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Multiples
1:6 Positive First Trimester Screening with Identical Twins - Very Different Nuchal Readings
Hi! I am 13 weeks pregnant with identical twins. I became pregnant while on Paragard and have quite a bumpy ride thus far. My husband and I already have 3 wonderful kiddos and were pretty sure we didn't want more. Then, much to our surprise, we became that .4% who gets pregnant on an IUD.
Finding out we were pregnant was scary because the IUD was in place and that can cause major issues. They went to remove the IUD and it was stuck. I finally went to a specialist and he was able to remove it. We waiting for a couple weeks to see if we would miscarry and everything seemed fine. Then after about 2.5 weeks I had a very large streak of bright red blood. I assume I was having a miscarriage (i had one between my first and second child so I thought this looked the same) and we rushed to the specialist. They did another ultrasound, and voila, there were twins.
Man, for not wanting more kids, we sure hit the jackpot. It's taken us a few weeks to finally start to get over the shock of having 5 kids under 7, then we had our First Trimester Screening.
Initially when asked if we wanted this screening we were not told anything about potentially off numbers due to the fact they were twins. We were led to believe everything worked the same as a singleton pregnancy, so we opted in.
During the Nuchal screening the sonographer really struggled to get readings. She measure SO many times I can't even tell you how many. Well over 20. She kept getting different numbers on one baby. The other baby she couldn't get a reading on. So, she brought in another sonographer (the one who missed the twins on our very first ultrasound during the iud removal - my husband and I both swore we saw two then but dismissed it cause she didn't say anything), and she too really struggled. Not only did she struggle with the reading but she struggled with the new machine. Ugh! Anyway, finally we got them and then were led to do the blood test.
Fast forward a week and I get a call that we "need to talk about my results". Obviously, something was wrong. I made contact with the nurse at my regular OB, not the specialist, and she gave my the bad news, 1:6 chance of Down Syndrome. I was educated and started asking her a million questions that she couldnt answer. Later, I spoke with my regular OB who also couldn't answer my questions...and this is the point of my post:
Here are my readings:
Twin A
NT: 3.1 mm
2.31 MoM
Twin B
NT 1.8
1.42 Mom
Blood work:
Papp A -.90 MoM
HCG - 2.44 MoM
If I run the blood work with baby B's NT, its WELL within the safe range for T21, but Baby A is not. How is this possible. Is this a sign of something else? No one seems to have any answers at my regular office and I don't have an appt. with the specialist until next week. We are going to try and call him this week for clarification, but he is hard to reach. Any information is helpful!
Also wanted to share in case others are in the same boat.
Finding out we were pregnant was scary because the IUD was in place and that can cause major issues. They went to remove the IUD and it was stuck. I finally went to a specialist and he was able to remove it. We waiting for a couple weeks to see if we would miscarry and everything seemed fine. Then after about 2.5 weeks I had a very large streak of bright red blood. I assume I was having a miscarriage (i had one between my first and second child so I thought this looked the same) and we rushed to the specialist. They did another ultrasound, and voila, there were twins.
Man, for not wanting more kids, we sure hit the jackpot. It's taken us a few weeks to finally start to get over the shock of having 5 kids under 7, then we had our First Trimester Screening.
Initially when asked if we wanted this screening we were not told anything about potentially off numbers due to the fact they were twins. We were led to believe everything worked the same as a singleton pregnancy, so we opted in.
During the Nuchal screening the sonographer really struggled to get readings. She measure SO many times I can't even tell you how many. Well over 20. She kept getting different numbers on one baby. The other baby she couldn't get a reading on. So, she brought in another sonographer (the one who missed the twins on our very first ultrasound during the iud removal - my husband and I both swore we saw two then but dismissed it cause she didn't say anything), and she too really struggled. Not only did she struggle with the reading but she struggled with the new machine. Ugh! Anyway, finally we got them and then were led to do the blood test.
