Optional testing

firewife9278 · July 2011

I had my first visit with the RN at the OB's office today, after graduating almost 2 weeks ago from the RE.

She mentioned all the optional tests that were available, and I'm wondering if any of them are really necessary? I kind of don't want to have any of them.

Cystic Fibrosis screening, Maternal Serum screening, Quad Screening, NT scan ... is it bad if I opt out of all of them?

kthappy76 · July 2011

Obviously it's a personal choice, but I think all of those are ones I had when we opted for non-invasive testing only (b/w and u/s, no CVS or amnio). We had/have no interest in terminating, but I think there is significant value in knowing your risk or if something is wrong, so you can be prepared, but that's just me.

Temp616379875002458 · July 2011

kthappy76:
Obviously it's a personal choice, but I think all of those are ones I had when we opted for non-invasive testing only (b/w and u/s, no CVS or amnio). We had/have no interest in terminating, but I think there is significant value in knowing your risk or if something is wrong, so you can be prepared, but that's just me.

This exactly. We did the NT scan and any test that was just through bloodwork or a sono/ultrasound. We wanted to know what to prepare ourselves for, just in case.

firewife9278 · July 2011

kthappy76:
Obviously it's a personal choice, but I think all of those are ones I had when we opted for non-invasive testing only (b/w and u/s, no CVS or amnio). We had/have no interest in terminating, but I think there is significant value in knowing your risk or if something is wrong, so you can be prepared, but that's just me.

I thought of that too, but because they're optional, insurance won't pay for them. I have until August 1 to decide (that's my next appt).

ashlyrose · July 2011

The only test I was offered was the quad screening in which I declined. OB stated that sometimes the results will come back as a false positive and with that, I didn't want to have to worry if something did come back. All the u/s were coming back find with good growth so I declined.

kthappy76 · July 2011

firewife9278:

kthappy76:
Obviously it's a personal choice, but I think all of those are ones I had when we opted for non-invasive testing only (b/w and u/s, no CVS or amnio). We had/have no interest in terminating, but I think there is significant value in knowing your risk or if something is wrong, so you can be prepared, but that's just me.

I thought of that too, but because they're optional, insurance won't pay for them. I have until August 1 to decide (that's my next appt).

That's too bad, I thought they were typically covered. You might want to talk to them about which (if any) to do and others to skip based on paying OOP. GL!

Sunshine05 · July 2011

We chose to do the NT scan but opted out of Quad screening when the results came back with odds as low as they measure on the test. I had no problem with non-invasive testing, and depending on the cost would have gone ahead with the NT scan even if insurance didn't cover it. It was a great ultrasound, very detailed, and gave us such a big sigh of relief when everything came back with good news between the scan and the b/w. Totally up to you though!

fallbride110406 · July 2011

firewife9278:
kthappy76:
Obviously it's a personal choice, but I think all of those are ones I had when we opted for non-invasive testing only (b/w and u/s, no CVS or amnio). We had/have no interest in terminating, but I think there is significant value in knowing your risk or if something is wrong, so you can be prepared, but that's just me.

I thought of that too, but because they're optional, insurance won't pay for them. I have until August 1 to decide (that's my next appt).

I would double check that with your insurance. Those were all "optional" but they were covered 100% under my maternity coverage. If you have procedure and diagnosis codes from your OB, you should be able to give them to your insurance and they can tell you for sure.

Even if I had to pay OOP, we would have done the non-invasive testing. If there are issues that would require specialists at birth, I would want to be at a hospital with those specialists on hand.

MrsVo · July 2011

We declined all additional testing expect one very specific genetic test because my DH has the Beta version and if I had been a carrier one or both of the babies could have been born with the Alpha version which is always fatal.

flycka · July 2011

Check with your insurance, depending on the codes or how the write the claim they might still cover it as screening or diagnostic.
CF is part of the new born test, and with no family history we opted out. But this one you can take at any point in your pregnancy. I was told.
It's not about terminating only, it's about being informed. If you prefer not know then you have your answer.

sterpstra10 · July 2011

It's totally a personal choice. We decided to not have any of it done, but it's up to you and your DH. I don't really think we had a specific reason for not - probably just because if there was a false-positive and I'm such a worrier, I'd stress myself out.

sushi&wasabi · July 2011

we are oop for it (already checked) and decided not to do it. H and I talked for 3 days about it and just decided that it won't change the outcome and we really have no reason to worry about anything. There were other things that we talked about, but obviously, 3 days of convo is too long to put into a post! I think it is a really personal decision. Our doc doesn't really get why we opted out of it, but in the end, that was our choice.

Bread09 · July 2011

We opted out of all the testing as we were not in any of the high risk groups and we would not terminate. It was discovered at the a/s that We do have a problem with one of the babies, but it's one that all three specialists we saw said that the early optional testing would not have picked up. That was the the questions I asked when we were told that there were issues with Baby A. Good luck with your decision!

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