting to have a look at my little baby and that be the end of it.

I had to wait four weeks for an amniocentesis - we would have terminated as we cannot or did not want to look after a DS baby see what Nae Nae said - she hit the nail on the head. After six weeks of stress and mental pain ( with two weeks waiting for amnio results) we were told nothing was wrong at all.

Not sure if ive just read the above wrong or not, but trisomy 18 is edwards syndrome, not DS.
it is a chromosomal abnormality but nothing like DS.
Quote from wikipedia:
The survival rate of Edwards Syndrome is very low. About 95% die in utero. Of liveborn infants, only 50% live to 2 months, and only 5-10% will survive their first year of life.
-end quote-

this is the kind of situation where i would have to consider termination as (if my math serves me correctly) out of say 1000 trisomy 18 births, only would 5 of these bubbas make it to 1 yr old, and are usually very deformed, unlike children with DS.
just clearing that up

[Evie76]

Yes Tattoo, I left out some words:

1:2 of DS and 1:6 or Trisomy 18 (Edwards). Was diagnosed high risk for both, which my useless Dr simply said is "not viable for life".

My Dr had about as much heart as Snow's!!

[tattoo_mama]

Gosh Evie that is terrible that he said that!!
Honestly how can someone like that become a doctor....sure they are there for medical opinion but the reason *most* doctors become physicians is because they have compassion and want to help people!
If a doc had said that to me id slap them!

[HotI]

For me, i reckon it would be easier to continue a pregnancy with a baby with T18 than T21. Most babies with T18 have a lessened expected life span and i would be able to give it all my energy for its short life (whether this be in utero or after birth).

Having a baby with T21 is a different decision to make because you have to think long term.

In saying that, for now I don't think i will have NT scan because i don't want the info that it might give me. I'm not prepared to make a decision on continuing a pregnancy, and i don't want the negativity of a high risk result to follow me. (professional and lay people's attitude to a high risk result is negative, not the potential implications of the result)

Just my thoughts tonight

[Trillian]

I have only had it with my second pg and that was only because my Dr said he had to fill his quota of referrals for it ROFL. Apparently he must not have been sending enough women to have it done. I didn't really think about it at the time of the appointment but later that week I had some very heavy bleeding so it timing of the scan was great as it was only 4 days after I had had the bleed. At the scan the biggest concern was the cause of the bleed, and not the NT, that was done after he'd made sure the baby and the placenta were fine. My risk was very low going into the scan and the results reflected that, so I choose not to have it with my 3rd and 4th pregnancies.

If you have the strength of your convictions that you would not terminate a DS baby then perhaps it isn't necessary for you, especially if you are in a low risk category. There is some evidenced to suggest that it is a flawed test anyway. So that alone is enough to turn me off having it. I personally would rather deal with finding out at birth when you can help yourself deal with it by actioning early intervention etc and just get on with life than spend the pregnancy 'mourning' for the baby you wont get kwim?

[tenar]

For us, it wasn't just my decision but my husband's too. We had the NT scan at 13 weeks.

He wanted to know that the baby was low risk for DS etc. He would have wanted to terminate the pregnancy. He was really frightened about the possibility of us having a disabled child, much more so than I am, and I guess I realised it was important to respect his worries about it.

I also wanted to know (would want to prepare myself for the arrival of a DS baby), but I am pretty sure that I would not have wanted to terminate the pregnancy. Not a nice situation to contemplate, disagreeing with my husband about something like that. I think my decision would prevail, but not sure what that would do to our marriage.

Anyway, in the end, knowing that the risk of DS is low anyway (and having a good understanding of statistics myself - I'm not easily scared by risk factors for stuff), I decided that the chance for both of us, especially my husband, to bond with our baby by seeing her more clearly looking like a little human was of such value that it was worth the small risk of finding out a stressful result and then having to wait for an amnio. This while pregnancy thing is so concrete to me and so abstract to him - he doesn't feel the kicks and movements, he doesn't experience the host of physical effects it has on me. So to him the baby is less important, less real, than she is to me. I think anything that gives my husband a greater opportunity to bond with the baby before she arrives is a good thing.

[fionas]

I had the NT test and would again. My reasons are not just because of my higher risk factor simply because of my age but that I'm a worry wart and I would want to know. If I didn't know, I would spend the whole of the pregnancy worrying anyway. I would also have an amnio to find out conclusively. I have no idea if I would terminate. Really, having thought about it a lot, still NO IDEA.

But, if the test was positve, I would want to use the time in the pregnancy to come to terms with it. For me, it would be too confronting to deal with those feelings the moment the baby arrives. I think when you're pregnant, you can't help to start visualising what sort of baby you're carrying, what their personality will be etc. A lot of parents with kids with disabilities talk about the grieving process - grieving because they had imagined having one sort of child and now they're dealing with someone completely different. I haven't expressed that well. I'm someone who would rather deal with those feelings during the pregnancy rather than straight afterwards. I think having a newborn is so full on anyway, I can't imagine having to deal with all the feelings of having an unexpectedly disabled child on top of that.

[briggsy's girl]

we chose to have the NT scan for a host of reasons, not least of which is the fact that my aunt has a disability with many of the characteristics of downs (but doesn't actually have downs) - it would not have caused us to terminate a pregnancy, but would have given us time to come to terms with what MIGHT be when the Gremlin arrives. having grown up with my aunt in my life (and her range of friends from special development school etc) as well as working with children with disabilities myself in the past, i wouldnt' even contemplate termination - but my DH has family members that also have a child with a genetic anomaly and he's had it grilled into him for the past 15 years how tortuous it is, and how, if he ever had children, he HAS to have cvs to make sure his child was normal or he'd have to force his partner to terminate. i felt it was important for him to know that it was all ok - the only thing that would have made me think about termination would have been if we had a pregnancy with issues that were incompatible with life...



FWIW - DH's family member with problems has Fragile X syndrome - it's not life threatening, it's not insurmountable - the child is big for it's size and a little emotionally and mentally slow. definitely not something i deem worthy of termination! i guess this was part of my reasoning with DH - needed him to know that things weren't unable to be overcome...

[tutmae]

My docs did it automatically with each of my pg, so I'm not exactly the best gague. IMO it was a good chance to see the little one and take the stress out of worrying if everything was ok.

[alioops]

I was never offered it, but if I was I would have done it. I am a planner, If I was given a high risk, I would have counselling and get to know the support networks available. Having had a baby who was very sick early on, I know the pain of not knowing what was going on, and having her hooked up to all the tubes and monitors. I never expected it and it was a big contributor to PND. I would much rather be able to be prepared with the support that I need than thrown into something that I could have prepared for but didn't.