blood work for downs, spina bifida, and trisonmy

I have to decide before my next appointment whether or not we want the blood work to test for downs, spina, etc... We have lots of friends that have opted out of this for several reasons. We have heard that one reason they give you the test is for the decision to abort - well that will not be an option for us, no matter what it the results are. So if it won't change anything then why have it? well, my dh wants to be prepared if one of the babies do have something. However, I have also heard that it often gives false positives and then for the rest of my pregnancy I will be concerned if it is positive. Well, by dr. also said that it helps tell about risk for preterm labor and lack of growth. But, we already know that I am at risk for it.

So, my question is: did you have the test done, and if not, what were your reasons.

 

When I was pregnant with my son- I felt the same way. It was not going to change my mind about whether or not I wanted the baby. So I talked to my doc about it. He said he would not expect me to end the pregnancy due to this- but that it is good for them as docs to know, so they can appropriatly deliver the child- due to if it had spina bifida for example- it would need to be c-section- and also I think they monitor the pregnancy closer.
I did it with both pregnacies- both times it was negative- but if it weren't I would ahve still continued with the pregnancy!

 

I did not. Aborting both babies because one had a problem was not an option for us.

 

I had the test with my first son (not that the results mattered, I just thought I would want to know ahead of time if there was a problem) but I didn't with the twins. With so many ultrasounds and tests throughout the pregnancy anyways---I figured something would have shown up. My ob didn't seem to be concerned, so I wasn't either.

Reyna

 

I didn't have the test done with either of my pregnancies. I do know though that with this pregnancy my peri asked if I had it done and when I told him "no" he said "good, the test is very unreliable if you are having twins." I guess the false positive rate is higher when testing multiples for some reason, and my peri said the level II u/s is actually more reliable in detecting any problems with the babies then the bloodtest is. That might be something you want to ask you ob or peri about. I always figured that my Level II u/s would catch any of the markers since it is so in depth....and if they found markers I could then decide from there whether to do an amnio or not.

It's a personal choice though...good luck either way!!

 

I spent many hours back and forth on this. At the last minute I decided to go ahead and do the test. My test came back normal. I just decided the more information I had, the better. Like one of the previous posters said, knowing there is a problem can aid the doctor in delivery and also could prepare you in case they do find something. My doctor told me if the test came back positive, all the would do is send me to a perinatal speciliast for further testing.

In the end, I was glad I did it. I would have wondered if I hadn't.

Good luck with whatever decision you make

Allison

 

We didn't because of the high rate of false positives for multiples.

 

We didn't do any of them. No matter the results we would not abort. I have heard of too many false positives. My mother in law use to council women and their husbands who got positive results for Downs(my brother in law has Downs). She was even there in delivery for a lot of the time. She said more times than she could count they were told the baby did have Downs, and the baby didn't.

If a baby is born with Downs or other issues, resources to help are there right away.

Being prepared is good for some. I think it would make me worry even more. I am worried enough.

It is a real personal choice. Not an easy one for most people. I think because my brother and my brother in law both have Downs made it easy to decide not to do it.

Dianna

 

My first pregnancy… I did it, and I got a false positive and it did mess me up the rest of my pregnancy… and I really wondered why I did it, if it didn’t matter…but I was a basket case that whole pregnancy… my sister opt not to with her 2 pregnancies because what I went through… I did do it TODAY for the twins but I felt REALLY comfortable doing after a rave review from my peri… plus I have had the false positive that ended with a perfectly health child… so I’m not putting much weight into it if it comes back off (i almost know it will because of it being twins)… its more to have time to prepare myself and family (that includes a 10 year old boy) IF we need to… if its something MAJOR... but after todays glowing report... i'm not to concerned...

 

I never did it and am not doing with this pregnancy.

 

I did and then subsequently had an amnio. Whether or not I would abort wasn't at issue. It was being surprised at the birth with a special needs child that I was completely unprepared for. If I had issues to deal with, I would need to learn HOW to deal with it more than be thrown feet first in..... if that makes sense!!

