Blood Tests for Downs etc..

[Pregnopaws]

I opted to have the optional AFP blood test (being 36) but now im not so sure. I'm not sure I would go ahead with an amnio even if i was high risk as I dont think i could terminate the pregnancy. Im very confused at the moment about it all, and hubby thinks I should have the tests for peace of mind, but tbh the thought of tests are more upsetting than just getting on with the pregnancy.. Im wondering how you ladies out there coped with this??

 

[Kylie1007]

We decided not to go for the blood test because it only gave a 75% accuracy rating to tell you if you were high or low risk.

 

[happy-chick]

We decided not to go for the tests as I wouldnt have the amnio or termination so didnt really see the point in going for the initial tests. Its a very personal choice and everyone is different.

 

[Sal C]

I know exactly how you feel - after spending the whole first trimester worrying about would the pregnancy continue,now there is something else to worry about!

Since the test only gives you a probability it just makes everything even more complicated and a 1 in 100 chance of causing a miscarriage of a normal pregnancy through amnio seems a big risk to me.

My plan so far (although I have not ruled out changing my mind depending on what the test shows) is to have the blood test and probably not have amnio unless on the 20 week scan they see any soft markers for downs.

My understanding is that if you get a high probability result then they do a more detailed 20 week scan - it doesn't guarantee picking up downs but there are some things they might see.

I guess if i got given a really high probablitiy i might change my mind as 20 weeks is really late to go through a termination but I dread the thought of causing a problem when the baby is normal.

 

[enn]

my oh didnt want me to have it i didnt but wasnt sure
my mw asked me at the appt , she said put it this way if your baby had down syndrome would u terminate the baby?

my asnwer to that was no.

she then said u dont need to do it then.

im sure its not too late if u feel u dont wanna do it now. its entirely up to you and your oh. you both have to agree on it or maybe u dont. gut instinct or mother instinct. i went with gut and mother

maybe tell em at your next appt if u wanna opt out up to you

i dont wanna start a flame topic or owt and dont wanna be flamed but me personally i dont beleive in termination or anything like that.so therefore i wouldnt get rid of baby no matter what

 

[fothers]

We had this dilema too- my appointment for it was this week- in the end we didn't bother as I wouldn't want the amnio or termination. There is a lot of false positive results too I read somewhere.

I thought if we got a bad reading I would just spend the next 5m worrying.

At the 20w scan (if you get one) they will be able to pick up some problems anyway and that will give a chance to read up and prepare if the worst happens.

Its not an easy decision

 

[lisa&alex]

i had the nuchal fold test done at the 12 week scan.. and the blood test.. both came back low risk. personally i would have had an amnio and if it came bk that it had downs then i would have terminated - just my personal view..thank god it was low risk.

 

[babydust]

sorry for butting in here but i think its a very hard topic to discuss until you are in that situation, Like you enn i didnt beleive in termination, i didnt think i could every get rid of my baby no matter what was wrong with it, but oh boy my feelings completly changed when i had the devestating news last week that something was seriously wrong with my baby, all my thoughts and feelings about termination completly changed, for me at this point the kindest thing to do was to have a termination i think it would have been really selfish to have carried on with the pregnancy, i think it really depends on the quality of life the baby will have.

 

[alfie]

i had the nuchal fold test done at the 12 week scan.. and the blood test.. both came back low risk. personally i would have had an amnio and if it came bk that it had downs then i would have terminated - just my personal view..thank god it was low risk.

Exactly the same for me!

Its a very personal choice and only one you can make when and if you are in that situation. It depends, i think, on the severity of the abnormality. Although you say you would not want a termination, if, god forbid, you were in the same position as clare30 and knowing your child had almost no chance of survival outside of the womb then you might feel differently.

Alfie

 

[NIE]

I had the tests (i'm 29) and waiting for the results was a nightmare. It was the longest 2 weeks so far and everytime the phone rang I paniced.

I am happy that I went for the tests now because I've received confirmation of a low risk.

I had made the decision that I would not have an amnio if there was a high risk and would not have a tremination, so I'm not quite sure why I had the tests. I don't think I will have them again if we fall pregnant in the future. xxx

 

[fothers]

Claire30- I don't think anyone means to cause offence to your situation. A lot of babies with problems that these tests detects could be fairly minor compared to what your little one had. If there was a very severe problem like in your case then it would be detected at the 20w scan anyway.

If I was ever unfortunate enough to be in your shoes with such a severe problem then termination would be the option but not for a much lesser problem

 

[X5OT]

The way I see it is this:

First question: if you found out that your baby had DS (or any other severe medical condition), would you opt to carry on with the pregnancy, or would you terminate?

If you feel that you would not have a termination if DS was high risk, then I personally don't see the value in having the test done.

I agree, it is a very difficult decision to make, but we decided to have the nuchal screening and blood test, as well as the AFP bloods which can detect spina bifida. No screening or blood test will be 100% conclusive, but we felt clearly about what we would do if our results had come back as high risk. Fortunately the results all came back as very low risk, so we did not have to make any decision regarding our pregnancy.

Just my personal opinion, for what it's worth.

x

 

[X5OT]

i think it really depends on the quality of life the baby will have.

This is the most important quote in this whole thread, IMO

x

 

[Pregnopaws]

The way I see it is this:

If you feel that you would not have a termination if DS was high risk, then I personally don't see the value in having the test done.

x

Thanks for all the varied opinions. I have to disagree with the above though, (without prejudice of course.) Even if some people would not wish to terminate their pregnancy, if a high risk of DS is found, at least they could prepare themselves mentally that there is a possibility of having a downs child that would require so much extra care and attention.

 

[fothers]

Pregnopaws Posted:

Thanks for all the varied opinions. I have to disagree with the above though, (without prejudice of course.) Even if some people would not wish to terminate their pregnancy, if a high risk of DS is found, at least they could prepare themselves mentally that there is a possibility of having a downs child that would require so much extra care and attention.

That was one of the reasons we were considering it- so we could read up and prepare if there was a problem. We decided though that anything major might be noticed at the 20w scan

 

[enn]

The way I see it is this:

If you feel that you would not have a termination if DS was high risk, then I personally don't see the value in having the test done.

x

Thanks for all the varied opinions. I have to disagree with the above though, (without prejudice of course.) Even if some people would not wish to terminate their pregnancy, if a high risk of DS is found, at least they could prepare themselves mentally that there is a possibility of having a downs child that would require so much extra care and attention.

i have the care and attention for a child even with downs.

working in a supermarket i dont ignore them , talk to them smile just basically communicate i dont ignore them at all. i have always said even when not pregnant i would never terminate a baby ever.

i know what clare went through was hard and cannot put myself in that position as im not init but even a miscarrriage was hard enough to get through. just my thought on i wouldnt do a termination or adoption nothing unless baby could not survive then yea i would terminate baby for babys sake

 

[Joy and Ben]

It's very easy to say that you wouldn't terminate i always said that I was against terminations. However we decided to have the blood tests taken as OH aunt has Downs and we thought that if our baby had downs we awnted time to prepare ourselves and other people. The results came back and the chance of downs was very low but the result for spina bifida was very high. When you are faced with these results, you question everything, we did a lot of research into SB whilst we waited for a detailed 18 week scan. The consultant was amazing and gave us lots of information. Fortunately the scan revealed no problems with the brain or spine. Ben was born healthy.

We would not have easily terminated the pregnancy but did agree that if the baby had been shown to have SB and the consultant believed it to be severe then we would have. Looking at Ben now that seems awful that we considered it but the at the time it was the right tihng for us.