20 week scan and a thick nuchal fold measurement

So we had the morph scan today, at 19+2wk. Everything is looking good, except the nuchal fold...it's measuring at 9mm. The sonographer went and got a doc in and they both had a good look at everything again, and they are still not happy with the measurement. We briefly saw an ob who explained that we need to see a specialist ob on Monday (she's in maternal fetal health or something like that). It's likely they will recommend a amnio. The concern is whether its a chromosomal issue, so DS or another trisonmy. I am doing my best to stay away from google, but Monday is a long time away so wanted to hear some stories or experience. I don't really know if I want the amnio, but DH is leaning towards it so we can prepare. We didn't have the 12week screening so no results from that to compare to.

I am sorry, i dont have an answer for you, but i didn't think they could use the measurements at the 20week scan for that??? That they could only judge risk at 13weeks?

FX everything works out well.

Monday must feel an age away. I'm sorry you are going through this.
No advice sorry- except staying away from Google is probably good :) it is a great place to confuse or stress yourself out.
I suggest being gentle on yourself and keeping a little busy will help time pass.
Hugs

No, google is not your friend right now! My DD had a measurement of 7mm at 12 weeks and we opted for a CVS straight away. Like amino but they take a placental sample instead of the amniotic fluid.

She turned out fine. No chromosomal abnormalities at all.

Hang in there. Keep busy til Monday. :hug:

I had CVS at 11 weeks as my daughter had a high nuchal reading ( I think it was 3.3?) could be wrong. This ruled out chromosome issues. We still had regular scans to rule out heart defects etc but she is now a 3 year old running around the room!

I was under the impression that the nuchal measurement could only be used early on so not sure what it means at 19 weeks. Was there anything else worrying at the scan. We had genetic counselling before the CVS and the geneticist said that if they couldnt see anything abnormal on the scan at 19 weeks then there was a good chance she would be fine.

Hi there,

What a stress! I also thought that the measurements were more reliable around the 12 week mark. Did they look at other 'soft markers' such as the nasal bone? I'm thinking that if there was more than one indicator, they would have told you, so sounds like they're just going on the nuchal fold.
I had a high risk down pregnancy 1:24 risk, with DD last year/this year (based on 2nd trimester bloods - even though the 12 week scan looked great). We didn't do the amnio, as we wouldn't change anything and knew that we'd love our baby regardless and didn't feel that we needed to prepare. Just knowing that we were higher risk gave us the heads up that it was a real possibility for us etc and I didn't want to risk the pregnancy by testing.
I also had a gut feeling that everything was fine (and it was). I remember doing a scan at 16 weeks when I booked in with our obs to look at the soft markers and again at 20 weeks. These all checked out fine - such as length of the nasal bone etc.
The bowel on bby came back as bright white (ecogenic), so they did question whether this was due to down's, cystic or a virus or a bleed that I'd had in first tri and the baby possibly ingested it and this is where it sat. We saw a genetic counsellor and did blood tests to rule out cystic and for the rest of the pregnancy (after the initial shock) I kinda forgot about it all, until people mentioned it.

Re: the amnio - there will be pressure to have one - I got asked several times from my obs, the sonographer, the genetic counsellor etc. If you don't think that you want to do it, stand your ground. Maybe chat with your partner about why he wants one. Usually an amnio would be done earlier in the pregnancy, (for reasons of deciding not to go ahead with the pregnancy etc), however, for your situation, I guess it would be just confirming either way. Can you get referred to a genetic counsellor? Also ask the specialist obs on Monday what are the benefits of doing the amnio. I think sometimes down's babies can have some issues with their heart (?) not sure if they can pick this up on the u/sound scan before birth.

Can you still prepare for a down's baby without doing the amnio? Just throwing around some questions to consider. It's really up to you, what you want to do, however, it's difficult making a decision when those around you are pushing for one thing. I hope Monday comes around quickly for you and wishing you a good outcome for your baby.

Thanks everyone.
As far as I can tell, the nuchal fold at 19 weeks is a different measurement to that at 12weeks, which is the nuchal translucency. The only thing they mentioned was some sort of fluid in the nuchal fold, I think she called it cystic pouches or something (nothing to do with cystic fibrosis). But the bit of searching I've done (not done a great job of staying away from google), no one else with a high measurement has mentioned these fluid spots so I don't know if they are significant or not. Just one more question to ask on Monday.
I'm not necessarily as concerned with a diagnosis of Down syndrome as I am with it being one of the other trisonmy.
DH is leaning towards the amnio so that we can be better prepared. I'm going to ask for another ultrasound too.
They couldn't see any other markers and both the ultrasound tech and the doctor had a really good look. The heart looks good, they didn't mention the nose thing, so something else I'll be asking.
We'll be going to the appointment on Monday with a huge list!

I'm sorry you are going through this. We went through a similar thing this pregnancy where our blood test at 12 weeks resulted in is having a 1/59 chance of DS. We opted for an amino and the 3 week wait for that to occur was horrible. Luckily our newest DD was fine. It's a very stressful situation and google is not necessarily your friend, however, I did find lots of reassuring stories on there too.....

Sorry you are going through this tough time. Just wanted to let you know I needed to have an amnio at 22 weeks. It's actually safer to do as they can see bubs very clearly and collect the fluid easily. They are ultrasounding bubs as they do it so they know exactly where to put the needle. It didn't really hurt me at all, just incomfortable and I just took it easy for the next day or two!
We had our fish results back within a couple of days and the final results a few weeks later. But once the fish results are ok then there is generally nothing wrong with the final results.
Just thought you might like some advice on the amnio :)

How did you go on Monday sammyro?

I posted another thread about seeing the maternal fetal medicine ob. In a nutshell, we've decided to have another ultrasound this week to see if the fluid in bub's neck has decreased/stayed the same/increased (we're hoping for the first, at a push the second but definitely do not want to see the third). We have a 1in 57 chance of Down syndrome, but there's a chance it could be turners syndrome. At the moment, we're not going to have an amnio but will just wait it out and test at birth. So it's just a huge waiting game at the moment.

Eta i forgot to post and sy thanks about your advice on the amnio. I had no idea what it entailed so it did help!