 

We opted out of it this pregnancy and with DS.

 

We didn't do it, our OB said it had a high false positive rate for multiples. He also said that if it did come back positive then the next step would be an amnio (one for each baby) and that there was always a chance of miscarriage. We also wouldn't have aborted, so for us it didn't really make a difference.

 

I never did it. My ob said it doesn't really tell much, just if you are at a higher risk for certain things. Also if there were anything wrong, they would more than likely catch it with the u/s. I kind of felt like they had to offer it, but didn't really recommend it. Good luck with your decision.

 

I was never offered the test.

 

We did with both pregnancies because I am of "advanced maternal age" and more stuff could go wrong. We didn't do it so that we could abort - we did it so that if something was wrong, we would be delivering in the right hospital to help out, and so the doctors would be prepared. I did go on to have an amnio with both pregnancies since both of mine came back as possible Down's. I'm glad I had it with my first, singleton. I'm not so sure I am glad I had it with the second, twin, pregnancy.

The one thing I wish I had known was that there are lots more false postives with multiples on these tests, and if you have access to a level 2 ultrasound, it can tell you a lot of the same information about Down's at least, not so sure of the other results, so you might want to discuss that as another option with your doctor to help you decide. We had one after the blood work, went to genetic counseling, had the level 2 u/s, then the amnio.

 

Back when I was pregnant with the twins, I only had to sign a consent if we wanted to do the quad screen (bloodwork). This pregnancy, they made me sign a consent and check off what I wanted to have done (quad screen, ultrasound for nuchal fold measuring and/or amnio). I was shocked when I saw how much it had changed. My OB said that over the years they have to now offer everything for insurance purposes, etc...which is why everything is listed and not just the bloodwork. Used to be that the amnio and stuff were for if the blood work came back positive, you could opt for the amnio. Now, it's on that form like I could just choose to ONLY have an amnio done. It scares me for those women who might not know much about pregnancy who would maybe opt for that out of the shear fact that they don't understand. KWIM?

I did the quad screen with both pregnancies. It was negative with both. I wanted to choose the least invasive procedure. We wouldn't have ever choosen abortion b/c of any outcome, but if there was something wrong, it would be nice to know ahead of time (even though I know it gives false positives).

 

I did have it done but I also did not know I was having twins yet.

I would have had it done if I had known that there were two chickies in there as well. My feeling was that having an opportunity to prepare for a child with a problem would have been easier than having it sprung on me in the delivery room. Reduction was not something that I thought about at all, I approached it as something to prepare myself with.

However, when the results came back 'abnormal' after I had let my OB know that I was having the twins I got a little ticked off because she had not bothered to read my chart and know that the results would have been skewed due to two babies in there.

It's a very personal choice and something that you and DH will have to figure out. Best of luck!

alexis

 

There is a high rate of false positives with twins, and my peri recommended we not do it. If we wanted to know anything definitively, he recommended CVS or amnio instead.

We did not do any testing other than what U/S would show.

 

We did not have the quad screen done with the twins because of the possible inaccurate results. OB actually did not recommend it with twins. We would not have aborted no matter what, so no amnio too. When you start getting your level two ultrasounds, they are really thorough. They measure everything so if there is a problem MORE THAN LIKELY they'd catch it there. I understand wanting to be informed ahead of time, for time to prepare, but with the high rate of false positives with multiples, it wasn't worth it for us. HTH!

 

I didn't do the blood test in question...but I did do the nuchal fold u/s and b/w and if I were to go back in time-I wouldn't have done it in the first place. The reason I did it was because 1-it was a free u/s...2-I was having twins...3-I was symptom free(the whole 9 months) and needed reassurance that all was well...

