Has anyone had first tri screening yet?

makchl · October 2015

I have my first OB appt next week. I'll be 10 weeks. Just wondering if anyone had the blood test to test for chromosome abnormalities and I think it tells gender too?? Is it too early for this test?

aamm04 · October 2015

There is an entire thread for appointments. Please lurk.

wsgjmw1 · October 2015

I am in California... and I agreed to have the "Sequential Integrated Screening" done, I will go back at 11.5 weeks to have blood work done and the NT u/s

AppleRidge · October 2015

I haven't had it yet, but plan to at 9 weeks. What do you want to know?

lisaren · October 2015

I have mine on October 13th. I'll be a little over 10 weeks.

makchl · October 2015

I guess I'm wondering if it will be offered at my first appointment by my OB or if it's with a specialist. I haven't had this screening before with my previous pregnancies. My SIL found out she was having a girl when she was only 12 weeks pregnant. I'm excited to find out what we are having.

katykatykaty · October 2015

I would call your office and ask if it could be included in your first appointment.

lisaren · October 2015

The test is not a tool to find out the sex of the baby. That's an added bonus but it's used to see if there are any genetic abnormalities. Your insurance company also needs to approve of you having this test.

katykatykaty · October 2015

lisaren said:
The test is not a tool to find out the sex of the baby. That's an added bonus but it's used to see if there are any genetic abnormalities. Your insurance company also needs to approve of you having this test.

Not necessarily. Some companies have a limit to how much it costs even if insurance doesn't cover it. The max for the one I'm having is $99.

AppleRidge · October 2015

Yeah, I'm getting the test done to find out if my baby has any life threatening conditions. Seems like a pretty wasteful expense to put on yourself or your health insurance company if all you care about is gender. I have heard it can be around $500 if not covered by insurance and it's taken electively).

seasalt123 · October 2015

It sounds like you are talking about the NIPT/Panorama test. I am getting mine done at exactly ten weeks and they forecast having the results for me in a week. I only recently found out that they can also test for gender as well so I'll be asking them about it when I go in. I am going to a specialist to get the test done, though I've seen it offered at the local blood draw labs here so I am sure it's offered through other means. Mine is costing me $650 and I pay 100% out of pocket. I'm not in the US, however. Good luck.

aamm04 · October 2015

Yes for sex *. You cannot test for gender.

lisaren · October 2015

katykatykaty said:

lisaren said:
The test is not a tool to find out the sex of the baby. That's an added bonus but it's used to see if there are any genetic abnormalities. Your insurance company also needs to approve of you having this test.
Not necessarily. Some companies have a limit to how much it costs even if insurance doesn't cover it. The max for the one I'm having is $99.

You're lucky. That's not the normal.

Regardless, it drives me bat shit crazy when people are only interested in this test to find out the sex of the baby.

katykatykaty · October 2015

lisaren said:

katykatykaty said:

lisaren said:
The test is not a tool to find out the sex of the baby. That's an added bonus but it's used to see if there are any genetic abnormalities. Your insurance company also needs to approve of you having this test.
Not necessarily. Some companies have a limit to how much it costs even if insurance doesn't cover it. The max for the one I'm having is $99.
You're lucky. That's not the normal.

Regardless, it drives me bat shit crazy when people are only interested in this test to find out the sex of the baby.

Request the Verifi test... It's that same cost for everyone.

sillyfox · October 2015

Searched instead of starting a new thread and this is the closest I could find to the question I have.

Is anyone doing the NIPT (Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing)? My OB mentioned it at my first appointment and said he recommended it. I had the NT scan with DD and it was just a blood test and an ultrasound, then another blood test a little while later. But he made it sound like this one is different. When I googled it later it sounds like they mostly only recommend it to high risk patients, but I'm not sure what would make me high risk. I'm just wondering if any of you are planning on doing the NIPT or what factors you weigh before doing it? I wouldn't do it just to find out sex of the baby, but that would be a nice perk if we do decide to do it. I'm going to see if I can find out whether or not it is covered by insurance but I guess I will wait for my next OB appointment to ask if NIPT is the name of the test or if that is a type of test that includes things like MaterniT-21 or whatever? I'm 30 and will be 31 when this baby arrives so I don't think he recommended it for my age...

Edited for typo.

seasalt123 · October 2015

I just had NIPT done (Harmony) and got my results back in exactly one week (including the weekend and holiday) which I thought was pretty good. My results were low risk. I am over 35 and this is my first baby and I was nervous.

