29 weeks worried about downsyndrome

[Melissa85]

Hi everyone,

No judgement please. I am 29 weeks pregnant and me and my partner have just had some life altering news that is going to change our lives perminantly due to hes health so something like this would make things lots lots harder.

I havent been this worried at all during the pregnancy. I have seen on other forums peoples downsyndrome checks come back around 1 out of 10,000 chance and I have checked mine and its 1 in 2500. This seems very small in comparison.

We also had a 4d scan recently and it looked a little like baby could have downs. I am really concerned. I wouldnt be as worried if things havent massively changed for us in our lives
the past month but now I am worrying if this happens too we just wont be able to cope.

Would this have been picked up in scans too?

I saw it on a forum last night checked my notes and have been worrying since!

Her head is also measuring a week behind the rest of her body which they told me not to worry about. Reading online this is also an indication of DS

Thanks x

[Tempusfudgeit]

Your baby almost certainly doesn't have Downs. 4d scans look weird at the best of times. You do, however have a lot of anxiety, bad news to deal with and a life changing event about to occur. Breathe, get support and see your GP if your thoughts get out of hand.

[MoreCookiesPlease]

Second the PP. 4D scans always look weird. Babies haven't packed on enough fat by that stage and their features can look very weird.
If you're still worried speak to your midwife and ask her to go through scans and risk scoring etc.

[ChatWithMe]

Hi Melissa85 Although amniocentesis is usually performed weeks 15-20 it can be done later to confirm 100% if your baby has Downs. Abortions for Downs can be done up until birth. I'm not suggesting you do this as babies at 29 weeks can feel a great deal of pain but if it's theoretically possible. It's a difficult position to be in OP. Even if you did amniocentesis to find out the diagnosis before birth it would allow you to prepare for life ahead. Good luck with whatever you choose to do x

[LewishamMum]

Sorry I've nothing to add to the OP problem, but it's made me a bit worried. I was only given 1 in 150 chance, which I did think seemed high to me but I'd never been given any comparison so had no idea that others had results in the thousands. I'm 38, but using eggs frozen when I was 31. I'm 23 weeks.

Is 1/150 really high? I have a severely disabled sibling and so this is something I am very prone to worrying about.

[MrsN2121]

Would you consider a private panorama test to rule out any abnormalities and put your mind at rest?

[LBB2020]

The panorama test isn’t diagnostic so will not rule out anything.
You have a 0.04% chance, that’s a really low result x

[LewishamMum]

Thanks. Also, I've just looked it up on the NHS website, which does say 1/150 is low and no need for further tests. Still a bit confused why others are told in thousands....

www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/screening-amniocentesis-downs-syndrome/

[StraffeHendrik]

You could find out with almost complete certainty by doing the harmony test but it costs £500.

The test result is a probability- if it's 1/150 that means that for 150 women who had the same risk factors as you, one foetus has downs. 1/150 is usually the cutoff for being offered further testing (harmony) on nhs.

It is worth bearing in mind that the minimum risk the computer can assign you is set by your age. I think even if there are no indications of downs from the scan/bloods, your risk is given as 1/10000 for young mums but 1/2500 for people late 30s iirc. So your 'higher' probability could be just due to age and nothing from the test at all.

Tbh OP, 1/2500 is pretty low, imagine 2500 people, like a large high school, 1/2500 is just one person from that group. If you are preoccupied and can afford it to set your mind at ease get the harmony test I guess.

[StraffeHendrik]

Also agree with temps that maybe the real problem is stress in your life and even if you could eliminate the downs worry, you might find you start worrying about something else- so it might be more effective to focus on de-stressing as far as you can

[Viletta]

Talk to your midwife and your worry. There are other tests that can be done if you want to be certain. 1/2500 is low risk though.

[October2020]

Don't worry about the 4d scan - seriously - I bawled my eyes out after mine, baby looked awful! (Message me if you want to see mine - I promise mine is worse than yours!!).

With everything else, you need to talk to your midwife. Have a serious conversation with them about your concerns and discuss what your options are. They will help. Your statistical risk is very low but that does not help if you have anxiety. You need to talk it through with someone in a professional capacity xx