Under 35s: Did your OBGYN offer you Down Syndrome screening?

[ms.fashionista]

I will turn 30 this year and having my first baby . My OBGYN offered to refer me to a specialist to test my fetus for down syndrome. She says she offers this service to all pregnant women now since they have a new noninvasive test.

Has anyone gone through this? What does it entail (I think she said blood test and an ultrasound)? And if you were offered it and under 30, did you take it? I am thinking I should take it but I am such a worry-wart, I know once I do it, and the results come in less than satisfactory, I will be worried and stressed all through my pregnancy.

Some thoughts/advise on this are much appreciated!

[sosti]

I am turning 30 this year aso and just had this test last week. It is just a blood test and an ultrasound. they give you the results in a week. I am a worry wart too, but am trying not to think about it much. I also did some googling on the test and apparently you can have false positives so if something does come out weird it does not necessarily mean your child will be birth defected. i think it just tells you that your child has a higher chance of having a birth defect (down syndrome and/or spina bifida) I took the test because I would rather know and be prepared then not know and be surprised b/c that is not a surprise I wanted to hear about when i give birth.

Good luck whichever way you go!

[deweydrop]

It's offered to all women at my doc's office. ARound 12 weeks...it's an ultrasound and a bloodtest. From what my doc said, it's MORE accurate then the Quad Screen at 20 weeks.

I opted NOT to have it done at 12 weeks. Personal decision...and it was not pushed on me to have done. (I'm 31yo by the way)

[emmalawyer]

I think you're talking about a nuchal translucency test, right? Or are you talking about a CVS?

Since you said it's not invasive, I'll assume you're not talking about a CVS or amnio.

I had the nuchal translucency test last year with my twins; I was 28 y/o.

It's not a definitive test and all it'll give is percentage likelihood that you might or might not have a kid with DS.

It's 'fun' as pregnancy tests go because you get a very comprehensive sono. The doc will want to measure the thickness of the back of the fetus' neck (the nuchal fold), so in the process you'll get to see the baby's heart and other really neat stuff. As a bonus, I remember being told the gender at that point (that's how detailed the view is) for both baby A (DS) and baby B (DD). The doc was sure about DD and only 95% sure for my son (it could have been the umbilical chord). He did get it right though. It's usually done pretty early on in pregnancy or the result will no longer be relevant.

I'd only do this if you think the results could make you change your mind about doing a CVS or amnio later on.

ETA: I had both this and a CVS done, by the way because I am very very aware of my limitations as a human being. There are amazing people out there who know they have it in them to raise a child who has Down's Syndrome. I didn't know if I had that kind of resilience and wasn't willing to find out that I didn't at the expense of a special needs child. So yes, I would have terminated the pregnancy based on an unequivocal positive screening for DS. If the results would not have had any bearing on my decision, then I would have not even considered doing the tests at all.

[ellacoach]

I was 34 and yes I had the test, but honestly I don't recall what it entailed. I think it was a blood test but I don't recall having an ultrasound.

[ms.fashionista]

Originally Posted by emmalawyer

I think you're talking about a nuchal translucency test, right? Or are you talking about a CVS? Since you said it's not invasive, I'll assume you're not talking about a CVS or amnio. I had the nuchal translucency test last year with my twins; I was 28 y/o. It's not a definitive test and all it'll give is percentage likelihood that you might or might not have a kid with DS. It's 'fun' as pregnancy tests go because you get a very comprehensive sono. The doc will want to measure the thickness of the back of the fetus' neck (the nuchal fold), so in the process you'll get to see the baby's heart and other really neat stuff. As a bonus, I remember being told the gender at that point (that's how detailed the view is) for both baby A (DS) and baby B (DD). The doc was sure about DD and only 95% sure for my son (it could have been the umbilical chord). He did get it right though. It's usually done pretty early on in pregnancy or the result will no longer be relevant. I'd only do this if you think the results could make you change your mind about doing a CVS or amnio later on. ETA: I had both this and a CVS done, by the way because I am very very aware of my limitations as a human being. There are amazing people out there who know they have it in them to raise a child who has Down's Syndrome. I didn't know if I had that kind of resilience and wasn't willing to find out that I didn't at the expense of a special needs child. So yes, I would have terminated the pregnancy based on an unequivocal positive screening for DS. If the results would not have had any bearing on my decision, then I would have not even considered doing the tests at all.

emmalawyer, thank you for such honesty in all your posts. I always look forward to reading them! And yes, I meant the nuchal translucency ultrasound and blood test.

