Did you get a CVS, quad screening or amniocentesis?

huntertwin · November 2011

Since they're elective, they're not covered by our insurance. Not sure if we should take the plunge.. I know that carrying multiples can elevate the chance of false positives, plus, even if there's something wrong, it's not like we're going to have an abortion.

What did you do?

Bonus question: Is one of the tests better than another? Not sure if I know the difference between them..

UsedToBeGoldie · November 2011

my Ob had to recommend an amnio to me b/c of my age (i was 35 when i got pg with the twins) but we knew we never wanted to have one - and my OB agreed with me, that if we had zero plans to terminate, that he didn't think the risk was worth "just knowing" - esp since it's essentially double the risk with twins.

we did the NST at 12w b/c it's non-invasive, and is a really fun US to have done b/c they are still fairly small so you can see all of teh baby- and they look like babies and not blogs anymore.... and it was nice to get a good odds ratio, too. Even if we had a high odds ratio- we would not have done anymore testing - we would have gone to term no matter what - so felt any risk to the babies was not worth it.

E&RMommy · November 2011

I am a planner and wanted to be prepared. Infants with Down Syndrome have a high rate of cardiac malformations, so if need be I would have wanted a cardiac surgeon on the case / available immeidately if needed. I would have wanted to know if I was carrying one viable and one non-viable baby. None of which would have caused me to terminate....I just wanted to plan.

I opted for first trimester ultrasound only - no serum screening.

I opted for second trimester quad screen & obviously for anatomy scan (aka level 2 ultrasound).

Had any of my tests come back with increased risk I would have considered but not necessarily had an amnio.

Even if the risk of false positive was higher (and actually false negative too since the chemicals are basically being averaged for 2 babies) I still wanted the testing.

j&j508 · November 2011

We did the 12 week testing (detailed u/s and bloodwork) and the quad screen. We weren't sure which way to go-- I would do better if I was prepared if one of the babies had an issue, but a false positive/bad ratio would probably make me worry.

We decided to go for it because it was covered by my insurance and was another ultrasound to see our sweet little babies. Thankfully, they looked great and our ratios were the lowest "risk" you could get, so it all worked out for the best.

It's a hard decision-- good luck!

snoangel79 · November 2011

None, we did the NT u/s at 12 weeks. It wouldn't have changed our decision to continue to carry a child if they had something wrong with them so I my decision was made if they said something "might have been wrong".

blondek8 · November 2011

I didn't do any of those or the NST.

ninjabridemom · November 2011

Personally I would not do CVS or amnio unless there's a solid reason -- family history, personal history, genetic reason (you and your H are carriers of something), etc. Also in those cases, the CVS and amnio are considered diagnostic and not elective, I believe -- we just had to pay a $20 copay for our amnio.

The quad I'm unfamiliar with b/c we had already set up the amnio by the time we got to things like that.

DavezWife · November 2011

I would start with the NT scan if you have reason to worry (family hx, issues prior with the pregnancy, etc) and go from there. If there are concerns, your insurance will likely cover it (at least to some extent) b/c you have a reason to be doing it. By the way, the NT scan, CVS and specialists for our ONE DAY of hell (when we found out one of our babies had issues) our insurance was billed $10K. For that ONE DAY. (albeit twins) So yeah, you're going to want to pre-authorize things if needed.

my story is super complicated by many factors, but I just wanted to throw something in "food for thought"....

A few months ago, I was someone who would EASILY say "we'd never terminate, we'd just want to know" but let me tell you... after learning about some VERY serious anomolies in one of our babies (twins) we did a LOT more than think about it. We actually had one peri/MFM that "strongly encouraged it" citing the other baby would die if we didn't, medical reasons as far as me carrying the sick baby... etc. (the dx changed and so did our careplan) It's a very personal decision that EACH family making it has to consider a 1000 facts about. I'm just now in the camp "never say never" because you NEVER (oops, lol) know how you would really react to something until you're staring it in the face. So I say learn all you can, and enlist the opinions of docs if you're confused what you really need, test wise.

ps - may this all be pointless info for you, btw. GL!

ninjabridemom · November 2011

DavezWife:
It's a very personal decision that EACH family making it has to consider a 1000 facts about. I'm just now in the camp "never say never" because you NEVER (oops, lol) know how you would really react to something until you're staring it in the face. So I say learn all you can, and enlist the opinions of docs if you're confused what you really need, test wise.

ps - may this all be pointless info for you, btw. GL!

I absolutely agree with this. And also, people go through amnios/CVS's not just b/c they're considering termination. There's a lot of planning you can do with a firm, diagnostic test. I don't like that doctors push that line of thinking.

