Anyone choose to skip screening?

Watergirl21

Hi I had my first midwife appt yesterday at 7 weeks and they asked me about screening I declined. But then I was thinking it about it last night and I wondered what most moms to be do. I am 36 now And this is my second pregnancy I have a 2 yr old.
My other question is when did you start telling people?

dhreczuck

DH and I will get the Materni21 test but that's it. We might not even do a Quad screen. We met with a high risk ob during our last pregnancy who agrees with this approach. He said none of the tests are 100% accurate, lots of false positives and negatives, they're really just a way for Dr.s to pretend they have control over things when the reality is they're just making assumptions based on statistics but there are going to be people on either side of those numbers.

I obviously have a strong bias, but I was told the CVS test was very safe and not to worry about it, and so I didn't and we lost our perfectly normal son as a result. I had a quad screen done before my miscarriage and it was a false positive, and that was after the normal CVS results, so that just shows you these tests are loaded with false positives it's not worth the stress.

 Also I have close friends who tested very low on probability for downs syndrome with the NT, and found out very late in pregnancy their son had it. This was the only reason we choose to have a CVS in the first place.  It's all a bunch of BS in my opinion.

Unknown

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ukmisgirl

I didn't any of the testing but took advantage of the level 2 U/S just for my own sake of wanting a good look at the baby. The U/S showed everything looking fine but that was not the reason we did it. I see and read too many people stressing over results that are not accurate that I chose to for go that for myself. Good luck with whatever you decide.

newenglander71

I think it is all a very personal decision and has a lot to do with your personality.  I am a "need to know" type person, so even though I thought that I would just do the first trimester screening to see what our odds of the trisomies were, once I had that info, I realized that I just wanted a definitive answer and opted for the CVS. 

 We didn't tell anyone about the pregnancy until ~15 weeks or so.

NicoleWI

I'm influenced by my OB. She was an older mom herself and doesn't push testing at all. I declined first trimester screens (she didn't push it, and I figured we wouldn't terminate anyway) and just did the quad screen each time. I have been lucky to get good numbers, and because of that, I didn't feel it was worth the risks to get an amnio or CVS. Each time I have figured that if I got decent numbers and no major red flags on the u/s, that was enough for me. It's okay for me to not know 100% for SURE. 

On the "telling" question, I have had to tell people early every time. I show super early, and I don't care what anyone says, it's not just bloat! This time, everyone pretty much knew by 10 weeks (some people earlier) b/c it was obvious. If I could have hidden it, I would have waited until 13/14 weeks.  

NicoleWI

P.S. dhreczuck, so very sorry for your loss!!!!!!

Adi

I did the integrated screening which is the first trimester blood test, NT scan, and a second trimester screening. The biggest thing that gets people upset is the stupid nurses saying they are positive/negative tests, and they are not. These tests give numbered odds like 1:100. Then you are supposed to use those odds to decide if you want a CVS or Amnio (which are 100%, for the things being screened for because they are DNA tests). Obvously, you have to make the choice whether or not to do them based on how you think you would handle less than stellar odds. some women are naturally worriers, and assume the worst. Some nurses refuse to give the numbered odds and insist on saying +/- (which they determine based on the generic odds for your age group... more favorable odds would be negative for downs, less favorable odds would be positive, even though there's still a good chance your baby is totally fine).

The NT scan itself is just an ultrasound that looks for very specific markers... some of which you can see yourself (like a nasal bone).

 

mrsjami

I'm on the opposite end here. I had a perfect NT scan and then my integrated b/w showed 1 in 9 for trisomy 18.  We opted for the amnio, but unfortnately didn't it make that far. The u/s prior to amnio revealed the baby had died.

This time around I don't think I can wait until 17 weeks but I'm concerned about the risk, especially with twins. We go to the MFM next week to discuss options.

dhreczuck

NicoleWI:

P.S. dhreczuck, so very sorry for your loss!!!!!!

Thanks, everyone has to make a personal choice but I feel at the very least if I had to go through what I went through I at least want to put the word out there that there are very real risks to these tests. I think once you're AMA you get so used to hearing about them you just assume everyone does it so its not a big deal, but even a small risk of loosing your LO is a big deal!

 

cmr5776

We opted out of the screening. I am also 36 with a 3.5 yo.  I spotted at around 18 wks and had to have an emergency a/s where they found I had a 'thick placenta' and the high risk dr at the hospital asked if I had had an NT scan, etc. I said no. 

Looking back, due to the extra monitoring I've had to have during this pg (due to risk of IUGR), I wish we would have have done the additional testing - even though our little girl is growing on target and all is well so far - just would have eased my mind a bit.

 

bklynbmp

I take/will take every non invasive test offered. I don't see the benefit of not knowing about possible issues when there is no risk involved. Getting upset about it isn't a factor in my decisions - my objective is a healthy baby, not a stress free pregnancy (although Im not the kind of person who would find turning down the tests to be less stressful anyway)

If any of my non invasive tests had come back concerning, I would have done the CVS or Amnio but so far, so good.

mama2many

Yep - skipped screening - I'm 41, 7th pregnancy

mbw410

I skipped all screening/tests as well. I am 37 and this is my second pregnancy. They did detect one soft marker for downs during my a/s. I am contemplating having the Materniti21 test, but I don't think I can handle the anxiety of waiting for the results.  

RachelG1016

We have not had any optional testing done. I am 38 and figured that if there was something wrong we would know at the anatomy scan.

Everything looked great and there were not indications of any issues.

tcfreedom

I will not get any of the screenings done except for those standard to pregancies at any age - diabetes, etc.

We want and will love this baby exactly as it is - so I'm not going to stress myself out for months. 

mysticriver

We skipped all but the early blood tests and anatomy scans. (I'm 40, 2nd pregnancy)  I wouldn't have terminated anyway and as much as I am a "need to know" kind of person, I just didn't think it was worth the risks of miscarriage for a pregnancy I really didn't think we would be able to have.

I did/do have an elevated risk based on the bloodwork, something like 1/42 for Down syndrome, but the u/s revealed no soft markers, and once I found out that the heart was okay I relaxed a bit more. It will be a surprise whether or not she does have Down syndrome, but I feel like we can handle that.

MT-Head

We are doing screening.  For my son, we did amnio, but for the current baby, we did the NT scan yesterday (Dr. said it looked absolutely perfect) and the MaterniT21 test.  Depending ont he MaterniT21 results, we may or may not do an amnio again. 

pixiem38

I skipped screening with ds (i was 36)and also now (39). I will be getting extra ultrasounds because they are twins, but i.would have skipped screening anyway.