Pregnant after 35
J'sLisa
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Prenatal Testing
J'sLisa
member
How did you decide which tests to do? We had a brief discussion at my appt about testing. I know that the NT scan and blood work only gives the odds of a genetic d/o and an amnio or CVS give difinitive answers. DH and I are going to the genetic counselor next week so I hope she will help us decide, but I'm not sure I'd be reassured that everything is ok if I get a number like 1 in 300 risk for any of the disorders. I know the CVS is associated with greater risk of MC and recent literature my doc shared with me puts the risk of mc from an amnio with the average risk for 2nd tri mc. I'm leaning toward skipping the NT scan and opting for the amnio. Please share your decision making process.
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Re: Prenatal Testing
As I'm sure everyone will also say, it's all a personal decision. That being said, this was how DH and I decided.
We knew regardless of whatever results we received, we would not terminate (of course I say that without ever being confronted with having to make that decision).
We had planned to do the NT Scan, really more so to be able to see our LO. But when there was a scheduling issue we decided against it (I ended up having to have an unscheduled u/s due to some bleeding at 13 weeks). We also did the AFP screening and the Level II u/s. That has been it. We didn't want to do the CVS or amnio for two reasons - the risk of miscarriage (although since then I have learned that the risk is so much lower than I originally thought) and that we wouldn't terminate.
Fortunately, all of our screening had come back 100% fine.....if it were discovered that there was something wrong, I honestly don't know how we would have responded...other than to pray and to know that God would not give us more than we could handle.
Good luck to you!
Good luck with your decision it can be tough decision and really depends on you and your DH's perspective. I'm surprised that I didn't have an amnio because I am a person that likes to know and plan things, but as each screen (NT, 1st Tri blood test, AFP) came back with low risk for any issues it just didn't seem necessary.
I know a lot of people skip the test because they wouldn't terminate no matter what but even though we wouldn't have terminated for DS (for something less compatible with a quality life we may have),if we had a significant risk I would have wanted to know in advance to have a plan of action. Forewarned is forarmed and all that.
We wanted definitive answers, so we opted to have the amnio. I was going to do the NT scan, too, but my doc made the good point that if we were certain we were going to do an amnio, the NT wasn't really necessary (he pointed out the insurance piece--said that if the NT came back normal, the insurance company could conceivably not cover the amnio).
I'm glad we did what we did, and especially glad we got the amnio, because at our 20-week scan we found out we have a 2 vessel umbilical cord which can be associated with chromosomal abnormalities, but since we did the amnio, we are reassured that our daughter doesn't have any of those.
This really is a tough decision.
My docs and I never discussed CVS really, partially I think because after getting back from my trip and whatever, I was already on the outer edge of the window of time for CVS anyway.
We did discuss all the blood work, NT scan, amnio, etc. Since I was just barely under 35 with my first, we had already talked about it before, anyway.
Their advice - which I agreed with - was to go with the least invasive options first, meaning the NT scan and bloodwork. They did mention that I had the option of going straight to amnio if I chose to do so.
They reassured me that if there were concerns based on the blood and NT tests that they could get me into amnio VERY quickly and get the results ASAP so I would not be stuck in that hell of not knowing and fearing the worst.
Good luck deciding
click the pic (blog)
We are doing this.
I conceived at 37, delivered at 38. This is what we did:
Had the NT Scan because it is non-invasive.
Did not have the quad screen due to high rate of false positives (we were quoted 30%).
We were lucky enough to have great results from the NT scan, so we skipped the CVS.
There was no indication of any problems at the level II u/s. This, in combination with the good NT results made us comfortable without an amnio. Had there been any cause for concern based on the NT scan results or the level II u/s, we would have considered having the amnio.
There are so many options - it can be overwhelming, so take your time and make sure to ask your doc any questions you have. GL!
I agree with the idea that it's such a personal decision that only you and your DH can decide. I will just echo what others have said - maybe after an NT scan you can decide further?
We had a great NT scan and great b/w resutls. Although nothing in life is guaranteed, we felt confident enough not to have any further testing. We were thinking that if anything came back fuzzy, that we would have the CVS or Amnio.
I know it's hard
I'll tell you what we did.... and everyone is different. We chose the CVS, my peri told us the rate of m/c was 1/1200 with CVS and 1/1600 with amnio. I did not want to do the NT scan for the soul purpose that I felt it would not tell me what I wanted to know. My risk (just by age) was 1/149 for downs, so I just felt the CVS was the right choice, and it could be done a lot earlier than the amino. For my piece of mind I needed to know sooner than later.