Fast forward a week and I get a call that we "need to talk about my results". Obviously, something was wrong. I made contact with the nurse at my regular OB, not the specialist, and she gave my the bad news, 1:6 chance of Down Syndrome. I was educated and started asking her a million questions that she couldnt answer. Later, I spoke with my regular OB who also couldn't answer my questions...and this is the point of my post:
Here are my readings:
Twin A
NT: 3.1 mm
2.31 MoM
Twin B
NT 1.8
1.42 Mom
Blood work:
Papp A -.90 MoM
HCG - 2.44 MoM
If I run the blood work with baby B's NT, its WELL within the safe range for T21, but Baby A is not. How is this possible. Is this a sign of something else? No one seems to have any answers at my regular office and I don't have an appt. with the specialist until next week. We are going to try and call him this week for clarification, but he is hard to reach. Any information is helpful!
Also wanted to share in case others are in the same boat.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: 1:6 Positive First Trimester Screening with Identical Twins - Very Different Nuchal Readings
How to tell my boys apart
The different types of twins and triplets
Jack, Sydney and Carynne, Annaleigh, JW, Eden...forever in our hearts.
My blog * We made the national news!
A fellow member of the PA35 board I also post on, is going through a similar situation with her singleton pregnancy. Many others on that board have made this suggestion, based on a level II ultrasound can detect soft and hard markers for DS. The reason being that CVS is invasive and therefore has some (very small) risks of loss. So maybe you can avoid it if the level II does not show any indications.
Best wishes on your decision.
Mono/Di Twins - Due March 3, 2014 (Realist EDD - Feb 5, 2014)
Mommy to Jericho - 2 Years Old.
This would be an incredibly rare scenario, regardless, because MDS is very rare as it is. This would be an extreme situation, if it were the case.
BUT - to the OP - I agree with everyone else. Wait until you get in with the specialist, get a level 2 done, and HANG IN THERE
Right ovary removed 09.04.2012 via vertical laparotomy
Essure implant placed on remaining tube 06.13.2013; successful followup scan 09.30.2013
3/22 ER: 25R, 20M, 15F. 9 genetically normal, and 3 survived to Day 5
3/27 ET: transferred 1 embryo, beta 9dp5dt=163, 12dp5dt=639
4/25 1st ultrasound at 7 weeks = identical twins with heartbeats?!!!
There are 5% false positives with NT/quad blood work, it is not always accurate, but you should definitely look into this further and get some more testing done to confirm or rule out the results. Good luck and lots of thoughts and prayers your way through this awful waiting game.
My husband called and talked to the specialists office today. Apparently, there was some sort of scheduling blunder. I should have been scheduled immediately to meet with a genetic counselor an to have a special ultrasound, but no one offered this to me from my regular ob's office when they called with the "news". So, we now have that set up for next Tuesday. It makes me feel better. I kinda felt left out to dry after the ob gave me the ratio.
In all of this, I've realize I can handle anything so long as I have all the information. It's more like I just don't want to deal with issues by choice.
But that's just not how life works,
Right? Onward. We'll get this all sorted out. All of your posts in the last 24 hour have made such a difference.
Did they offer you the sulfur(?) DNA test. It's a new blood test only around for a year but that's what discounted downs for us.
GL. I hope everything turns out well for you and your babies.
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I also had another scan, but not a level II (still a wee bit too early for that). Baby B caught up to Baby A's size, they confirmed the nasal bone is present in both babies and their hearts look pretty good (although its still too early to get much detail).
We did the Mat21 test at the office, which the Perinatalolgist said was a good choice at this stage. While it is still diagnostic, it is 98% accurate, even in twins. He said this test will look more closely at abnormal chromosome patterns in the blood versus just hormones. Results will be back mid Sept.
I also found out we are having twin boys!!!
How to tell my boys apart
The different types of twins and triplets
Jack, Sydney and Carynne, Annaleigh, JW, Eden...forever in our hearts.
My blog * We made the national news!