I am like you, I would also be prepared to terminate my pregnancy if I did not get a positive screening. That is what is scaring me most! I read the information on the internet and they say it is not even that accurate, they just give you a number or your risk percentage. It's not totally black or white whether you will give birth to a down syndrome child or not. So my question is, how would you make your decision...this is what is stressing me out. What if they tell my my chances of having a down syndrome child is 25%, I would not know how to proceed...

[emmalawyer]

Look, all I can tell you is this: a good doctor will spend a pretty long time doing this ultrasound and can usually tell you pretty unequivocally whether anything looks suspicious or not. The results don't come back as 25% chance. They come back as statistical results, if I remember correctly. As in a woman between 25 and 30 has a 1 in 35,000 (random numbers because I no longer remember the statistics) and based on your results it looks like you have 1 in 1000 chance (again, totally random). So, based on THAT you can then decide if you want to go have a CVS (done also earlier than an amnio but a bit more risky or an amnio later on --16 weeks or something).

In my case, they were able to do the sonogram part of the screening, but not the blood work (because I was carrying triplets and there is no matrix for higher order pregnancies). So, all 3 fetuses looked fine on examination and were proven fine by a CVS about a week later.

IF I had been able to do the blood work part of the nuchal translucency and my odds of having a child with DS came back very low, I would have stopped there and would have been reasonably satisfied that there was nothing to be concerned about. If anything came back a little iffy, I would have gone ahead with a CVS.

My last piece of advice here is, if you decide to do the NT test, go to a perinatologist who has been doing these screenings for a while now. The more experience they have looking and measuring nuchal folds on a sonogram, the more you'll be able to trust their assessment. My perinatologist was pretty darn confident that none of those babies looked suspicious for DS and if I had been able to do the blood work component I would have been satisfied that I didn't need to pursue the issue any further.

Good luck with your decision.

Oh, what I said about doctors with a lot of experience doing this test applies --I think-- to any of the doctors you choose to do either a CVS or amnio. I didn't want a guy who graduated from med school 3 years ago; I wanted one who had been doing these tests since they became available. I think the risk to the pregnancy is small anyway, but I think those numbers go way down when you get someone really experienced putting a needle into your pregnant uterus and collecting a cell sample... I think this is one of those "practice makes as close to perfect as you can humanly get" issues...

[madamelizaking]

I'm 22 and my doctor offered me to get the AFP (triple screen test). I did it last thur at 16 weeks and hopefully it comes back ok! The thing that annoys me about this test is about 5% of women will get a positive and only 10% of those women will actually have something wrong with their baby! From what it seems in California it may be a standard procedure?

[cutter333]

I took the a blood test and ultrasound for downs and I'm 26. They offer it to all women but I just took it as another way to get another ultrasound.

[Korilynn]

I was offered a triple screen. I'm 25. I had it done...might as well, right?

[sneezz]

I was 27 and my doctor gave me the nuchal translucency test as well as the AFP.

[ms.fashionista]

Thank you all for your replies. I took the first step and made my appointment to take the test. *Sigh*...so now I just have to wait for the day to come...I hope I don't stress myself out as I am such a worry-wart.

[Crysty]

I'm 30 and it was offered but I declined to have it done. Primarily because a friend of mine had a false positive last year that scared all of us.

[ahertz]

ms. fashionista -- don't stress about this "test". It's so fun! I had this appointment less than two weeks ago and I got to see the baby move and jump and wave it's hand. I got tons of pictures and in the end they tell you your odds excactly like emmalawyer said. AND, if they think there's a risk, they have additional tests.

But the best part...it's a chance to see your baby for several minutes.

Try to look at this as an opportunity to spend some time with your little one! By the end of your appointment you'll be thinking of it as your baby, not your fetus!

[princessDD]

i'm 28 and will be taking the DS test next month. have no idea what the screening entails but thanks to you ladies, now I know.