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2nd Trimester
Abnormal AFP
My doctors office just called and told me that I had a abnormal AFP which means my baby could have down syndrome.The nurse I was talking to said that, that happen with her baby and when she went for further testing it turned out fine. I go on Wednesday to get the ultrasound and they will talk to me about it all. I'm just terrified and nervous. My husband is telling me not to stress out or be worried and that our baby is fine,... but that is easier said than done as I sit and cry....... Anyone else have this happen?
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Re: Abnormal AFP
It hasn't happened to me but happened to a ver close friend of mine and everything was fine.
I don't think you are going to stop crying until your doc says "your baby doesn't have downs". Totally normal to stress.
Sending good vibes!
I was told I had a slightly abnormal result. I started freaking out. They told me I could come in for follow blood work. Originally I said yes. Then I started thinking...
The idea was driving me crazy. All I was doing was worrying. I was had by NT scan at 12 weeks. I have measuring ahead the whole time and I always felt my original sono EDD was off by a week or two. So if I was really further when I had the test, that can affect the results also. Furthermore, there is no way I would do an amnio. It's just not for us. The risk of miscarriage (no matter how small it seems) is not worth it. Unfortunately, that's the only way to no for sure.
We decided that knowing wouldn't change anything, that worrying wouldn't help anything, and that we would not abort no matter what they said. Therefore, we decided against further testing and will probably not opt for an NT scan with future children.
This is must my perspective. You must do what's right for you. I know it's hard, but try not to worry so much. Worrying only gives you something to do, but it doesn't get you anywhere.
Good luck! Prayers going up now.
i also had a positive result on this test. it is very common to have a 'false positive' with this bc it's a screening test, not a diagnostic one. my AFP came back on the high side which put me at a greater risk for having a baby with a neural tube defect like spina bifida. I was thankfully able to have a Level II ultrasound soon after I got that news and everything looked great on the U/S. I am still being monitored closely to make sure growth is not an issue (ultrasounds every 3 weeks), but please know a lot of us have had positive results here without anything being 'wrong' in the end. I read this statistic about this test that may make you feel better - out of 1,000 women, 50 will have a positive test result. Out of those 50, only 1 or 2 will actually have a baby with an issue.
I hope you get some good results soon! By the way, did you have the NT scan (ultrasound and bloodwork)? did that come back normal?
It sounds like your result came back as low AFP. Mine came back with high AFP, which gave us a 1:160 risk factor for an NTD or Trisomy 18. Your dr or a genetic counselor can walk you through all of the pros and cons of various options in diagnostics. They also will be able to calculate a risk factor for you. The AFP test is not a positive or negative, it simply gives a probability. Something like 1:3 is very different from 1:150 is very different from 1:500 or 1:5000. Until you have more info, try not to stress. Easier said than done, I know. But, do know that outlying results are quite common and the most common outcome is a healthy baby.
For us, a level-2 u/s showed us that our baby looked fine which bumped our risk factor to 1:1600. We could've found out for sure with an amnio, but declined because of the risk of loss. Our LO was born perfectly healthy.
More Green For Less Green
Wow....a doctor confirmed downs with 100% accuracy based on a screening test?? i'm really giving the side eye to this. This is all sorts of wrong and borderline illegal.
I'm thinking there is more to this story that is not told above.....
BFP #3 via cancelled IUI ~ C (2lb 3oz; HELLP) 5/16/11
BFP #4 via the natural (free!) way ~ E (8lb 11oz) 9/13/12
I had my AFP test, when i was 16 weeks pregnant and a week later, my doctors office called and told me that the test indicated that I have a 1 in 44 chance of having a baby with Down Syndrome. They told me that I needed a targeted ulttrasound and they would schedule it (7 days later) it was the longest week of my life. I did a lot of research and learned of the signs to look for during the ultrasound, these signs are called "markers". We had the ultrasound and found out the baby was a girl and she had no markers which bumped the odds up to 1 in 88.. We opted to not have the amnio because there is a 1 in 300 chance of miscarriage.
She is due in June and we are hoping for a healthy girl. I have done a lot of reading on the subject and it turns out that there are a LOT of abnormal tests that end up with perfectly healthy babies.