August 2018 #4

[bobcat85]

Thought I'd start up a new thread as the old one has run out of space.

Dating scan done. All ok so far. Due 19 Aug so I was a day out!

@LadesC that is such a good photo!

Damn forgot to crop - have asked pic to be removed. Try again!

All good at the scan. Edd moved from 24th Aug to 20th Aug.

Mouse that’s a lovely photo! So cute!

@ladesC your baby looks like it’s having a good rest and is comfy! Lovely photo x

Lovely to see some more scan pictures.

Great scan pics!

No test result news?

Just had my twenty week scan date in the post. Time’s ticking by! Have another scan Saturday. Will be glad to know she’s ok after being so poorly

Awww, I love seeing all the scan pics! Amazing how they all look very different already!

I have booked a private scan next week so my mum can see the baby, I think I am obsessed

So lovely to see all your scan pics ladies! Mine is Wednesday. After all the chat about the downs screening I don't even know if I want it anymore :(

MY results came back today low risk! So from a 1 in 7 chance from the NHS, I got 1 in 32,000 in the nipt.

Plus, I didn't want to know the sex, but found out as it was in the results 😂😂

I'm just so relieved, this was the hardest 2 weeks of my life.

@peterpanwendy, if you can afford it I would not do the nhs screening and just do nipt. I put it on the credit card, but I wouldn't want anyone to go through what I have this last week

@Sparklesdontshine I’ve just replied to your Facebook message. Honestly so thrilled for you. What an awful thing to go through

@peterpanwendy I don’t blame you! I have read/heard so much about people getting high risk results on the NHS and having to suffer so much distress just to be told everything’s fine. They ought to scrap the blood test they currently they do on the NHS and just offer a harmony type test.

Going through this has honestly made me not want to have any more scans!

@Sparklesdontshine oh no! We were asked if we wanted to know sex and we said no. Hopefully we don’t find out!

Hey guys - I wasn’t even aware of these extra tests?? My hospital asked me if I wanted extra tests and I had extra bloods done but I can’t remember what they were for?? (Everything came back fine)

At age 30, I got a 1 in 2400 result for the downs - is this normal?

I'm so pleased for you @Sparklesdontshine. It's incredible how different the test results can be. It's madness that they still use a test that clearly gives unnecessary anguish and worry

@amzq87 I am 32, soon 33 and got 1 in 920

Thanks @milney25 :-)

I’m clearly well uneducated in all of this :-( I didn’t even know there was extra tests! I’m 14+1 today and sooo poorly! Had 4 scans so far but the last one was really emotional. Previous miscarriage at 11 weeks so really happy to be in the second trimester!

I’m in awe of you guys you know so much! I see my maternity notes and it might as well be written in Chinese I don’t understand all my blood results etc!

I’m also high risk due to BMI 41 even though it used to be 67 BMI before I was pregnant yet I’m still classed as being at the same amount of risk - I was meant to see the consultant but instead saw one of her registrars who told me I have an increased risk to complications and risk to the baby due to my excess weight... I know they have to tel you these things but I’m pretty sure I’m not the biggest person to have a baby :-(

Anyway I’m just moany and have the worst cold. Keeping everything crossed for those having additional testing done x

There are a couple of different test possibilities, Mamfa.

Probably what you had is called the combined screen which is where they test your blood for your hormone levels which gives a rough idea of chances of things like Down's Syndrome and I think some other chromosomal disorders. This is still the standard test offered because it's cheap and is accurate in something like 80-90% of cases. It used to be the case that if this came up high risk, you'd be referred for an amniocentesis, which is definitive and will tell you 100% if your baby is chromosomally typical or not.

In recent years (probably in the last 5-6 years I think) a new kind of test has become available. This is called NIPT or non invasive prenatal testing. It was very expensive when it first came out, and is still relatively expensive now. I don't think that the NHS covers it (?) except perhaps in situations where the combined screening has given a high result. But it's not a first resort because of the cost. Patients can opt to have this test but normally have to pay themselves. It is offered by various companies like Harmony, Nifty, which is why people call it by different names. This test works on a new discovery that there are fragments of the baby's DNA in the mother's blood. If you take the mother's blood and separate out the fragments, you can look at the baby's DNA. It's not as accurate as amnio, but it's much better than the combined screening, more like 99%. As the cost comes down in future, this might well become the standard test because of this accuracy. My doctor thinks that the combined screening is outdated now and gives too many false positives, but it's accurate enough and cheap enough to be the first port of call for most people.

@amzq87 my results showed what it should be for my age and then what mine actually were.

@BertieBotts

Thank you so much! That’s crazy how much info you don’t find out! No one mentioned to me I could have a private screening and it to be more accurate I assumed the NHS one was the most accurate!!

Thanks for taking the time to explain Xx

Just want to say on a slightly different topic @Mamfa18 - congrats so much on the weight loss! 6st down myself and know how hard it's been - please don't get too disheartened by the doctors and just make sure you look after yourself :-) my friend was just over your BMI and now has a healthy little girl. Look at it this way, if you're hospital is anything like mine, you'll get an extra scan to see little one :-)

Had scan today, am 12 weeks + 3, due date 20th August x

@peterpanwendy As the Harmony test doesn't work for everyone, I'd still have the NHS screening done just incase the Harmony doesn't work for you and then you could have missed the window for the NHS screening

I found out today the Harmony test finally worked on the 4th vial of blood. Low risk all over the board

@Sparklesdontshine We have the opposite problem - we asked for the gender and they didn't tell us!

@Mamfa18 Some of us are second+ timers so if you have any questions, ask away. And well done on your weight loss! To add to @BertieBotts reply about the various screening tests, I had the Harmony at £400 which included a scan. She also mentioned amniocentesis, but this causes miscarriages in about 0.5-1% of pregnancies (but I know 2 people who have had it and were fine) so you may only consider that if your risk was greater than 1 in 100 (eg 1 in 75, 1 in 50). There's another option called CVS (can't remember what it stands for) but this is invasive as well and has a miscarriage rate of about 2-3% I think. My NHS Trust told me (after I asked for, and was refused, another NT screening scan) that they do NIPT but I would have to pay £450. If you did have NIPT I'd suggest having it through your NHS trust if possible as they will give genetic counselling etc if you get bad results or just don't get a result. I hope that info doesn't freak anyone out - I've always felt better being fully informed.