Shock at NT results

[Boggler]

I'm 13&3 and had a NT scan and bloods last week, at the scan all looked ok with a measurement of 1.5 which the sonographer said was really good. However my blood results are now in and I had a phone call from the clinic saying that with the bloods the result is high risk at 1 in 36 of ds! I'm 43 and this pregnancy was not planned but I now i am i want everything to be ok. I've only just stopped sobbing and now contemplating an amnio which I didn't really want but now I can't bear to not know what we're facing. I thought tat after such a good nt measurement my risk would be low so I'm in total shock

[Westcountrylovescheese]

...remember though that you also have a 35 out of 36 chance of having a baby without DS.

I hope everything goes well for you.

[GladysLeap]

I had my DD at 43 and my result was 1:24. I found out on here (later) that because of the way the blood tests work, older mums will always get a dodgy result.

My DH insisted on an amnio because he was adamant he couldn't cope with a child with DS, but my consultant did a detailed (colour) scan before-hand looking for soft markers. This is also an option at 20 weeks, but obviously depends what your feelings are.

DD is now almost 5 and did not have DS.

[cherrybug]

Sorry to hear you're in this position. It's an awful place to be.
Only having an amnio will give you a definitve answer. Once you have a high risk result it does change your views on amnio. For what it's worth, the risks of amnio are very small and it doesn't hurt but emotionally it's hard.

You still have a much greater chance of your baby not having DS. Your NT result is great and as has been said age heightens the risk ratio considerably.

Best of luck

[Tmesis]

At your age the base level of risk for DS is around 1 in 38 anyway, so really all this result has shown you is that everything is about average - so not a great result but not a terrible one either.

Are you overweight at all? That can slant the blood test results.

[blue22]

You poor thing. It's so stressful all this scan stuff. That Nuchal measurement is fantastic. Did they look for other markers? Eg, is the nose bone present? There are 2 heart markers they can look for as well.
I am currently 20 weeks pregnant and had a terrible 12 week scan. Nuchal 2.3 which is high end of normal, but also had bad blood results and a heart marker for downs. I had a CVS at the fetal medical centre with professor nicolaides (google him - he's fabulous and the best person to do these procedures) and all came back clear.
Try and find out if your sonogropher looked for the other markers.

[Boggler]

Thanks for your supportive comments, I am overweight (not obese) so interested to see that that might be affecting things. Really not sure what to do as I have had 3 mc's previously so can't face loosing another as a result of an amnio. So hard to think clearly at the moment.

[nearlymumofone]

I just googled your age and risk of having a child with ds, it came back as 35. So your risk is just normal for your age. The nuchal measurement is really good too. It's hard to say not to worry (my thread is the one entitled 1:153 risk of ds so I'm kind of going through a similar thing). I stressed considerably for the first few days of finding out, then just thought I'm keeping the baby whatever and I would not do anything with a risk of miscarriage so I just decided to stop worrying and man up about it! It's kind of working. Obviously I still come on this site, so it's still on my mind but I'm enjoying the pregnancy again now. If you would keep the baby whatever then my advice would be view as the (I'm not very good at stastics.... ) but roughly 97% chance that all will be well and try to shelve it and enjoy the pregnancy. That's what I have done.

I hope I don't sound flippant, but it's just how I'm dealing with things and it's more or less going well. Good luck xx

[Ilovekittyelise]

as others have said the way the odds are calculated, factors in your age. so basically your risk of 1:35 is the same as a younger woman getting 1:300 or whatever, so it's kind of misleading, but reflects the fact that at 43 pregnancy is quite risky in terms of defective eggs,and it justifies giving all mums that age invasive testing.

if you do a bit more googling, you will see that the single biggest indicator of chromosomal problems is the NT, and that the hormones can often be out of whack for other reasons, and it is very rare to have a child with downs with a NT of 1.4mm (not impossible, just unlikely).

if its any consolation, having had a previous down's pregnancy (NT 5.0mm at 11 +4), i decided with my son, that i would not have the blood test unless the NT was over 2.0mm, i just did not want to go through all that awful waiting and worrying again. the NT was 1.6 I think, and my perfect son is now 6 months old.

i think the risks linked with CVS and amnio are very much linked to who undertakes the procedure and how experienced they are, i had a consultant who did a lot of these at a london teaching hospital and she was able to tell me after doing the procedure that it had been incredibly straightforward and extremely unlikely to cause a miscarriage; even though i did end up having a termination.

i hope everything is ok in your case, im sure it is. xxx

[jbl2312]

i was 43 when i had my wonderful dd, my blood test came back as high for downs, but knowing i would not terminate the pregnancy for downs i just didnt see the point of having the amnio, she was born perfectly healthy :) i had a termination 2 years before at 30 weeks as a scan showed the baby only had half a heart and fluid on the brain...i hope all goes well for you

[Boggler]

Well I had my amnio on Monday, and am just waiting nervously for my results. I had to know what the position is I couldn't go on not knowing and wondering what if?