Hi all! I’m wondering what your thoughts or plans are for NIPT testing? My doctor mentioned we can do it in three weeks at my next appointment. I am 29, there are no genetic risk factors that run in my family I’m aware of. Would it still be a good idea? I would rather this than an amniocentesis later. My doctor made it sound like it would be NIPT or that.
Re: NIPT
As someone who found out my daughter had T21 last pregnancy due to the NIPT (which is not “just” Down syndrome, but a bunch of medical complications, just like all of the other trisomies) but had a perfect NT scan (so nothing would have been picked up until the anatomy scan, and there were many fetal anomalies present by just 15 weeks when we saw the MFM, so there would have been many present by 20 weeks), I am embarrassed that I didn’t think it was necessary with my prior pregnancy with my son (and it wasn’t out yet with my first two pregnancies). It is 100% worth it, hands down, absolutely, at any price. I was barely 35 with no other risk factors and 3 prior full term, healthy babies - it was an absolute shock when it came back positive, to both us and my doctor. I’ll also say that anyone who says they would “never terminate” and love their baby no matter what so “don’t need to know,” that yes, you’ll love your baby no matter what, but you also can never say you would never terminate for a medical reason until face to face with an awful and/or terminal outcome for your very loved baby (and then, especially in the US right now, it’s a race against time for more testing and timelines because of the awful laws), and most people who have to TFMR also thought they would never. And even if you choose to carry to term no matter what kind of diagnosis, a positive result means it’s now a high risk pregnancy and a bunch of specialists and more testing and monitoring needed, immediately, so the sooner you know there is something wrong, the better.
*Live, Love, Laugh, Learn*