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We did something like it called an "integrated screen" which involves an ultrasound and a blood draw at week 12 and then a follow up blood draw at week 16. I'm not necessarily high risk either, but did it for piece of mind. There were some anxieties before the final results were out, but once we got word that risk for genetic abnormalities were low, I felt completely relieved. No regrets here.
We will be doing as many screens as possible. We want to know what we are up against so that we can make decisions regarding the pregnancy. Just makes sense to us! I can definitely see others not wanting to know, though.
I did some down syndrome screen. It was optional but Im doing any of the tests just to be sure I have a healthy baby and I make the right decisions.
We weren't high risk but did all of the screens offered to us because we felt that we'd rather know and be prepared and have a happy delivery day, as opposed to not know and be panicked upon finding out something at birth. Thankfully we had a great pregnancy and delivery and have a beautiful, happy, and healthy baby girl.
But for you, you need to decide whether or not knowing about a possible complication would be more helpful or hurtful at this point in time.
I'm not sure if this was optional for me, but I had it done and didn't really think twice about it. I can see the anxiety both ways, though. But with a lot of these screens, it's not a definitive yes-or-no diagnosis--they only screen to see if the baby has an elevated risk of having downs/edwards/fragile x etc. You would have to do additional testing or an amniocentisis to get a more definitive answer.
My concern with the screen could cause unnecessary anxiety. Apparently the tests can give abnormal results if they don't correctly identify how far along you are. Plus there's a chance it may not even detect something if there is an abnormality (1/5).
Based on our first ultrasound I should have been 15 weeks last Monday but after doing a second ultrasound they said it was more like 16w 4days - so given that they've had a hard time nailing down how far along I am I'm nervous we'd get wonky results.
Then again I could see how it would be nice to be prepared for what may come and do more complete testing.
@wagamama: We had the same screen (blood draw and sono between 11 and 13 wks, with follow up blood draw at 16 weeks) but our office called it the sequential screen.
We did the early screen just to get the ultrasound, not to know anything about abnormalities. This is our first baby, so we wanted to see the baby on the sono, especially since we hadn't heard the hearbeat yet. We chose not to do any other screens because it wouldn't matter to us. Aborting wouldn't be an option for us, so we didn't want to worry and stress during the pregnancy.
We chose not to do it because I didn't want to risk having to deal with added anxiety. I figure if something is wrong the Dr will lead us in the right way with research and education when the time comes but I can't let myself freak out about the unknown now.
We are very pro-testing. Our first pregnancy ended because of a genetic abnormality (one that almost always ends in miscarriage) and having signs more or less all along, and then getting a definitive diagnosis, did kind of help us prepare for the worst and make some decisions that I think made it easier (like not telling many people, not buying anything baby-related).
I would always want to know in advance if I was carrying a child with special needs, especially since our current plans involve both of us returning to work. If we had a kid who needed a lot of specialized care, that would have a huge impact on our work and childcare plans, and I'd much rather start to sort through those issues and begin setting up a support system in advance, whether that's making sure my mom could stay with us for longer that we'd talked about, or finding medical specialists I feel comfortable with, or looking into online or in-person parent support groups.
I do think that it's important to remember that these screening tests are just that- SCREENING tests designed to help you better assess your risks and often to help you decide whether you'd like further/more invasive testing, and that they are not definitive.
We didn't do the quad screening. For me, it seemed like one extra thing to worry about, and since I am low risk anyway and neither of our families have any genetic/birth disorders, it seemed easy to eliminate that anxiety.
For my husband, he really didn't want to know if anything was wrong with Addie before we had her. He felt that if the screening (and follow-up testing) came back with negative results, we'd be pressured into abortion, which is something neither of us wanted at that point. Not that I necessarily agree, but I understand that he really wanted this baby, no matter the outcome of the screening, so it seemed pointless to him to know ahead of time.
Thanks ladies! I actually went today to get it done. It was fully covered by insurance.
I think I'll take the results with a grain of salt though because they put the gestational age of 16w3d on my bloodwork sheet but Monday (12/22) the doc said I was 16w4d (based on an ultrasound measurment) so I told them to correct it since they were probably going off my original due date. I'm annoyed that they can't pay attention to details esp. with a that is date-sensitive. Ugg. At least it should tell me if something is drastically wrong and we need further testing.
I am not high risk either but decided to get the test done anyway. That was almost a month or so ago and i was so happy when the result came in normal. My husband and I decided to get it done so we could be prepared either way. Good luck hope you end up with great results :-)
@camrie:I'm really glad that we chose not to do any screening. My son was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at 6 weeks old and I am sooo glad that I didn't find out until after he was born. The severity of cystic fibrosis can vary greatly from one person to another (just like many other syndromes and diseases) and it would have been awful to spend the majority of my pregnancy worrying about how sick he was going to be when you have no control over it.
Just an update: Normal results!
Which I know doesn't totally eliminate the possiblity of something but mostly I wanted to be able to do further testing if something was abnormal and educate myself as much as possible.
@camrie: I'm happy for your good news!
We chose to do it for PLANNING purposes. Results were flagged because I was one point over, abnormal result. I was concerned for a few hours until the Doc called me to reassure me that it was triggered simply b/c of my age as a factor. We haven't worried about it since. We did it b/c it was non-invasive and skipped the amnio.
@camrie - i'm very happy for your normal results! it's always a good idea to be aware of your health and potential risks, so good for you. good luck with the rest of your pregnancy. and most of all, i hope you enjoy every minute of it.
We did integrated screening. One of my good friends was blidsided when her daughter had Down Syndrome. We wanted to know what we were facing so we could prepare. Our screen came back 1:24 chance of Downs so we opted for CVS (where we got so check all the chromosomes). They were normal and the rest of the pregnancy was not quite so anxiety provoking. And we knew we were having a girl from 13 weeks on!
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Anyone have it? Regret having it? Thankful you had it? Is ignorance bliss?
We're at the point were we have to decide if we want to do it - we're not considered high-risk so we don't HAVE to have it but our doctor told us if we're going to do it we need to before our next appt.