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Pregnant after 35
Has your OB suggested a CVS?
My doctor told me because of my age I am automatically put in a high-risk category. I've had three children (youngest is now 19yo), all with no significant health issues, and certainly none from birth. My OB has only seen me once thus far (another appointment the beginning of June) and mentioned amnio but never the CVS (which I'm only learning about here on The Bump).
Is this something that is normally requested or suggested?
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Re: Has your OB suggested a CVS?
My MD didn't even bring up the NT scan, I did my homework.
I personally would not jump right to the CVS (how old are you?) but rather the NT scan, and go from there.
My risk was low on the NT scan (u/s and b/w) so that is all the testing we will do. Had it been elevated, we would have done CVS or amnio.
My friend was 39 having her first and she just did the NT scan.
DS born via unplanned C-section at 40w6d
My Dr. told me about all the testing. He strongly suggested that I consider the CVS testing. With the NT Scan only being 90% accurate, he suggests that any woman over 35 consider it for their own peace of mind. How I feel is a whole different issue.
I have no idea the pain involved. I have tried to find info on it and all I read is women constantly doing the CVS through the abdominal wall which is not how my Dr. office does it so I cannot get a clear answer. I am a wuss I admit it. I cry when I get needles and have panic attacks at the thought of blood work or surgeries.
But given the option - I am glad that he was flat honest and told me about the possibilities pros and cons on all sides.
My OB didn't bring it up with my first LO at age 37. My NT scans came back and my odds couldn't have been better that everything was ok with baby. Still not 100% but I never considered more testing.
With this pregnancy at age 39 my screening tests came back with slightly elevated odds for Downs Syndrome. I think it was like 1 chance in 240. While this scared me at first and totally freaked my husband out, once I met with a genetic counselor and really discussed what the odds mean (mostly due to my age) and after my ultrasound looked perfect I decided not to do further testing. I didn't feel it was worth the risk to do the testing as the odds of causing miscarriage were not far off enogh from the odds of having downs.
If I were you I would not consider this unless there is something that shows up in your screening and/or ultrasound that warrants it. However if you are someone who needs proof for peace of mind than by all means do what you have to do.
A CVS can be done sooner than an amnio. There are other differences with level of invasiveness and accuracy but i couldn't tell you the facts.
to jeerzee
"I have no idea the pain involved. I have tried to find info on it and all I read is women constantly doing the CVS through the "abdominal wall which is not how my Dr. office does it" so I cannot get a clear answer. I am a wuss I admit it. I cry when I get needles and have panic attacks at the thought of blood work or surgeries."
be very suspicious of this. any good doc will asses the best approach (abdominal or vaginal) based on where the placenta is ... to have a blanket policy - despite how an individual woman presents is pretty irresponsible to me ... then again, i got my medical degree from google, so maybe i can't really say.
in response to the OP ... for both pregnancies, i went to my OB knowing that i wanted a CVS. if i only wanted the NT ... they would have been fine with that too. i need the peace of mind.