2nd trimester screening

Re: 2nd trimester screening

• fertile-turtle member

  September 2022

  Definitely talk to your doctor about what they want to do with this information, but you should know that NIPT and nuchal screening look for genetic defects in the baby (Down’s syndrome, Trisomy 18, and Trisomy 13). Inhibit A and hCG don’t really have anything to do with the genetic health of your baby. They’re markers for possible pregnancy complications later, especially hypertension, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and (worst case, don’t panic) stillbirth.
  
  

  They don’t mean anything bad will happen, they don’t mean anything is wrong with your baby, but they likely will want to do additional monitoring and will tell you how to best monitor your baby’s wellbeing from home, too. It means you’re more likely to need to be induced or to have an emergency C-section for your safety or your baby’s, so you want to start discussing those types of interventions with your doctor, too, so that if something does come up, you aren’t blindsided and traumatized by it.
  
  Things your doctor may want to do include more frequent ultrasounds, non-stress tests, kick counts, and closer monitoring of your blood pressure and blood sugar. If you have a history of complications or anything else concerning, they may have other testing or monitoring or treatment they want to do, too, and they have a fuller picture of your health and risk factors than any of us could.
  
  I’m sorry you got a scary result, but now that you know you’re at risk, you can work with your care team to keep you and your baby healthy.

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• knottiec146146efcb1dd6b member

  September 2022

  Thank you for this. They were worrying me now with them saying it’s also a marker for Down syndrome or other chromosomal issue but less then 1%. But I had already done my nipts which apparently is more accurate. And that came back good. So I’m not sure if I should even worry about that or focus on the baby aspirin daily and my blood pressure. 

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• fertile-turtle member

  September 2022

  @knottie unless you’ve got another major risk factor, I would be focused on the aspirin and blood pressure. The chances of a false negative from both the NIPT and nuchal translucency is really, really low, and this test isn’t designed for that so much as for the risks of the pregnancy. There always can be false negatives with any screening, but your risk of twice having missed Down’s syndrome, especially, is incredibly low. If you’re really worried, you can ask if you’re still in the window for amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling, which give definitive diagnoses, but I wouldn’t be that concerned about that possibility.

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