Finding out the sex and Maternity 21 test

happyturtle03 · August 2013

Ok, I had the Maternity 21 test on Friday, obviously I am much more concerned with is baby healthy but we did elect to find out the sex since we were doing the test anyway. My question is this, If you did have the test or another similar one and found out the sex, did you wait for the sonogram to confirm or feel pretty confident with what the test said? Has anyone had an experience where the test was wrong? I understand that they look for fetal DNA fragments in the mother's blood so they'd be seeing pieces of the baby's DNA, but I keep thinking well what if they only see the X chromosome but there's a Y one they didn't find when they did the test? So could you get a false-negative scenario? I don't care either way which our baby is and neither does my hubby, but we're both dying to know!

jbelle · August 2013

Here's the performance data from their web site. Looks pretty accurate to me!

https://www.sequenomcmm.com/Home/health-care-providers/Trisomy-21/Performance-Data

Melissa72777 · August 2013

Hi there I had posted the question earlier about genetic testing. If you don't mind me asking did your health insurance cover the mat21 test?

playball13 · August 2013

Harmony said I was having a little boy and it was obvious that was correct during our anatomy scan.

RNmommyof2 · August 2013

I had the Harmony test done and it said "with greater than 99% accuracy" that I'm having a boy. I think a week or so before I got the Harmony results I had an elective U/S and it also showed boy. It was confirmed (again) at my anatomy scan last week.

sleepymonkey · August 2013

I have heard that there is a slightly greater chance of the sex being wrong if it says girl than boy, but it is still incredibly accurate. When I had it, it said girl and the anatomy scan confirmed it.

Supergirl2013 · August 2013

I had a quad test then I had an amnio and once I got my results back I was told it was a girl. A wk later I had my anatomy scan and it was confirmed baby girl.

kw42775 · August 2013

MaterniT21 said girl for me. The tech couldn't confirm it my 16 week ultrasound because my baby wasn't cooperating. I have another ultrasound in 12 days at 20 weeks and we will try again!

happyturtle03 · August 2013

Melissa72777 said:

Hi there I had posted the question earlier about genetic testing. If you don't mind me asking did your health insurance cover the mat21 test?

No, they only covered some of the older tests, but we felt like this was the least invasive most accurate as explained by my Perinatologist, so we forked over the $200 for it. We just want to know if there is something we need to prepare for as in extra healthcare for delivery and after, etc. ya know? It wouldn't change how we feel about our baby, but we don't want to be unprepared in the event that there is anything wrong. So far my sonos have looked fabulous and the Perinatologist was super thorough pointing out all the lobes of the brain and everything about the heart, spinal cord, internal organs, everything and she said it all looked exactly like it was supposed to, so really this is just for peace of mind and knowing that we did everything we could to make sure baby gets whatever care he or she needs. We're also birthing in a hospital that has a level 5 NICU and I have a high risk OB and seeing the Perinatologist in addition to that at my OB's recommendation, just based on the fact that I have some health issues and my blood pressure was such an issue with my son's pregnancy and it's been 7 yrs since my last child and I have a history of M/C and well, the list goes on, but everyone seems to be of one mind when it comes to better over-precautious than sorry later. My hubby said if it will make you more comfortable, we'll just pay for it because he knows I am a firm believer in knowledge is power and being prepared, not blindsided because I just didn't want to know.

Thanks everyone for all the great answers! I'm thinking I'll cautiously go with what the test says but keep the info to ourselves until it's confirmed.

sporklemotion · August 2013

Not an expert, but I think they also look at the proportion of X chromosomes to see if there is a reasonable proportion more of those (twice as many as with a boy), so I don't think it's just a Y = boy, no Y= girl kind of thing. So I think it is pretty accurate. That said, we did ask the U/S tech to let us know if she saw anything that contradicted our expectation of a girl.

psychgalbride · August 2013

We had Verifi done and felt confident with the results. We announced yesterday at 12.5 weeks that we were having a little boy. I will say that brought up A LOT of questions on Facebook.

happyturtle03 · August 2013

We got all our results back on Friday. Everything looks great and we have a healthy GIRL.

The nurse told me the test is 99% accurate and they've never had one be wrong so far, so we are going with it. I felt like this was a girl from the beginning just because it was so much more like my pregnancy with daughter and completely different than my pregnancy with my son, and I just had that "girl-vibe" feeling.

We didn't care either way, except my son, who of course wanted a brother, so we went ahead and explained to the kids that the Dr thinks the baby is probably a girl just to get him used to the idea. At first he was like "nope, that Dr is wrong!" and now he's telling his sister "don't call the baby an it, the baby is SHE!" and sounding much more ok with it. Glad we have a little more time to get him used to having 2 sisters, lol and being the only boy in the family. He keeps telling his Daddy "Us guys gotta stick together!" Ha! With the rest of the close family, we hinted that there is a good chance this is a girl, but we won't know for certain until the sonogram confirms it, so no buying anything girly yet! They said ok, but something tells me my mother was shopping for pink frilly dresses by yesterday when we left from our visit. *sigh* Most importantly, though, the tests showed everything looks good. We have one more round of genetic testing for some other things coming up and we're still waiting on the Fragile X carrier test results for me. Since my daughter shows signs that could be mild fragile X symptoms (high functioning autism and precocious puberty) even though we've never been able to get insurance to agree to testing her since treatment would be the same whatever the cause, this is the one that worries me some, but I know we'll deal with whatever there is to deal with better if we know about it. So far, though, so good! Hoping they will bump my risk category down some at my next perinatologist visit.

gladygirlca · August 2013

I have read that the determination of sex through this test is very accurate.

I was told that if insurance didn't cover the testing, the state of CA would cover all but $200 (I think) of the cost in order to help make the testing accessible as the medical community is starting to be of the opinion that this test will replace more invasive testing in the future.