1st time Mum at 37...scan shows 14weeks...do i take the tests?

[ruey]

Had my booking in with midwife 2weeks ago and thought I was due beginning of November. Had dating scan 19/4 which said 14weeks due date maybe now mid /late October, so I have brought my next meeting with midwife forward as all this info about 16week+ tests is looming. Do I have amniocestisis or other checks?....Me and babies father have discussed this but we need to give and answer sooner than we thought... my age says 37 and I would say Im pretty healthy....drank very little alcohol before I found i was pregnant, never smoked etc. What do you think of the tests all I keep thinking is but until my baby is born I'll never know if it will be autistic,dyxlexic, deaf blind, or even turn out to be a criminal, get meningitis etc....so do I take the tests for Down's and Spina Bifida?

Some people want to be prepared for anything untoward.

Personally I didn't have any tests (was 38yo), because I came to the conclusion fairly early on that I could never terminate, and that if I did a test and found out something was wrong it would lessen the enjoyment of pregnancy.

But, it's a very personal decision.

My tests AFP gave false positives twice. It depends in my opinion what you would??? Once I'd seen ds1 on anomaly scan there was no way in this world I could have ever considered an abortion - that's me. I also refused amnio because of risk of miscarriage. I was 36 with ds1 and 38 with ds2. Congratulations on your news. You can always CAT me if you want to talk more.

A lot depends on what you would do with the results. Would you terminate? Would you just want to know to mentally prepare?

I was 38 when I had DD. I had a nuchal fold test done at 12 weeks - my risk was 1 in 100 for Downs. Since the risk of a miscarriage with an amnio is also 1 in 100 I decided that there would be no more tests for me. It is a personal decision, and I think if I were to be PG now (at 42) I wouldn't have any tests, especially after meeting Thomcat et al online and come to understand just what having a DS child means.

I was 37 and had scans, but was clear that I would want to know and would probably act in some way on that knowledge.

hello - I'm 40 and have just had the nuchal scans. But like motherinferior, dp and I had discussed it and would act on the knowledge. Having said that though, I don't think we would have had amnio automatically, because of the risks (I had a previous missed miscarriage). Could you wait until the 20 week anomaly scan, as that will pick up quite a lot, and then make the decision about amnio then? But, as everyone else says, it's what you would do with that knowledge that makes the difference.

I had the amnio, but like MI I knew that I would act on the result....Hence the reason I didn't wait for the 20 week scan - had the amnio as soon as I could...

Thanks for your advice.....my thoughts have been the same, finally got a man who wanted a baby with me and very supportive, never thought Id have a family. i also like i post came to the conclusion deep down I will never know actually how my child's personality will be until they are here and grow up....so really thought not to bother with all the tests the risks of miscarriage having tests are too great. I haven't heard back what my blood tests are yet

Being pg at 39 with dd2 I had the triple blood test and the nuchal fold scan and the anomaly scan but decided against anything invasive eg. amniocentesis.

We wouldn't have terminated.

Also when I had dd1 there were barely any antenatal tests available inc. no scans so it didn't seem strange to me.

Its really a very personal decision.

Any child is a blessing. You would love it and not be able to imagine life without it in spite of any health problems. To me, a child with Downs is just a child with Downs and no less than any other child. A life with spina bifada is a life no less. From what you say, I think you´ve made your mind up already.

I had no tests at all as I knew I wouldn't terminate.

As Cam says, very personal to you and your dp/dh.

i had dd at 36 did triple test and was told risk was quite low.
we had made the decisions about what to do beforehand.
i am planning on second baby soon (37) would do nuchal and triple. it appears there are many opinions as to the reliability of these tests, just to make life easier.
its really a personal decision make sure you have proper support either way.
best of luck, chances are all will be ok
whatever you do (test wise )just enjoy the pregnancy

Congratulations

Testing - ohhhhhhhhhn such a personal one and only you and DH can decide this, you'll know what's right in your heart at the end of the day. There are lots of threads on this to read through but meanwhile, it depends what you would do with the results tbh. Amnios only pick out chromosome abnormalities, Down's syndrome being the most common of those. It's also DS that I know about so with regard to DS - would you be happy and love your child whether he or she had Down's syndrome or not. Are you worried about other chromose abnormalities?

Re the age - more babies are born to women who are younger, but that's cos more younger women are having babies. The women i know whose young children have Down's syndrome are all late 20's early 30's. I also know a 21 yr old girl whose son has DS.

With my DD1 I was 30, had no tests and a really wonderful, relaxing, healthy happy pregnancy. DD1 was born with DS and I thank god that I didn't know before hand. I dodn't wish she had DS but I'm over the moon she's my DD, I love her and am so pleased she's here. It's not all easy but it's all good at the end of the day. She gives everyone so much pleasure and the world is most definatley a better place for her being in it.

DD2 - everyone fussed and panicked me during my pregnancy. It was hell. Had tests, was the worst time of my life, honestly - hell. Was told things like 'it doesn't look good' and so on. Tests came back ok and sure enough she seems to be without any special needs so far. I just wish that i hadn't had to go through the hell of testing and if it hadn't been for DD1 having DS everyone wpuld have just left me alone and I'd have had a wonderful pregnancy from the start. Anyway, what's done is done and it all turned out ok and I didn't do any damage and she's here with us now.

So that's my story, well that part of it.

I hope you reach the decision that is right for you and that whatever happens it all turns out oik for you.

See, I told you Thomcat was an inpiration!