It was such a relief to get this test. It's not covered here by medical so I paid the full cost out of pocket - just shy of $700. If I get bad news, I want to know as soon as possible. I've not been able to really see this pregnancy as real as all I read about are are the things which can go wrong - being able to remove a few more things that can go wrong off the list helps me A LOT.

mrsmathews718 · October 2015

I doubt women choose this test to just find out the gender, but even if they did I don't see why it would bother anyone else. If you want to pay the money to find out the gender, more power to you! I am having the screening done, in fact, I just had the blood work for the screening today and will be setting my appointment for the ultrasound part very soon. And I will pay the extra to also find out the gender, because I'm excited and I would like to know. In addition, of course, to finding out that my baby is healthy.

lisaren · October 2015

mrsmathews718 said:
I doubt women choose this test to just find out the gender, but even if they did I don't see why it would bother anyone else. If you want to pay the money to find out the gender, more power to you! I am having the screening done, in fact, I just had the blood work for the screening today and will be setting my appointment for the ultrasound part very soon. And I will pay the extra to also find out the gender, because I'm excited and I would like to know. In addition, of course, to finding out that my baby is healthy.

I'll respond because it does bother me, but first it's finding out the sex of the baby, not gender

there's not a test to determine gender.

I had a baby with trisomy 18 pass away last year, this test was given so I can make horrible but important decisions. It's disturbing to see/hear women say they want to do the test to find the out the sex of the baby because honestly, that can be found out at birth. That is the icing on the cake.
Some couples have admitted that finding out the sex early on was disappointing because it wasn't the desired outcome. The test is intended really to know chromosomal abnormalities.
As a mother who has gone through this, hearing women announce its a boy or it's a girl after hearing the test results and barely mentioning that the results came back normal is just tacky.

mrsmathews718 · October 2015

I understand what the test is for. And I am sorry for your loss. That sounds terrible. I still think everyone is entitled to do what they want. I am for it! That's just my opinions and I'm not hurting anyone by choosing this. Therefore, I don't see why other people are bother by someone's decision to know the sex of the baby. Finding the sex of the baby at birth maybe the icing on the cake for you, but maybe for others knowing now is exciting. I just think it is unfair to rain on someone's parade. Not saying that is what you are doing.

Again, I can understand your position, but even then I don't think people being exciting and announcing the sex of the baby over announcing tests results is tacky. That's all a matter of opinion, of course.

wsgjmw1 · October 2015

I have mine in two weeks and I'll be 12 weeks along .

jdrdnr · October 2015

I am having he NT scan done in Nov. my doctors recommend not until 13 weeks so 4 more to go. Such a long time to wait to see my bean again and to make sure all is good!

HisSunshine52016 · October 2015

I have mine Nov 3rd at just over 12 weeks

karmana · October 2015

@mrsmathews718 Well said! I agree with you completely.

tripledaggerWed95976 · October 2015

I have mine at 12 weeks.. It's just the standard ultrasound and bloodwork (not harmony or anything like that).

jenbrinson07 · October 2015

I get a test on 10/26. The results take 10 days thereafter. I'm excited to find out gender and don't think that is wrong. My test is new and doesn't cost. I've been so sick, that looking forward to the exciting stuff is extra special. I'm not taking the test for that reason only, but who wouldn't be excited about that?

lisaren · October 2015

Just for the record, I have no issues being excited about the test and finding out the sex of the baby. Read very carefully what I wrote.
I have HUGE issues with the test being used specifically just to find out the sex. Yes, this happens. A lot. In my career I see this all the time and I have also known of couples terminating the pregnancies because the sex of the baby was not the desired sex.
Also, having a baby who died of trisomy 18 and having to make horrible decisions around this, this test is used for this sole purpose. I'm grateful for the test. I would pay any amount of money to do it in this pregnancy.
So again, do the test. Be grateful this is available. Be VERY grateful if the test comes back awesome and enjoy the extra of finding out the sex of your baby. No need to blow what I said out of context

seasalt123 · October 2015

I announced the sex of my baby on a thread here. I learned the results via NIPT. I think people announce the sex because they are excited, not necessarily because they don't care about the health. Learning if the baby was a boy or girl (I had no preference) was an afterthought to me. I was worried sick beforehand. However, my relief at getting low risk results was an overwhelming and private emotion. I felt no need to share that feeling with the world. Once it was done, and I opened the rest of the lab report to learn the sex, the excitement and joy of learning such an important detail about my new human took over. It's like how people announce the sex of a baby when it's born or after an ultrasound but don't mention that nothing went wrong. It doesn't necessarily mean they weren't worried sick beforehand. I don't think it's tacky to do that; it's natural. That said, @lisaren was nothing but positive and very sweet on my announcement thread. So I don't think she's trying to say that she looks down on anyone who is excited to learn the sex. I can't imagine how hard it would be to lose a baby to a devastating condition like that, only to witness other people choosing to terminate a healthy baby based on the sex. I can definitely appreciate what a sensitive issue it is, particularly for someone with personal experience with loss or infertility. Best of luck to everyone on their results.

