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Pregnant after 35
Under 35, but questions about a quad screen
Hello ladies,
I am not exactly in this age group, but I do have some questions regarding my quad screen. I elected not to have it with my first, and kind of forgot about it with this one. My results for Down Syndrome came back positive.
Has anyone here had a positive result, and it been a false alarm? We are not even considering anything but carrying the pregnancy to term, but I am questioning the amount of extra testing to have. I have an apt set up for a level II, and genetic counseling, but I do not think I will have an amnio.
Is that an irresponsible choice of me? I will be delivering in a hospital with a level 2 nursery, so if there are health concerns for the baby, I would have to change OBs and hospitals which I am willing to do, but would like to stay with my Dr, and small hospital if possible.
Can anyone give me some encouragement? This is eating me alive, and I will not have some answers for 12 more days!
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Re: Under 35, but questions about a quad screen
I have never had a false positive, so I cannot comment on this & I am really sorry you are going through this. I have been in a difficult place before, so I can relate (so this might be long).
I did have a big scare with our first at our big u/s. Never had any testing done since I was only 31 at the time.. and figured I was low risk & my doctor did not even offer the NT scan at the time unless you were over 35. So went into the Big u/s expecting everything to be normal. They found the baby had a cleft lip/palate, but could not tell via u/s if it was associated with any other syndromes. So we did opt for the amnio for a peace of mind & to prepare. Any concerns you have at the time of the amnio talk to your doctor, their office should be able to give you specific information about %'s in their office. Mine never lost a baby due to an amnio, & honestly it was not painful at all. But I still would not do it unless necessary...
If it was me I would wait until after my level II to make the decision about the amnio. I did it with my first because our son was going to be born with a birth defect (we would not terminate), but wanted to be prepared for our baby and the hospital after he was born. The last thing I wanted was my child to be whisked away to another hospital right after I gave birth to see specialist that were not available at our hospital. Since we had the amnio & everything came back great (besides the original birth defect)..my doctor did still elect to induce me to ensure the staff was full when our baby was born. Since my due date was on a Friday.
*But we decided depending on the Level II for our 2nd and this baby we elected not to have an amnio done because the NT, First Tri screening, AFP bloodwork, and Level II all looked good. It is such a personal decision. But I can understand your apprehension about having invasive testing done.. I am the same way!
Good luck with your decision & I hope everything turns out well for the little one!
I am sorry you are going through this. Did they happen to give you the odds the baby has downs? A lot of the time they say the screen is positive if the odds after your screening are higher than they are for your age group. My friend, who at the time was 32, was told she screened positive because the chances her baby had downs was as if she were 38. Still her odd were like 1:175, which she decided was not worth the risk of amnio, especially since she would not terminate. In the end, the baby was 100% healthy.
In all likelihood, if your baby has serious health issues, like a heart defect that will require surgery, it will show up on the ultrasound, so you ped will be aware ahead of time. If were me, I would have the level II ultrasound around 23 weeks and then decide about the delivery hospital.
I really hope your baby is healthy and bet he/she is!
I was wondering this too. In fact, my doctor warned me ahead of time that if my results were lower than the odds for my age, I'd be told it was a positive result.
As it turned out, my odds for Down's were 1:303, which is considered positive, but it's still less than a third of 1% that the baby has DS. Talk to your doctor a little more and try to understand if your situation is similar.
Tyler Anthony arrived on 9.21.09
The Chronicles of Justin and Tyler
The whole "odds" thing is so nerve-wracking. I was given sort of positive, but the odds were still like 1:260 or something. I ended up having an amnio to ease my mind, and my baby girl is fine! I'm actually glad I had it, because the level 2 ultrasound I had also came up with a couple of markers that would indicate issues if I hadn't already had the amnio.
Still, if you wouldn't terminate, the amnio is risky. I guess if the level 2 comes out with markers, you could prepare for a special needs baby and then be surprised when it turns up free of issues!
I'm in the same boat you are. Just tested postive for Down's with the triple screen yesterday. My u/s for markers is next Thursday(this wait is gonna drive me crazy). I'm not terminating so the risk of an amnio is iffy for me, if there are positive markers, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, but I'm heavily leaning towards no. Luckily, the hospital I'm set for is prepared for almost anything.
The only things I know are that the odds are in our favor for healthy babies. This happened with my cousin's pregnancy 3 years ago. She had a positive screening and a positive marker at the u/s. She couldn't have the amnio b/c her husband's insurance wouldn't pay for it. So she worried for the remainder of the pregnancy. She gave birth to a perfectly healthy, beautiful baby girl. That is my solace right now, hopefully you'll find some in it as well.