Worried! 3.5mm NT measurement, high end of normal...

[D00dles]

Hi ladies, I'm hoping some of you could put my mind at ease and share some experiences. I had my 12week scan yesterday and my NT measured at 3.5mm, the high end of normal. Everything else seemed fine with the baby. They have taken bloods before invasive testing, as I'm 28 they feel I'm not automatically high risk for a chromosome defect but they did explain it could indicate a problem with baby's heart.
So I have been left to worry, if I don't hear from them in the next week I'm low risk but what about the heart issues? I'm guessing I won't know that for another 6weeks until my 20week scan I'm not sure if I should text my community midwife for some reassurance or whether that would be wasting her time.
I've looked at Dr. Google and I can only seem to find stories of 6-11mm or lower measurements but they've been offered testing straight away...
Has anyone had something similar?

[bakingtins]

You would absolutely not be wasting your MW's time by speaking to her. I think invasive testing is normally offered based on the combined nt and blood results, and only if you are then high risk (of chromosome defects) would amnio/cvs be offered. It's probably worth reposting in the antenatal testing section for more replies/experiences.
I hope your MW can reassure you and that everything is fine with your baby.

[MissTwister]

Also if you have the money and don't want invasive testing you could look at having the Harmony test done. This is £400 at the fetal medical centre including a scan, you get the test results in 2 weeks and it's 99% able to tell you if there are the main 3 chromosonal abnormalities. It doesn't tell you about heart conditions BUT the sonographers and equipment there are amazing and during the scan they spend so much time you may well be able to get better and quicker answers than on the NHS.

[D00dles]

Thank you. I'll repost in the antenatal testing. They were going to offer me automatic invasive testing based on the scan but the consultant said it's still in the normal range, my age, etc would suggest waiting for the bloods. It's just so worrying! £400 is pretty expensive, I was thinking about having a private scan but I doubt they could tell me much more. Thank you xx

[MissTwister]

At the FMC they looked at the heart valves within the heart at 13 weeks - also looked at the pulse within the liver which apparently is a blood vessel that's only 0.5mm thick! Their equipment is pretty advanced - maybe give them a call to ask

[KittyandTeal]

The bloods and hormone levels will give them a better idea of if anything is wrong.

If you don't have £400 to spend I suggest waiting until the bloods come back. It may well be that your levels are all normal, in which case you could just get a private cardio scan, or request an NHS one (they might say no)

If the hormone results come back a little off they should offer you a cvs or an amnio.

Chromosomal issues are fairly rare (as I found out having lost our dd to Edwards) so please try not to worry. I do know how horrid that wait it though.

Try to be positive, it may be the high end of normal but it's still normal xx

[Zahrah5]

It is the best 400 ever spend, they can tell you so MUCH MORE than NHS.
There are many soft markers of problems at which NHS sonographers dont look at all.

You dont need to spend 400 as you dont need the Harmony, looks like you just want really good anatomy scan/ NT scan, so try to book with FMC.
They even do separate cardiac scan. Those will cost about 150 I believe so.

[Chookford]

d00dles I have replied on the other thread but will reply here too:

D00dles I had the same in Novemeber, my 12 week scan had a nuchal fold measurement of 3.5mm which whilst not massive is on high end of normal which they explained could mean a sign of DS or a heart problem or could just be a varient of normal I had the bloods done at the same time and next day received my risk, my age (32) and the NT measurement gave me a risk of 1/89 of downs so high risk, clear for other trisomys but as there were no other soft markers on my scan they told me to stay positive (!!) my hospital is running a trial alongside Kings so I was offered the Harmony blood test free which we did the following day, we had an anxious 8 day wait until results were in then got the call to say my risk was now 1/10,000 so very low.. I was over the moon, then had to get over the detailed heart scan hurdle which we had nearly 5 weeks ago now (im almost 26 weeks) and all was perfectly fine no issues found at all, nor were there at the anomoly scan a week later, and the Nuchal translucency was now well within the normal range at 22wks so even after receiving those odds please dont panic, its far far more likely that your baby is fine and a raised NT was just that, a raised measurement not an indicator of a problem, will keep everything crossed for you!

Sorry for the essay there, I just remembered how much better i felt reading others experiences when I was going through this...