Not doing invasive testing.. what will the NHS offer me instead?

[Sparklies]

I'm currently 15w6d, and after my NT scan (great!) and bloodwork (horrific!) 1 in 34 for T21. For a variety of reasons, we won't be getting any invasive testing done before 30 weeks.

Does anyone know what the NHS might offer or I might be able to ask for given I've declined their offers of amnios/CVS and I'm quite clearly screen positive? I'm thinking of:

16 week quad screen bloodwork
A more in-depth anomaly scan (maybe at Kings - I'm currently at Queen Elizabeth in Woolwich)
A cardiac scan (Kings again)
An amnio at 30 weeks, i.e. post viability, just so we know for sure

Now I'm guessing they probably won't go for any of that, I had my chance for an amnio and I said no. But has anyone had any luck getting these things after declining invasive tests?

I realise I can probably get all of these privately at the Fetal Medicine Centre (we went there for a second NT scan, no soft markers found thankfully) but we're not made of money and justifying it to DH, the main wage earner, is not easy.

Sorry that should say TTC for 2 years

eidsvold - Yep, that was one of the articles I read and cited to one person who was essentially scorning my decision. Whilst I agree with BaggedandTagged in that it's academic to me which babies get lost because I don't want to lose a T21 baby either, the people I was talking to were people who would probably terminate for T21 so I felt okay using it! It is just so sad that so many babies are lost at all. I also see people opting for amnios at really low screen positive who wouldn't have a flu shot done and so on.. people seem to have rather varying attitudes to risk depending on personal preference!!

My friends and family have all been supportive, thankfully. It's just a minority on one of my due date boards on a different forum. One person claimed that research was "meaningless" because the a Down Syndrome charity was involved in it. Uh, okay. Because the dude who runs the Harris Birthright Trust and practically invented half the NT screens we have is not to be trusted and impartial!

spaceal - yep, the idea of a four week wait just did not appeal either, haven't we been through enough? The more I look into invasive testing, the harder it gets to decide to do it. I suspect a lot of people who do it, do so on the recommendation of their doctors and look no further. In a way I wish I'd done that as of course chances are everything would have been fine and I'd have my answers now, but it's not in my personality to just accept stuff a doctor tells me and once I'm aware of a risk I can't forget about it!

This all coming from a woman who had major open abdominal surgery on her cervix at 13 weeks pregnant of course but the risks did outweigh the benefits for that one. Without that surgery the chances of loss were about 90%. With it, around 5% plus about a 1% chance of losing the baby in surgery (higher than an amnio then!) which thankfully didn't happen!! It does seem silly to be scared of an amnio after that, but, we all have our comfort levels..

hobnobs - I'm glad your hospital were respectful, I'm hoping mine will be too when I tell them on Tuesday. I've had a few first trimester losses myself and nearly lost DC2 to incompetent cervix so I feel similarly to you.

I should add in case I've accidentally offended anyone in my comment above that I'm sure most of the people reading this board who did opt for an amnio didn't just do it on their doctor's say-so. The fact they're here trying to find out more indicates they're not people who just go along with whatever they're told. And it's also very different when faced with odds of 1 in 200, which is still screen positive, compared to 1 in 10.

Sparklies, hope you can get to the hospital with all the snow! I have an appointment there too this afternoon and don't think I'll be able to get the car out at this rate..