lisaren · October 2015

seasalt123 said:
I announced the sex of my baby on a thread here. I learned the results via NIPT. I think people announce the sex because they are excited, not necessarily because they don't care about the health. Learning if the baby was a boy or girl (I had no preference) was an afterthought to me. I was worried sick beforehand. However, my relief at getting low risk results was an overwhelming and private emotion. I felt no need to share that feeling with the world. Once it was done, and I opened the rest of the lab report to learn the sex, the excitement and joy of learning such an important detail about my new human took over. It's like how people announce the sex of a baby when it's born or after an ultrasound but don't mention that nothing went wrong. It doesn't necessarily mean they weren't worried sick beforehand. I don't think it's tacky to do that; it's natural.

That said, @lisaren was nothing but positive and very sweet on my announcement thread. So I don't think she's trying to say that she looks down on anyone who is excited to learn the sex. I can't imagine how hard it would be to lose a baby to a devastating condition like that, only to witness other people choosing to terminate a healthy baby based on the sex. I can definitely appreciate what a sensitive issue it is, particularly for someone with personal experience with loss or infertility.

Best of luck to everyone on their results.

You made a lot of valid points I've never thought of! Which is why I love discussion forums

seasalt123 · October 2015

Me too @lisaren!

katykatykaty · October 2015

lisaren said:
Just for the record, I have no issues being excited about the test and finding out the sex of the baby. Read very carefully what I wrote.
I have HUGE issues with the test being used specifically just to find out the sex. Yes, this happens. A lot. In my career I see this all the time and I have also known of couples terminating the pregnancies because the sex of the baby was not the desired sex.
Also, having a baby who died of trisomy 18 and having to make horrible decisions around this, this test is used for this sole purpose. I'm grateful for the test. I would pay any amount of money to do it in this pregnancy.
So again, do the test. Be grateful this is available. Be VERY grateful if the test comes back awesome and enjoy the extra of finding out the sex of your baby. No need to blow what I said out of context

What's your job? And how do you know people actually terminate based on the sex? I'm sorry for your loss, but I don't really believe that happens as often as you say it does.

dshannah · October 2015

Agreeing with @seasalt123 and @lisaren; I understand why announcing the sex and not the health seems problematic and also why one might choose to do that (privacy, etiquette, the sheer relief of finding out everything's ok but knowing that no one else was even considering that something bad could happen and not wanting to kill their buzz[es]).

But. I think that as a political action it is important to stress at all times, in public, how many things can go wrong. Not because I'm a pessimist or like being a downer. But Americans have widespread misconceptions about pregnancy: that only 5% or fewer (of recognized pregnancies) end in miscarriage (actual number is 20-25%), that those miscarriages are caused by one's actions or diet (unless you're doing hardcore drugs, that's never true), that chromosomal disorders are rare (3-5% is rare per each pregnancy, but not in the aggregate: every American knows mothers who have lost children that way, even if we don't know we do), that childbirth is a routine medical procedure (or a natural process where complications are rare) and neither the mother nor the child is at risk. When something does go wrong, women feel isolated, unfeminine, guilty, and shamed. The people who knew you were pregnant don't know how to talk to you, and all of this compounds what is already a traumatic loss.

TW:loss My mother experienced an at-term stillbirth with my youngest sister, and participated in a study about loss that became a book (Silent Sorrow). That was first published in 1993 (the version I have) and nothing has f*cking changed. My mother suffered from depression for a decade (though she hid it from everyone but my dad) and my father says it's a miracle their marriage survived: it was the hardest thing they'd ever done, and made *so* much worse by how everyone reacted.

Not to mention that these assumptions about the smoothness and regularity of pregnancy and childbirth affect our (American) national political discourse so that abortion is seen as a wholly elective procedure and never a medical necessity (and we are so, so careful to distinguish between "abortion" and a D&C...). For example, I may not find out my child has Tay-Sachs until after week 20, at which point I would have to go out-of-state to terminate. F*ck the f*cking politicians who make that any f*cking harder than it is. But we let them do it because we are all so afraid of talking about how much can really go wrong. My state *prosecutes and jails* women who miscarry (if they were insufficiently excited about the pregnancy and if they are non-white)--because we can't talk about how often this sh*t really happens: any time something goes wrong, it's the mother's fault and she's criminally liable.

