Downs/Spina Bifida Bloods

[babyroo]

Hi everyone
My brothers fiance has just got her results back from these tests and have confused us and made my brother and fiance very upset. They phoned her and said well you are classed as low risk but your bloods are very close to being high risk so when you go for your 20wk scan make sure the sonographer gives you a thorough (sp? brain not working) looking over. Unfortunately my brothers fiance had two nieces from 2 seperate pregnancys that were severely disabled and died. I thought giving her family history and the bloods she should have been sent for a detailed scan etc. I dont think things have been explained to them very well.
I just dont know what to say to her or advise her to do. What do you think?

 

[weenik]

It sounds like the blood has come back as being close to the border line of what they class as low risk/high risk. Mine came back as 1 in 77 which is high risk, but it turns out my baby doesn't have downs (I had an amnio). Sometimes the blood tests results can be misleading so maybe that's why she's been advised to get a detailed scan at 20 weeks (which is what that scan's for anyway). I think she should speak to her MW about it and discuss any options she has, which would include an amnio. Wish her luck, I know how worrying it is waiting for results and wondering what's going to happen next x

 

[KJ]

I declined the triple test for precisely these reasons. I couldn't see the point of worrying myself when all they give me is a probability.

An extremely high risk of 1 in 5 still means that you have an 80% chance of having a perfectly healthy baby! I just think these tests worry women unnecessarily.

Tell your brother and fiancee not to worry to much about the results. If they are on the border they will be close to 1 in 250, below this is classed as high risk. 1 in 250 still means that they have a 99.6% chance of having a perfectly healthy baby! I think those are pretty good odds!

K.xxx

 

[tots hope]

I certainly think it is worth her talking to ehr MW about this. My brother and SIL were given a 1:80 chance that the baby had Downs which is a 1.25% chance that the baby did. They decided to have the amnio test which showed that the baby didn't have Downs and infact there was a bigger risk of miscarrage following the amnio than the baby actually having Downs.

Get her to call the MW and tell them that she needs further explanation about the results.

TH x

 

[fynemum]

Wow, thank you for posting this... I am afraid that despite this being my 5th pregnancy I have never really thought too hard about these tests... I am due to have my blood done on friday morning... I have been told already that I am at higher risk as I am an older mum (36yrs) But now i shall have to ask more questions to truly understand the risks/odds etc... I hope your SIL is ok and her baby is perfectly healthy in every way....
Lv Yvonne xx

 

[flower]

Poor thing, she must be really stressed about this, but i really think that all of these tests can cause a lot of unnecessary worrying. She should talk to MW about it, but as KJ said before, chances are everything is fine. I think that if they really were worried they would have told her to have an amnio, not just wait and check at the next scan.
Hope she is okay.
x