Anyone NOT have the NT scan?

leffe1 · May 2009

I just got a call to schedule it but I am just not sure if I want to do it. A friend of mine had a scare with a false postive and the baby was fine.

If you would like to share your reasons for not doing it, I would love to hear.

edhid1 · May 2009

Hello -

I am having the NT as a baseline tomorrow but I think we are even getting the CVS done. I am 39 and I had 2 miscarriages, one of them we knew it was a chromosomal abnormality. You are right there are some false positives with the test and it only gives you your "chances" of having a baby with Down's etc. But if they find something weird, you can get a CVS test done immediately rather than wait for amnio

I think it comes down to would you terminate if you found something wrong? If we had something really wrong with the baby, my husband and I would terminate albeit it a horrible decision to make, I think we would do it.

I am actually doing it before making the final decision to do CVS because I want to make sure.

stever · May 2009

I wouldn't let your friend's experience deter you from getting the scan. Knowledge is power and, if nothing else, a scan that is positive for abnormalities means you could get a CVS or amnio and, more than likely, be shown that you have a healthy baby.

Mango2 · May 2009

We just did the triple screen blood test with both kids (I had DD at 36) and not the NT Scan. My OB did check for signs of downs at an u/s but I think that wasn't until 20 weeks so it would have been too late by that point... I really don't remember (I'm a bad mommy at marking down milestones already).

We used the data from the triple screen to then determine if we wanted to do an amnio. In both cases we opted out because the numbers didn't cause us any concern.

As PP mentions, you have to think about what you would do with the information.

sistrkate · May 2009

I was 40 with my first pregnancy and elected to have NO testing. I don't know that my reasons were the best, but DH and I neither one have any family history of diseases, Down's or anything like that. The only factor was my age. We decided that we would not terminate, no matter what the results were, so we didn't do any of it. I had a blissful pregnancy with no complications at all and our son was born beautiful and healthy.

I will say, though, that after we made that decision, I worried all the time about the baby and I was deathly afraid that he would be born with a defect or terminal condition that I could have prepared for. Thankfully none of that happened, but I never felt like I was able to fully invest in the pregnancy even as I progressed normally.

Because of those feelings last time, and the fact that I had a m/c before my current pregnancy, we did have the NT scan this time around. I think the decision is a personal one and one that only you can make. I think the biggest thing to ask yourselves is if you would do anything differently if you found out something was wrong with your baby as a result of the test. Once you know the answer to that, you can make your decision and make peace with it. The good news is, the vast majority of pregnancies are normal even for women in our age category. Best wishes to you.

BrideBuddies · May 2009

Whoo boy.. were you listening to my husband and me argue the other night? He kinda wishes we hadn't done it.. but the cat's outta the bag now.

No matter what doctors tell you, you DO have a choice on some of this stuff. I've been told I need to do an Amnio, and frankly, I'm not sure that's gonna happen. I'm demanding more bloodwork before I allow someone to start jamming needles into me like that.

Yes, we did the NT scan... didn't think twice about it. All the measurements looked fabulous so we were happy campers.

A few days later, our bloodwork came back and some of it contradicts the measurements. That indicated we're high risk for both Downs and T18. So in about an hour, we're headed to a genetic counselor to help sort all of this out.

In my heart of hearts, I believe everything is fine. But having conflicting information has been pretty difficult to digest. But then again, if we just had the bloodwork results, I'd probably be more pessimistic.

A big factor here--due to religious reasons, there is no chance we would terminate, no matter the results of any of this. So I guess having "too much" inforrmation is just as dangerous as "not enough information."

No matter what you decide... stay calm and take it in stride. All these numbers they throw at you are just percentages. I am told I am 1:5 for Downs... yet that's an 80% chance that everything is just fine.

BrideBuddies · May 2009

Ok... let me add...

I still would have done the NT scan...even knowing there is conflicting information.

It's non-invasive and gives you INDICATORS. It's not the end-all be-all of tests.

If, like me, your bloodwork comes back and indicates other things, there are plenty of other things that can be done to re-test and re-evaluate the situation.

At least this is what I'm praying I'll hear today from the genetic experts!

mominatrix · May 2009

I'm not because I'm skipping right to the Amnio...

no point in tests that aren't as accurate, and if those results are a little shady, all they have you do is the Amnio, anyway.

...and watch out with the "we'd never have an amnio, because we'd never terminate" talk... as we've discussed over and over on this board, there are plenty of reasons to test, even if you wouldn't terminate.

JasonsMauiMama · May 2009

I had the CVS at 11 1/2 weeks. They did an NT scan right beforehand because the baby was in perfect position, and it was normal. I had a split second of hesitation, and went ahead with it. I'm glad I did....at my 20 week ultrasound, they found a soft marker on the baby's heart. I was relieved to know that it didn't mean anything in my case.

If you do go ahead with it, just set in your mind that it's only a screening test, like a pap smear or a mammogram. A positive finding cannot tell you anything other than that further testing is warranted.

(My SIL had a positive quad screen, and the nurse did a horrible job of explaining the results to her. She still refers to the weeks between that test and the amnio as "when they told us Millie had Downs.")

Best of luck!

Peppernut · May 2009

I had it done. ?The ultrasound itself is really cool and reassuring. ?The rest of it? ?Totally freaked me out. ?We knew even before the scan that we would be doing an amnio, so it sort of wasn't necessary. ?Even so, even with the anxiety and the fuzzy results, I am happy we had the extra ultrasound!

NoelleHansen · May 2009

I didn't see the point of the NT scan or the bloodwork, since I knew I would want a definative test. I'm a worrier, so unknowns are not my friend.

My doc agreed that it was smart to skip them if I knew I wanted the cvs/amnio.

funchicken · May 2009

I didn't do the NT scan because I didn't want to do CVS because of the risk of m/c (I'd had a m/c a few months earlier). Since the NT scan would have been at 11 weeks, if we'd had concerning results, it would have meant 5 weeks of stress while waiting to do an amnio at 16 weeks. I ended up doing the quad screen at 16 weeks, and since the bloodwork came back fine, we left it at that.

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