Is a 1 in 5 risk of Down's considered to be a high risk pregnancy in terms of being able to have a home birth or not?

[RememberToPlaywiththeKids]

Does anyone know or can tell me if newborns with DS are likely to need medical help during or immediately after the birth?

Not likely as such, but more likely than a newborn without DS. Heart problems are common and so resus/support may be required after delivery. Some babies also require tube feeding for a while.

Is a homebirth not advised then do you know? Would we have to assume it does have DS to be on the safe side?

It wouldn't be "advised", no, and you may have to jump through some hoops to get it.

I too am a homebirth fan but with those odds of having DS and having a nephew who has bad heart problems as a result of his DS I would not personally consider a HB.

As an aside, would a heart defect be picked up at the 20 week scan and if my risk is so high, would there be an extra cardiac scan to look at that specifically? How likely is it that any problems with the heart will be picked up before birth?

Congratulations on your pregnancy.

The heart defect most commonly associated with Down's Syndrome can usually be seen on the 20 week scan, particularly if they are looking at the scan with a high degree of suspicion. If they think there is a defect then ask to be referred to foetal cardiology for an expert view.

Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy.

oh dear - I really don't want any nasty shocks (who does though, I know).

We had a 29 week 4D scan with out other two DCs so will do the same again with this one. I know that won't give us any final answers but I hope anything glaring will show up and prepare us further.

I had a HB with DC2 and loved it. My main reasons for wanting another is that labour progressed much more smoothly without having to travel anywhere and I felt more relaxed about plans for the other DC, or in this case DCs.

The actual births were very straightforward water births - one in a birthing centre and one at home.

I do want to do what is best though but I am just better in my own environment than in hospitals.

I'm feeling so sad about it all :(

If you're really keen on a HB aren't there ways to find out for sure whether or not your baby has DS? Then you can make a more informed decision.

My ds2's heart condition which was a result of downs was not picked up at the anomoly scan, although it was at a later one.

The difficulty with downs is that there is just no way of assessing how seriously the baby will be effected until they are born.

The majority of babies with downs will not require major intervention after birth however they will almost certainly require a thorough assesment by a paedeatrician in which case they would want to take the baby to hospital immediately after birth regardless of his condition on delivery.

oh Loopy - do you mind me asking why you're high risk this time round? I'm so sorry things aren't straight forward for you this time :(

As an aside if you really want the home birth have you considered a later amnio or even a comprehensive specialist scan which would be able to confirm whether any of the soft markers for Downs (Nasal bone/heart flow/leg bone length etc) are present?

As an aside (and I appreciate you have already made this decision once) amnios and CVS's are generally considered to be much less risky than the presently stated risks. I have had 2 CVS's - one late one early and both consultants who carried them out told me (after) that they had performed thousands with no ill effects.

That's a good point, we could go for an amnio much much later. I'm not sure how I feel about that at the moment but I will have a think about it.

Also very interesting about the specialist scan - would that show up more than the 20 week scan? I think the parameters that you've listed are included in the 20 week scan?

How do we go about getting a consultant to do it or have a consultant apppintment? As far as I'm aware, my 20 week scan is with the sonographer as usual and we'll be referred for an extra cardiac scan if anything looks amiss at that stage.

Thank you for the suggestion - I rang the fetal medicine department at my hospital and they said that I should be having my scan with one of their consultants AND a cardiac scan and they've brought it forward a week too.

I am desperately hoping it's with someone who can speak english well this time! I feel so much better for having called them.