One reason we don't focus on what could go wrong is to calm ourselves, because we are of course all terrified of everything happening. I am, personally at this point in my pregnancy, terrified of a missed miscarriage. Every time my symptoms ebb, I freak out and have to remind myself that there's nothing I can do. Everyone we've told is like: you're past nine weeks, celebrate! Tell everyone! And have to be like, no, not until we hear a heartbeat (12 weeks) and figure out if all the organs are in the right places (18 weeks). BUT! One of the things that makes even this sort of unnecessary panicking and overcaution worse is the fact that pregnant women know we can't share it. We share the BFP with the people close to us, but we often feel we can't vent to them about our fears because even being afraid of something going wrong is a sign of our weakness, neurosis, and insufficiency for motherhood.

I know none of us want to be negative Nancies, or traumatize other pregnant women, by constantly talking about loss and what else can go wrong, but the more open we are about the possibility of loss and complication the more pregnancy will cease to be surrounded by destructive personal and political ignorance.

/rant

tl;dr: If you choose to only share sex, fine and dandy--you do what you need to do. If you choose to share that baby has cleared one more hurdle on the road to healthy birth, power to you: you are doing something incredibly politically and socially important and should do it more:)

katykatykaty · October 2015

I agree with a lot of what you said, @dshannah , but there's no way you could know the history of someone who publically announces the sex of their baby at 11 weeks and doesn't openly tell people it's healthy, too. You have no idea about their motivation behind the test or whether or not they told people they were pregnant as soon as two lines appeared. You have no idea about their loss history and whether or not they shared their losses or their fears of future losses with people.

I actually do think a lot of people know the true rate of miscarriage and complications that can arise... Otherwise the women on this board wouldn't be so petrified of loss and require a trigger warning every time loss is even remotely mentioned.

Again, I agree with the overall theme of your post, but don't judge someone who says they're excited about finding out the sex from the first tri screening. Even if they don't mention anything else about it, you can't possibly know there's no background there.

lisaren · October 2015

katykatykaty said:

lisaren said:
Just for the record, I have no issues being excited about the test and finding out the sex of the baby. Read very carefully what I wrote.
I have HUGE issues with the test being used specifically just to find out the sex. Yes, this happens. A lot. In my career I see this all the time and I have also known of couples terminating the pregnancies because the sex of the baby was not the desired sex.
Also, having a baby who died of trisomy 18 and having to make horrible decisions around this, this test is used for this sole purpose. I'm grateful for the test. I would pay any amount of money to do it in this pregnancy.
So again, do the test. Be grateful this is available. Be VERY grateful if the test comes back awesome and enjoy the extra of finding out the sex of your baby. No need to blow what I said out of context

What's your job? And how do you know people actually terminate based on the sex? I'm sorry for your loss, but I don't really believe that happens as often as you say it does.

-----
I'm a social worker. I know because of my job. It's very taboo. People don't run out on the streets and announce they're doing so. I have no reason to lie about this, and I don't appreciate you implying I am to make a point.

lisaren · October 2015

also. Telling someone sorry for your loss, but... "I'm basically calling you a liar" is bullshit.

Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

katykatykaty · October 2015

lisaren said:
also. Telling someone sorry for your loss, but... "I'm basically calling you a liar" is bullshit.

Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

I am truly very sorry for your loss. I honestly can't imagine going through that.

I still don't understand why they would tell you they are aborting because of the sex. Do some states require giving an abortion reason to a social worker? I am not ignorant... I am socially aware and understand what goes on.

From personal experience, I also understand how hard it is to actually get an abortion (at least in my state, but I know others are similar). Even if there were many people who wanted to abort based on finding out the sex, the challenges of actually having the procedure done would lead me to believe that not many of them are able to follow through. So the number of times that happens in reality would likely be very small.

dshannah · October 2015

@katykatykaty

I agree with you, which is why I repeatedly said its fine if you just announce gender. I just wanted to point out how important it is for those who are even remotely comfortable doing so to talk about loss and complications more openly.

It does more good for more people, and makes it easier for those who can't share to live with their loss. But not everyone is in a position to do that, and that's fine.

Revolutions require a variety of participants. But the status quo is that folks who talk about loss are rare and encouraged to keep quiet, and we need to fix that.

Btw, the source for the misconceptions of miscarriage data was last week's NPR piece: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/05/08/404913568/people-have-misconceptions-about-miscarriage-and-that-hurts

MrsHurtado · October 2015

I had the testing done with my daughter because they said if abnormalities were found it would change my care. Also I do not know anything about my biological mother's side of the family. We just so happened to find out the gender during the sonogram as a "best guess" based on the sonogram technician's many years of experience but she cautioned to keep it to ourselves until the anatomy scan at 19 weeks as it could be wrong... she was not but we waited to tell anyone until then!

Has anyone had first tri screening yet?

Re: Has anyone had first tri screening yet?

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