Waiting it out till birth after bad bloods. When will I find out if my baby has downs?

[loopy11]

Hi,
I'm looking for a bit of advice. After the triple test I was given a 1:15 chance of my baby having down's syndrome. I didn't have a nuchal fold scan as my midwife forgot to book me in (!). We decided not to go for invasive testing as I wasn't comfortable with the miscarriage risk and we decided it wouldn't affect whether or not we had the baby.
So I've been left in the situation of waiting until the baby is born. I've been trying to stay positive and enjoy my pregancy as normal but I am now 33 weeks and thoughts of the birth are becoming more real now...
Does anyone know how soon after the birth I will find out whether or not my baby has Downs? Will the hospital staff be aware of my risk and if so will they offer additional support/testing after the birth?
Anyone who has been in a similar situation or knows someone who has - any information would be great.
Thanks.
PS. I am 31 years old and this is my first baby.

Well... I suppose I just thought it would be the same as after our first baby. But we had a lot of shock and sadness and fear and I suppose disappointment to deal with. Then I was made redundant which was another blow (all worked out ok though and got a new, better job!). I am still really sad and fearful of the future sometimes, but we take each day as it comes. It's like some of the normal baby issues are still there, but you maybe can't see that they are part of all babyhoods and question is it the Downs. Like my LO got a chest infection when he was about four months and was coughing his milk up and I was so stressed about it and was going to call his paed but my BIL pointed out it wasn't anything to do with the Downs.

It's horrid to feel anxious isn't it?
Actually that's the first thing I remember someone at the hospital saying to me - she said 'remember that he is a baby doing normal baby things and don't forget that'. I thought that was really helpful!

Hello Loopy11 - just wanted to add my story. I have two ds's , my first had a risk of 1/14 and he doesn't have down's. My 2nd had a risk of 1/1000 and he does have down's. They have taught me that the numbers don't mean much! If your scans to date have been fine then that sounds great - but completely agree with what you and others have said about the not knowing and the loss of control.

Also Hi to Remember and a big fat congratulations! I remember you from some other threads and am delighted that your ds is finally here and by the sounds of it being a completely lovely.

Hi FnD - thank you :)

The hospital are working their way through their 'Downs Check List' for testing for this that and the other. A tad stressful wondering what they'll pick up! I think I'm an ostrich head in the sand type really! Does your DS have any associated health issues? how old are they both and do they get on well?

Congratulations to those of you who have recently had your babied. I think if you find your baby does have DS you will just end up feeling more protective of him or her. At least that has been the case with my disabled son. Sparklies it's really common for the men to take a bit longer to accept disability, - in most cases they do and once they do they're usually like ferocious protective lions. So I wouldn't worry unduly before meeting your baby. An in the flesh baby is very different from a vague disability concept iyswim. And of course it may well turn out that the baby doesn't have DS anyway.

Blimey - whats in the Downs check list? and what could be relevant to a new born baby - sleeps? check feeds? check . One of the biggest things I learnt when my ds was born was that with a diagnosis comes a lot of professionals with checklists and I think your earlier comment about having a baby doing normal baby things is spot on and I wish I had seen that not the checklists when he was smaller.

your sticky blood info was news to me too - no-one mentioned that when my ds was born, although we weren't expecting him to have downs so it was all a bit of a shock. Does it only have implications at birth?

my ds with ds is now 2 - he doesn't have any significant health issues (am touching wood - don't know why but am)he has reflux which we can't quite shift and is hypermobile but any health issues are on a par with his brothers just different. His brothers are 4 and 7 and the 3 get on great. He can't walk yet but knows how to hold his own when wrestling .

I know you were worried when you were pregnant about your ds having heart issues - how is that going? and well done on the breast feeding - I didn't crack it and so have utmost respect!

Oh he sounds brilliant! wrestling is a rather important skill - particularly when you have siblings!

They check thyroid, heart (DS has an AVSD spotted antenatally), hips, eyes, weight & growth and I'm sure other stuff I've forgotten! It all feels like alot at the mo because it feels as if there are loads of routine midwife / health visitor appointments that I'd forgotten about from the last 2 DCs - it might just be 3rd baby syndrome .

The midwife approached me with her blood pressure cuff yesterday and I asked her what on earth she was planning to do with it as mine was absolutely fine and didn't need taking!! Bless her - i know they have their protocols etc but if anyone else phones up asking if they can come round....!!

Thanks saintlyjimjams - that's actually quite reassuring! DH does love his two little girls and I would hope he would come round. It's just not nice to hear the way he talks at the moment and he seems to have no interest in the pregnancy whatsoever. Then again he didn't much with the other two either, but this time he seems even more distant, oh well.

Fnd - wow at your numbers and your final results! Yep, I don't put a lot of faith in numbers either, but your example is particularly striking!!

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread. I know its been a while but I thought I would update you all.

I had my baby 12 days ago and he doesn't have Down's Syndrome. I went almost 2 weeks over-due so the waiting was extended quite a bit. I tried to stay positive and prepare myself for whatever happened. In the end I had quite a traumatic birth experience, resulting in a very long labour and emergency c-section. The baby wasn't breathing when he was born and the crash team had to be called. I can honestly say that in those few minutes waiting to hear my baby cry I did not care if he Down's or not - all I cared about was that he survived.

The hospital staff were great and within a couple of minutes of reviving him someone told us there were no markers of Down's syndrome. He then had two further detailed examinations in the next couple of days. The doctors were so confident that they said it was not necessary to do a chromosone blood test.

He seems to be healthy and happy (most of the time!). When I was waiting I found it really reassuring to hear stories of people who had been given high risk results but given birth to healthy babies so I thought I would add mine.

Thanks for the support.

loopy great news, well not the crash section part but the rest of it! Hope all is going well.

Congratulations on the birth of your baby boy! I'm so sorry you had such a horrible scare, but glad he is fine now. And I am glad your wait is at an end too :)