Nuchal scan, anyone opt not to have one?

[Martha200]

title says it all, quite simple really, but very curious after something my miserable consultant said the other day.

They dont do them at the hospital i had ds so not an option

did not have them with dd1 or dd2 but did have one with dd3.

Wouldnt not have it if available as I viewed i as a chance to see how bean is doing.

thet are offering them to all women here now but I declined.

There was no comment made about it at all

We couldn't afford it - not offered on NHS here and would have to have paid £250 to go privately. But if it was available on the NHS, yes, definitely we would have!

weren't available when I was pregnant but if they were I wouldn't have had one. was offered triple test and declined that. My opinion is that I wasn't prepared to terminate a pregnancy so didn't feel the need for screening.

obviously some feel differently but that's just my view.

same as wannabe

also the same as wannabe - I was offered the triple test with my first two pregnancies and declined - didn't want the extra stress and knew I'd keep whatever baby was in there so no point really.

What did your miserable consultant say, Martha?

I havent had any of the tests - bloods or otherwise.

I firmly believe in what will be will be and if that means a baby born with a disability, then that is something i will deal with.

I dont want to be faced with making a decision I dont want to make, and just see how things go.

3rd baby and no tests for any of them bar the usual scans

I declined any predictive tests bar the 20 week anomaly scan. Wouldn't terminate under any circumstances (other than direct and imminent threat to my own life).

Having these tests when you feel like that, in my opinion, is just opening the way for anxiety and fear of what might be (I also wouldn't proceed to amnio).

Think they are only informative if you would decide to act on the information. What did your consultant say?

I refused anything invasive, even when the 20 week scan picked up potential probs.

Jarm, wannabe, lou and others with similiar views, I was beginning to think I was the only pregnant lady who didn't want the test in regards to down syndrome.

When I saw my midwife, and I told her my wishes she was fine,then last week I met my consultant for the first time.

She was pretty sour faced about two things really. One was the planned c-section I want. I came to my own conclusions why I think a planned one this time around would be the best route to go down, midwife agrees, (even with the risks)and that got the consultant VERY focussed on the risks of a section.. did she pretend to read my notes, it felt like she had!
Then moving on she asked me why I was not having the test, so I told her I didn't want to, and she said something along the lines of as the test is available it would be a "waste for women not to" - what does that mean???
I was feeling a bit down by the section comments, I didn't think to ask her.

My consultant got sniffy with me when I declined the triple test. My GP was v. supportive though. I have only had dating and 20 wk scans with all three dds and would not have a nuchal fold scan.

'A waste not to' refers, I think, to the fact that (a) it's not available everywhere, so you're lucky to have the option, and (b) they're doing a scan in any case so it's not as if you have to have an extra scan or go to more trouble. A case of "It's there, so you might as well".

I had the various tests (dh and I had agreed that we wouldn't terminate unless direct threat to me or to bean, but would prefer to be prepared if we were likely to have a disabled baby), but it was made quite clear to me that I was under no obligation to do so, and that they would respect my choices in this matter. The only test I had to fight for my right not to have, was a test on me, rather than on bean.

Agreed to triple test first time round as they were trying to bully me into Amnio (as I was an ancient 40!). They kept saying "It will come back high risk because of your age" - it came back 1683:1!!!!
Second time round (at an even more ancient 43 and at a different hospital) the consultant was fantastic and very supportive of women NOT having tests. He offered Nuchal on NHS (due to age) if we wanted it but think he was almost glad when we said no thank you!

My dd1 was born with a congenital very serious but ultimately repairable heart defect and down syndrome. I chose not to have a triple test as it is very very unreliable as a true indicator of issues with the baby.

I knew before dd1 was born that she would have the heart defect and down syndrome.

WIth no2 - no tests despite being offered a nuchal nad an amnio when a raised risk of having another child with down syndrome was found during the 20 week scan.

With no3 we felt we wanted to know - more dh than I BUT we knew that we would do nothing with the information.

I had an appointment with a genetic counsellor who kept stressing how vital this test was in picking up the chance of the baby having down syndrome. WHen I challenged her and said that it was my understanding that a raised nuchal fold can also be an indicator of other conditions she told me I was wrong. She then proceeded to try and tell me what it would be like to live with a child with Down Syndrome - with a very negative skew on facts - all the while my very much loved and wanted dd1 was in the room with us.

When my results came back - changed from 1 in 56 ( or thereabouts) to 1 in 962 ( very good for my age!) she then told me that if I wanted a more definitive answer I could have an amnio!!!!!

As a mum of a gorgeous girl who just happens to have down syndrome it makes me very sad that the primary focus on the nuchal fold screening is the incidence of down syndrome. It makes me want to ask what is sooo bad about having a child with down syndrome.

Martha if you don't want it - just stick to your guns. Good to see you have a supportive midwife. With dd2 I had a GP who wanted me to have a triple test and a fetal cardiac scan etc as well as scheduling an amnio. He seemed genuinely stunned when I said no thanks. He then asked me why I did not want to know. I finally had to tell him that I knew before dd1 was born - the same dd1 who was in the room with me again whilst this GP is going on about how sad it would be to have a child born with down syndrome and suggesting I was being ignorant. I also just avoided the midwife - easily done as we were moving to Australia when she kept pressuring me to have a triple test.

Eids, I am so that they tried to persuade you to have tests etc! Good for you for sticking to your guns.

It's lovely to "see" you again - hope to see you on March 2007 soon .

Eids, I am also shocked to hear about the others and especially the GP!

I did stick to my guns, the intern there also made a bit of a song and dance about having to report the decision for stats reasons, my husband and I felt very negative vibes throughout to more or less anything we said.. guess it was one of those appointments I guess