What tests would you have - I'm nearly 41.

[LuckyWeKeptTheCot]

Just realised I'm pregnant with 4th child. 3 normal pregnancies and straightforward births. Had my others when I was 33, 35 and 37. My mum had her last at 41 - I'll be 41 in a couple of months. I am about 3 stone overweight too and was just starting an exercise/diet routine. Anyway - impact on the other 3 of a baby with any problems seems more pressing this time. I know nothing is 100% certain, but what would you have and where to narrow those things down?

i'm 40 and pregnant with no. 3. Only extra test I had was a private nuchal scan with blood test for Down's. My pregnancy is generally low-risk though (low blood pressure etc) , so depends on whether there's any other problems as to whether you might want other tests. Congratulations!

Thanks! Such early days am not saying anything yet - so you're the first to congratulate me! Suddenly felt rather excited!

It depends what you might do with the info, doesn't it? Sorry, nobody can tell you what you should do, but be advised that each piece of extra info can lead to extra decisions to make.

I know that - I have three kids already and had those thoughts before. It's just that now I'm officially 'an older mother' being over 40 so wondered if people tend to go for more testing if they are in that category or let nature take its course as you might when you're younger. Does age make any difference or is it just your personality and experience?

I was 38 and had an amnio.
Never crossed my mind not to. I just need to know things in advance.

Hello and congratulations! I am 40 (41 in May) and pregnant with no.5. I have also been giving this some thought, as have had a pretty chequered relationship with screening etc over the years in my previous pregnancies ( also work in the field). Although I may well have doubts later on (I'm only 8 weeks) for me the bottom line is (and sorry if this sounds brutal), would we terminate for Down's Syndrme? I don't think we would, and as such there's no real point in opening up the pandora's box of false pos screening etc (been there, had the amnio..). I know that others need to know in order to make a measured decision, or simply just to prepare, but for me personally the risk of mc after a diagnostic test is a risk too far just to get certainty (about ds I mean), and I would be too anxious waiting with a screening risk figure alone for the rest of the pregnancy. How many weeks are you now?

Congratulations on your pregnancy!

I would go for the nuchal test, combined with blood test, which will give you a rough idea of what your risk for the three most common chromosomal abnormalities (Down's, Edward's, and Patau's) is. Once you get the results of this, then you can make a decision as to whether you would like to have further (invasive) testing. Each hospital has its own cut-off of what's considered high risk, but they can advise you once you've got the results. Good luck.

I'm nearly 39, trying for number 2 and would have nuchal scan and bloods as with number one (at 36). I would just remember how heavily adjusted risk is for age (for example I was 1:800 at 36; a 25-year-old with the same result would have been less than 1:10,000). I would only consider testing further if my risk at 41 was worse than 1:100. But it's such a personal thing, only you can decide, of course.

At age 40 I had amnio -- I had nuchal offered as free, anyway (indicated low risk), but I wanted amnio regardless; I didn't want to faff about with interpretting probabilities. I wanted more certainty, and I knew (as well as anyone can know) that I would want to terminate if certain conditions were present in the fetus. I did pay to get amnio done privately at a centre with good rep for low m/c rates after amnio.

But those were just my risk preferences.

Thanks. Will think about it. Very early days. Not sure when my last period was - think it was around 20th Feb and there were only two possible nights of carefree sex since. I thought a lot about what might make me terminate last time (I was 37) and can't remember what the result of nuchal fold and bloos were but the risk was expressed as no higher than a 20 year old's so I didn't go further. I have a friend with 9 kids - just had her 9th aged 43 and she had no tests for the first 8 but 'everything going' for the 9th. Will have nuchal fold and blood tests and see how I feel. Not sure Downs would make me terminate this time either - which was why I decided against amnio last time due to m/c risk. Not sure why being 40 should make a difference - just psychological really.

Hi i just had dd2 and 5th dc at aged 43,i also opted for the private nucal scan and bloods at harley st with the intention of a cvs if risk was high but it wasnt thank god.She is perfect and beautiful but i wont pretend im not knackered but i also had dc1 at 17 and was equally exhausted
Congratulations im sure it will al be fine.

I don't want to be a downer here but will stare my story.
I was 37 with my second and decided that 1:9000 for Down Syndrome and 1:27000 for Edward (after nuchal) was a risk I could take. I was the one - not for any of the above but for a genetic condition that an amnio would have detected with a chance of 1: 200 000 000. I so regret that I didn't go for invasive testing, because in hintsight I was not really ready to take the risk. So I agree - it depends what you would do, but there are other disorders except T21....
Congratulations to you all!

Glimmer - I am sorry and thanks for being honest about it. Really not sure what I would do at this stage but last time decided I wouldn't risk losing the baby and would hope it was healthy. She is! Very loud and naughty but lovely. So I appreciate thoughts on this and will bide my time and see how these early weeks go. Worried I am tempting fate even to discuss it so soon in the pregnancy!

I was 46, had a nuchal. They have a good rate of accuracy now -up to 90% depending on who does it. Must be combined with your bloods though and the nasal bone thing.

I decided to have that first and then see what else I felt I needed. IN the end my odds were good so did nothing else.

Good luck with whatever you do!

I suppose the thing you have to consider is what yo would do if there was a problem.

I surprised myself when I was pregnant with mine (aged 35 and 39) of knowing that under no circumstances would I have termination. after realising that there didn't seem to me to be any point in having tests so I didn't.

It's obviously up to you. some people would want to know to prepare themselves even if they knew they would continue with the pregnancy.

I am going for a nuchal then i'll see what happens.

Bump x

i was 39 and i just had the blood test

I had the nasal bone thing with DS 7 years ago, and unless lots has changed since then, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I didn't ask for it, they were doing research on pg women over 35 at our hosp so it was performed as part of the nuchal. No nasal bone found, so we were recommended to have CVS. Having had previous MMC this was not an easy choice.

CVS results fine, nasal bone showed at 16 weeks, DS has a small nose. . I'll never, ever forget the worry that extra "test" caused. I do wonder if DS has the stressy character he has, sometimes, beacuse I was stressed when he was in utero.

At the age of 41 I'd have CVS or amnio. The question is not simply whether you'd terminate for Downs Syndrome, but also any of the other more serious genetic problems.

When I was pg at 41 I had no testing whatsoever.

At 41 i had no testing either.