SCREENING FOR DOWN SYNDROME "ABNORMAL" ??

[OHBOY]

I had a screening (blood test) taken which came back abnormal for down syndrome. I have been reading that this test cannot diagnose a birth defect, it only can indicate an increased risk. I am having a amiocentesis this week to get more positive results. I am sooo nervouse and scared. I am not sure i know what this all means. Does anyone have any feedback on this.

There are some really good threads on this but I can't find any now, the search facility has been changed. You're right that no blood test can diagnose Down's, just give a risk estimate. If you put the figures they give you on here I'm sure people will come on and tell you their experiences. Amnio is the only way to be sure. There are some wonderful people on here with children with Down's (Thomcat, Eidsvold, 2under2 for starters) who will be able to reassure you that this is not the end of the world.

No experience of this, other than a friend of a friend who had a high risk percentage indicator, then an amnio and all was fine. You must be so scared though so big (((hugs))). Hope someone withe experience of this will post for you soon.

The thread I was thinking of, which has some wonderful posts, is here

had amnios with both my pregnancies, so really feel for anyone else going through this. if we'd had a 'bad' amnio result, we would have opted for a termination and I would urge anyone to think about what they'd do once the results are back before they actually do the test. if you'd do nothing, then it's probably not worth having the test because of the risk of miscarriage.

I had an amnio with both pregnancies and it was extremely straight forward. Basically, they scan you as they are doing it so that they can ensure the needle is as far away from the baby as possible. They might even get you to lie on your side so that the baby 'drops' down to the bottom. They insert the needle (slight discomfort), withdraw the fluid and in less than a minute it is over and done with. The first time I went by the book and after it was done sat on the settee for 2 days without moving. Second time I went straight back to work after having the amnio. The fear of it being done is far worse than the reality.

it seems unusual that they have simply said the blood test was abnormal - normally a risk is calculated - in terms of your chanes of having a child with down's syndrome. An amnio will tell you for sure whether your child has down's syndrome or not.

Unfortunately I do not have any personal experience of having an amnio - but I have some experience of having a child with ds - so whatever the outcome if you want to contact me via mumsnet - I can send you some info....

my story is

here

although my dd is now 20 months old and doing fine.

I had one with dd2 - friends have subsequently said 'why'? But I wanted to have the chance to come to terms with it over the 9 months, that's why. Wanted to know what to prepare myself for.

When pregnant with ds I had a blood test result of 1 in 10 for downs. I had an amnio not because we would have had a termination but because I wanted to be prepared if the result was positive for downs. In the event it wasn't.
I think the result is highly unreliable as it can also come back "fine" in cases where the baby does have ds. I am pregnant with baby no. 2 at the moment and this time I did not have the blood test and it felt GREAT.
The amnio itself was fine but I spent ages after paranoid I was leaking amniotic fluid and even spent a night in hospital because of it though I don't think I actually was.
The amnio does carry a (small) risk of miscarriage and I regret having it with ds but at the time I just could not face "not knowing". I think the triple test needs to be refined or scrapped because it causes a lot of heartache for nothing. It certainly blighted several weeks of my first pregnancy and I keep on wondering why with this pregnancy I hardly seem to have gone near a hospital... It's lovely.

I mean the result to the blood test is unreliable, not the amnio.

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR RESPONSES. I DO APPRECIATE IT. IT HELPED ME A LOT (MENTALLY). I AM NOW GOING FOR THE AMNIO NEXT WEEK. THEY WANT TO DO AN ULTRA SOUND THE DAY BEFORE THE AMNIO. THE ULTRA SOUND WILL DETERMINE A LOT ABOUT THE BABY ONCE THEY DO THE MEASUREMENTS. I DON'T THINK I COULD GO TWO WEEKS WITHOUT KNOWING IF MY BABY IS GOING TO BE HEALTHY OR NOT. THAT?S HOW LONG IT TAKES FOR THE RESULTS OF THE AMNIO TO COME BACK. EVEN IF THE ULTRA SOUND SHOWS EVERYTHING IN FINE I AM STILL GOING TO GO WITH THE ANMIO JUST TO MAKE SURE.
I THANK YOU ALL AGAIN.