Thank you NumptyMum - that is a great way to look at it

Thanks also Huntress - and sorry for hijacking your thread somewhat! Glad you got the result you wanted in the end

TheHuntress - really glad that nose was showing bright and clear! Though as you said, I think it's a fairly new marker - I think possibly it's only the FMC that are looking at the nasal bone - so what you've written may reassure anyone else who now wonders about this.

TheMightyToosh - not sure whether your dates made a difference to your bloods, but scans can also give pointers to problems (or positive things, such as thehuntress just had). Will you be getting a scan later, eg around 18-20wks? As it is, your risk is pretty low, think of it as 259 chances your baby will be fine, vs one that there may be problems. And if there were serious problems, these may well show up on a scan (did in my case, anyway). Hope all goes well.

Thanks huntress - yes, it was my combined risk. She said that my bloods were what pushed it up, as the scan was all fine.

They said the threshold they use is 1:250 for high:low divide, so I am officially classed as low. The report said I needed no further tests. But on seeing your result, I'm just wondering why mine is so close to the edge!

BUT - I was officially one day over the time limit (they said the scan was still valid because the baby was within the length measurement) so I'm wondering if this might be why my bloods were a bit higher, because I was further along than I should have been, but would 1 day really make that big a difference??

Will look up the other threads - thanks

TheMightyToosh - was your combined risk 1:260? I think the way it usually works is that you will have a age-related risk, a nuchal-related risk and a blood-related risk, which they will combine to come up with your number.

So I'm 36, my risk is 1:300s considering just my age. With the low nuchal and bloods, my risk was lowered to 1:3172.

I think if the risk is anything above 1:300, they offer CVS/amnio. But all of this is really individual choice. Risk of miscarriage for CVS/amnio is 1:100, so you have to weigh your risk against that.

There are loads of threads on this topic, so maybe take a look. Sorry, that probably didn't help much.

Wow - your risk is really low!

I have a scan and everything looked fine, but with my bloods my risk was 1:260-something. It is still classed as low, but not anything like as low as yours!

Should I be worried? Anyone know of why the bloods might make this big a difference (I'm 34 so the age-related risk was also relatively high.

Just a quick update. I had another scan yesterday and the nasal bone was there - bright and clear! It was done by a different sonographer and the baby was a bit more cooperative, so not sure if that made a difference.

So, hopefully this will be reassuring if someone else has this happen in the future. My revised risk is now 1:3172 so I'm really happy with that.

Thanks again for all of the responses.

An amnio is the only sure way to know the situation. You might need to consider this & agree with isitmeor on thinking things through before your scan. Best wishes.

Hi thehuntress, glad you're feeling better. We looked into this when expecting DS, and you are quite right that the nasal bone thing is a new test, developed by the guy who set up the Fetal Medicine Centre (that's what you meant by FMC isn't it?). But that's because he's one of the leading world experts in fetal testing, rather than because he's some sort of random crackpot.

In your shoes, I would follow their advice re the extra scan and see what you think in the light of that.

Have you thought about what you would do if your odds don't improve? Everybody seeems to say it's a good idea to know before you test, although I don't have personal experience of that.

ultyrasound isn't exact and mistakes are often made depending on the skill of the sonographer and how the baby is lying.

Our posts crossed Mybox - thanks also. I'm actually feeling much better about things now and not jumping to any conclusions.