First Trimester Screening

nshannon2 · March 2010

Hi!! I'm new to the bump and 10 weeks pregnant today with my first. Also, I'm 38. Went to my first doctor's appt today. Very exciting and emotional. Had my first ultrasound and heard a strong heartbeat. Anyway, doc talking alot about screening tests for downs and trisomy, etc. Two of my close friends said don't do it, and just wondered if I could get some more feedback. Thanks!!

A S-ski · March 2010

Congrats on your pregnancy! I did all the screening. I was 32 when I was pregnant with my son. My doc said that she offers this to all of her moms to be and she said it really is about 50/50 as far as doing it vs not doing it. I personally wanted to know if there was potentially something wrong. My friend did not do it because she didn't want to know and would not change anything knowing one way or the other. I think it really is a personal decision.

Mighty_Nugget · March 2010

We did all the screenings. I wanted to know up front if anything was wrong. I don't do well with the unknown, I like to know what I'm facing. My mom had Spina Bifida and a club foot so we wanted to know if it was going to affect us. It really is a personal decision. Do what makes you feel comfortable.

nshannon2 · March 2010

Thanks for the feedback. My friends say they have false positives all the time...

MommyToCheyenne · March 2010

I was 31 when I had my baby. I did not have the screening/testing done because it would not have changed my decision on the pregnancy.

A S-ski · March 2010

nshannon2:
Thanks for the feedback. My friends say they have false positives all the time...

It depends which tests they do. The way my doc explained it was that the triscreen had a lot of false positives but the quadscreen had a lot fewer. In fact, she said she had never personally had a postivie quad screen that did not ultimately end up being something wrong. She did say it is possible to have false positives with the quad screen, just that they are a lot less likely. Hope that helps. Ask your doc which ones they offer and what their take is on false postive rates.

sucrets4 · March 2010

There really is no 'false positive' since the test doesn't come back pos or neg - it gives you a ratio of the chances that your child will be affected with specific things.

We didn't do the NT scan, but did the quad screen and I'm glad we did. Like pp, we wanted to know and be prepared.

amelianguy · March 2010

We didn't do the scans - reason being that I found out I was pregnant too late to do them. (I turned out to be 12 weeks pregnant when I thought I was 8 weeks). But I do wish I would have done them just because it would have alleviated a lot of worry. However, we wouldn't have done anything differently, so I suppose it wouldn't have mattered.

First Trimester Screening

Re: First Trimester Screening

Choose Another Board

Search Boards