Everything turned out wonderful! And the pain was not so bad.
GL I know these decisions aren't easy.
I've wrestled with this and only decided on a plan of action a few days ago.?
I am having the NT scan and the first trimester bloodwork and unless the numbers come back fantastic (which is doubtful because of my age) I will be having the CVS procedure next month.
Later i will do the quad screen to look at risk for neural tube defects, and will make a decision on the amnio based on that.
I am going to a university high risk obstetrics program which has a division that specializes in prenatal diagnosis.
The bottom line for me is at my age (40 as of yesterday) ?I have a 1/63 chance of chromosomal defects according to the ACOG chart. ?We would consider termination for some of the most severe syndromes (please no flames.) so we wanted to find out sooner rather than later.?
I am 36 and we had the CVS test at about 13 weeks. I did not have the NT test or any other statistical test because we wanted to be sure. We had decided that we would terminate for a major chromosomal abnormality and wanted to know as early as possible. You cannot get amnio before I think 16 weeks and then it may take as long as 2 weeks for the results, and terminating that far along would have been extremely emotionally and physically difficult. I was comfortable with the miscarriage rate that they cited and with my dr., who had performed the procedure many times before. It was a little unpleasant but not terrible and I'm very glad that I did it. In 2 days I got the preliminary results that all was clear (and the sex of the baby
)!
One note - CVS does not detect spinal abnormalities like spina bifida, but amnio does. Fortunately, a blood test can tell you if there's a spina bifida concern, if there had been one, I'd have had to do amnio as well. Fortunately, no issues
This was my decision making process, and I think I'd do the same even if I was not planning to terminate or wasn't sure, for DS and other chromosomal abnormalities. I would have wanted to start planning for a special needs kid asap and read up on it, etc. I just don't think I'd have been ok with a probability, I needed to know.
Good luck!
I'm going through the same thing right now. After talking to my doctor, the hubby and I have decided to go ahead with the NT scan and 1st tri bloodwork. Then based off of those results, we will decide whether or not to get an amnio. Because amnio and CVS are invasive procedures, I'd rather not do either, but if it comes down to a high risk situation I'll go ahead with the amnio.
It's such a personal choice. Good luck making your decision.
We didn't do any kind of testing.
I have 2 children from my 1st marriage but suffereded with infertility and wasn't able to get pregnant with numerous doses of clomid and several iui's.
I pretty much thought getting pregnant was a lost cause or would only be accomplished with a lot of help.
Apparently things changed.
DH and I were married May 15th, 2009, and I got pg the next month. We were shocked. DH tells people that we had a moment of "newlywed passion". LOL.
So, to us this was a miracle pregnancy and we were going to take that and not worry about anything else.
It definitely agree that it is a personal decision.
GL deciding what is best for you!
I am a health care professional. We did AMNIO with none of the other BS indicators. I would call them tests, but the results are only guesses about probability.
I like cold, hard facts. We definitely would terminate a chromosomally abnormal fetus, therefore this was our decision.
My feeling is that the testing you choose should be a reflection of what you actually plan on doing with the information.
Hello,
With our first pg, it was suggested by my mw that I have the NT scan and bloodwork since I was going to be 35 after the baby was born. Depending on the scan results, we would decide about the CVS later. The NT scan indicated a possibel problem. The blood tests said that I had a less than 1 in 5 chance of having a baby with Downs. The m/c rate for a CVS is 1/267 where I got it done, so we decided to go for it.
Our baby test positive for Downs. No flames please, but after many heartfelt talks we decided to terminate the pregnancy because it was not something that we felt we could deal with.We were pretty sure that this is what we would end up doing.
We got the CVS because the results of the NT scan and bloodwork. I wanted to know early so we would have more optiosn.
I agree that if the results of the test would affect if you would continue the pregnancy or not, then you should go for them.
Good luck!
Termination would never be an option for us. We also agreed that we did not want to do anything that might cause a miscarriage, so doing an amnio or CVS were out.
We chose to do the NT scan because it is non-invasive, it would allow us to get more ultrasounds to see the baby, and if it came out with a high probability for any problem, we would be able to do research and be prepared in case our baby is born with that particular problem.
Luckily, the results from the first half of my NT scan were excellent - the second half will be done next week and we're hoping for another good result.