Hi Ruey -

I had my 3rd child, a wee girl almost 2 yrs ago when I would have been 37. I had a nuchal which gave a good result but the blood tests gave a very bad result. I was put under a good bit of pressure tbh to have amnio. I asked around on here and got some lovely advice esp from Thomcat. I had a horrible time in the middle of my pg before I came to realise (at around 22 wks when I had felt the baby move) that I probaby wouldn't do anything about it so what was the point?

I spoke to one gd m/w who sort of said look - you could have a premature baby with all sorts of problems and never be prepared for all that - I think I was arguing to at least be prepared. In the end did nothing and I'm so glad and so grateful for the advice of pple on here. I had a lovely little girl.

My heart goes out to you and gd luck.

Ruey, I was a first-time mother at 37 too (last year) and thought I would have amnio/CVS and was dreading the prospect. But my nuchal test results at the 12 week scan were good - 1 in 850, compared to something like 1 in 300 based on my age alone - so I decided not to have any invasive tests.

It is a very personal decision, and some people feel strongly either that they would never terminate so there's no point having the tests, or that they have to know for sure so will have the tests whatever the circumstances. If you fall somewhere in the middle, as I did, you have to balance the risks of the tests causing a miscarriage against the risks of the baby having Spina Bifida/Down's Sydrome and how you feel you would cope with that condition. That's an appalling choice for a pregnant woman to make, and I don't have any easy answers (there aren't any!!!) but you have my sympathy and I really hope things work out well for you.

i was 33 turning 34 when I had my first daughter who like tc's little one was born with down syndrome. At 20 weeks they detected a hard marker for down syndrome - a heart defect. Over 80% of people who have this heart defect also have down syndrome. We chose no other testing and I also did not have any previous - other than scans. We were having this babe - a lot of support from the cardiologist at kings who agreed that is we were not going to terminate - no point in putting ourselves through an amnio.

I was 36 when I had dd2 - again no blood tests nuchal fold etc. At 20 weeks they found a soft marker for down syndrome - again I refused an amnio - for the same reasons - this was our baby and we believed she had a right to be born and to live.

My advice - if you desperately need to know or know that you would terminate then by all means have the tests etc.... If you would not do anything - I really don't see the point in having such invasive tests as an amnio. Really interms of quality of life etc - Down syndrome in itself is not really a reason to terminate - I believe.

I now have two beautiful daughters who are as cheeky and as annoying as each other. My eldest is amazing - she attends mainstream kindy and a sn kindy, goes swimming and has the best life.... she is just gorgeous and can't imagine life without her. Since having her I have met the most amazing people and had such wonderful experiences - won;t kid you though - been through some tough times. eeing your eight week old babe go through open heart surgery twice within 3 days is pretty stressful as well as relapse twice and end up in ICu again during the recovery period - not nice BUT to look at the cheeky gorgeous monkey now - wouldn't know it unless you saw the zipper.

I am woken by her gorgeous smiley face - every morning and know my life can only get better.

eidsvold.what a lovely post,you made me smile and cry at the same time.what a lovely mum you are.

ruey. i know someone who had all the tests, everything fine during pregnancy.only when the child was born did they discover something wrong. i think sometimes you have to 'wing it' and hope for the best.you could have a so called 'perfect' child but something could crop up in later life.when i was pg with my third i was 35yr and was asking myself all of these questions that you are thinking now.at the end of the day i think uou have to ask yourself if you would/could go through a termination. if the answer is no, i don't see the point in having the tests. it is a very very personal decision and only one that you can make.

I think a lot depends upon whether you and your dh/partner are 'need to know' people and also what you would do with a positive result. We were in your position recently and because we are 'need to know' people we opted for the integrated test at Barts, London. My risk (I am 38) for chromosomal abnormalities was 1 in 1200, compared with 1 in 50,000 with dd1 at age 35. We opted for an amnio, the results were clear, and I have no regrets whatsoever in having had it done. That said, I would add that although I do not regret having had the amnio, I did find the process pretty unpleasant, not least from an emotional angle. It's a tough call, whatever you decide to do, but I found that once we decided what we wanted to do it somehow became a bit easier. Best of luck in your pregnancy x

eidsvold that's a great post. A very good friend of mine is really going through the mill at the moment. Her baby boy was born with DS (she had no tests) and seems to have a new health problem every week. She's incredibly stressed with all the medical stuff and I worry about her going under with the weight of it all. It's lovely to read how people are getting on years down the line.

I'm really fortunate not to have been in the position, but when dealing with the hypothetical "what if" a good friend made an arguement that I hadn't encountered before and I thought you might be interested.

They said that if you have a high risk after the blood tests & Neuchal you might want to go down the road of further testing not so much so that you can prepare yourself (this is based on the assumption that you wouldn't terminate for DS), but so that you can prepare your family and friends, so that when you make the phone calls with the happy news of a safe birth you don't have a but... afterwards. Also, it allows you to get people prepared in terms of what DS actually means for your child and for you in terms of immediate needs but more importantly going forward.

I'm sorry to add another complication rather than an answer but I think it's one of these decisions that is as individual as we all are.

Lovely post edisvold. Once again I wish we were neighbours and that I could see our girls play together. I'd love to see that.

Was just checking in to see how you are Ruey, hope you're ok.

I had no tests as I knew the results would make no difference to whether we kept ds or not and if the results showed any chance of anything up you would just worry yourself silly for the rest of the pg.

Welshmum if you want to - you can pass my email on to here edwali at excite dot com. If she wants someone to chat with or ask any questions....

has she contacted the local ds association or dsa uk - they can also find support people for you.