But considering they're invasive, I agree start w the NT scan, etc., and go from there.

emschott · November 2011

We weren't sure about the NT scan, but our insurance covered it, and we did do it. We didn't do the bloodwork to go along with it. At 16 weeks, we did the anatomy scan, which revealed some abnormalities with our little girl's bowel, which could be an indicator of CF, among other things. I had previously turned down the quad screen, but changed my mind after the ultrasound and also was tested to see if I was a carrier for CF. CF testing had been offered early on. I had said no then, but after the abnormal ultrasound, my insurance agreed to cover it, so I had it done. (Just bloodwork). Turns out I'm not a carrier, and my girl's bowels were clear at 18 weeks. I haven't had anything invasive done (like CVS or amnio), because nothing has indicated the need.

Everything I've mentioned is either bloodwork or ultrasound. Unlike some here, we knew that we would terminate if something very serious showed up. The testing is nerve-wracking, especially if something abnormal comes up. Fortunately, for us things have gone pretty smoothly. Good luck with your decisions.

ardilla · November 2011

We did not do any more extensive testing than ultrasounds -- however I did have multiple u/s at my peri's office that were referred to as "level 2 u/s" because our anatomy scan showed one baby only had a 2 vessel cord instead of 3, and tons of monitoring for their heart rates while I was in the hospital for 7 weeks.

Mrs. Alice · November 2011

I was offered the quad screen but opted not to do any of them based on the fact that we did not have risk factors, I don't think my insurance would have covered it, and we would also not abort.

kthappy76 · November 2011

We only did the non-invasive testing (NT u/s and b/w) and they were worthwhile and covered by our insurance. Termination is not the only reason to have these (or the invasive tests) done.

huntertwin · November 2011

Thank you all! You've given me a lot to think about.

This is my first pregnancy, there is nothing wrong that I know of, and I don't know that we are carriers for anything. So I guess there's no reason to worry, necessarily, it's just that I'm constantly afraid something's going to happen.

But my anxiety is a double-edged sword.. I want to quiet my fears with the tests, but I'm afraid I'd go over the edge if something came up.

Also, I definitely wouldn't say that I'd never terminate if something were wrong. If there were serious complications I would consider it, no question. I just wouldn't if the babies had Downs, trisomy or spina bifida or whatever. This is hard!

ninjabridemom · November 2011

huntertwin:
Thank you all! You've given me a lot to think about.
This is my first pregnancy, there is nothing wrong that I know of, and I don't know that we are carriers for anything. So I guess there's no reason to worry, necessarily, it's just that I'm constantly afraid something's going to happen.
But my anxiety is a double-edged sword.. I want to quiet my fears with the tests, but I'm afraid I'd go over the edge if something came up.
Also, I definitely wouldn't say that I'd never terminate if something were wrong. If there were serious complications I would consider it, no question. I just wouldn't if the babies had Downs, trisomy or spina bifida or whatever. This is hard!

If your insurance will cover the blood tests, do those first. That's where we started and where we knew I, then my husband, were CF carriers. They'll choose what to test you for based on your heritage, but I think the common ones are SMA, CF, Tay Sachs, and Fragile X.

It's the simplest thing to do and genetics are genetics. It doesn't mean there couldn't be other things wrong but you're definitely cutting out some biggies.

ougrad1 · November 2011

I'm not sure what the quad screening is only because I chose to have the CVS with both of my pregnancies. But, if you're absolutely not going to abort the pregnancy for any reason whatsoever, I know you don't need the CVS. Amnio would be helpful if your doctor sees a problem and wants to get a closer view of what's going on.

JesseKhloe&Me · November 2011

Non here. I don't think you should put you or your babies through that unless you have a very high risk of something specific. Just My Opinion.

Put it in Gods hands Happy & Healthy 9 months

Fancy3Face · November 2011

We didn't do any testing. Not even the NT scan. We would have carried to term regardless of the results and any significant health problems would have more than likely been caught during our monthly growth scans. If those scans would have been indicative of a problem we would have probably agreed to further testing so we could be prepared.

If my insurance didn't cover it and I had no indications of issues, I'd personally skip the testing. But that's just me.

cookiemonster03 · November 2011

ougrad1:
I'm not sure what the quad screening is only because I chose to have the CVS with both of my pregnancies. But, if you're absolutely not going to abort the pregnancy for any reason whatsoever, I know you don't need the CVS. Amnio would be helpful if your doctor sees a problem and wants to get a closer view of what's going on.

Same here. We did CVS as well. I vaguely remember the MFM saying the quad screen wasn't accurate with multiples, but I could be off on that since it was totally irrelevant post-CVS. Of course, there is no reason to bother with a CVS if termination isn't on the table for you.

LightBlue · November 2011

Fancy3Face:
We didn't do any testing. Not even the NT scan. We would have carried to term regardless of the results and any significant health problems would have more than likely been caught during our monthly growth scans. If those scans would have been indicative of a problem we would have probably agreed to further testing so we could be prepared.
If my insurance didn't cover it and I had no indications of issues, I'd personally skip the testing. But that's just me.

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