#2 goes more with #3...Anyways...On Baby B it came back that he was at high risk for Downs. Meaning he had a 1 in 49 chance of being born with it. We were told this at the 11 wk u/s scan for the nuchal. Fast forward to 20 wks when we had our big scan...His femur was shorter than his brothers-and 4 weeks behind in growth. Another marker for Downs. Fast forward to 38 weeks and them being born-both HEALTHY. I too wouldn't have done anything different if there was something wrong. Having gone through years of infertility I wasn't going to risk an amnio, etc...or terminate the pregnancy. Take all those tests with a grain of salt. Next pregnancy I won't have those done...

 

I just did it the other day and it made me really anxious. I did do it with both of my other pregnancies as well. I hate the test but if there is a chance something is wrong I would like to know sooner then later so I can make sure we find specialists to care for the baby. Also babies with Downs have a higher rate of heart defects so if it came out positive for Downs I would want a fetal echo as well.

 

We did do the AFP with my first 2 pregnancies, not because I would ever abort but to be prepared if something were wrong. With some disorders, there are often heart problems and I wanted to have a heads up so that I could deliver in a hospital close to where my baby could get immediate help. I did not do the testing this time around due to false results with multiples, but I also get SO many ultrasounds and the babies are looked over closely quite often anyways.

 

I am assuming that this is not a straight quad test, that they are going to do an NT scan and follow up with bloodwork a few weeks apart. The bloodwork risk average is then divided between the 2 babies. Personally, I did the NT scan / septum measurement for this pg and my last one. I wasn't going to do an amino and just wanted a general idea of what my odds were of having a trisomy baby (you get to meet with a geneticist). That being said all my scans came back clear, but my level II u/s have given me soft markers for trisomy 18 in 3 of my 4 kids (oldest dd super fine and still pg with other 2).

Good luck on your decision.

Fiona

 

i just got it done yesterday for 'maternal age" but now im regrettng it due to high false positivies with twins I wouldnt have done the amio-i told my doctor no evasive procedures; but a blood test i would-now it its ++ and i will recline any animo's no matter what-

 

I didn't do it either. I knew there are a lot of false positives. I wasn't willing to abort nor was I willing to go to more risky invasive testing (amniocentesis) if it was positive. They can tell a lot on the ultrasound (and can often see spine defects etc.). I think if you aren't going to act on it, why know the answer? It would only worry me to death for the rest of the pregnancy, and I didn't feel that kind of stress was worth it.

 

I never heard about it telling abot PTL.???

My doc does not recommend that test for multiples as they (doctors) don't know what the normal range is for multiples so it leads to false positves quite often. They will compare your results to the normal range for singletons.

We didn't do it for the twins either. We did do it with our singletons (same doc).

 

I did have the bloodwork done (and the nuchal scan at 12 weeks) and I am glad I did.

When my 20 week level II u/s showed a soft marker for trisomy 18, and I already knew my risks were less than 1/10,000 for it, I felt confident in refusing an amniocentesis. I saw a peri for a repeat of the 20 week scan, and the peri told me that looking over my bloodwork, she was confident I had made the right choice in refusing the amnio, and felt that I was still at incredibly low risk. She even questioned why I had been referred, but told me I had the option of continuing to see a peri, but she didn't think it was necessary.

 

We did it directly after our genetic counseling session, so that we could be prepared.

 

We decided to do it. Not for abortion reasons- that would never be an option. But to be prepared. Although even without multiples they can have a lot of false positives. But the false positives are higher with multiples.

We went ahead and did it and what a relief when it came back neg...the chance of something being wrong with the girls is 1 in 40,000. It was just one less thing to worry about for us. BUT if it was positive- it would have worried me the entire time not knowing if it was a false positive. So I guess we just lucked out??

 

I did it. I mean it couldn't hurt it is just a blood test!! And I read the pamphlet they gave me as I was waiting and saw the paragraph talking about how multiples give false positives more than they don't!
the blood test is pretty much if it comes back positive then u have the option of getting an amnio. I don't think knowledge can hurt anyone. Mine came back negative but if it did come back positive I wouldn't have done the amnio just because I am 20 and in great health and it wasn't worth the chance of miscarriage for me.

but I would get the blood test done cause it sure as **** can't hurt!