Who had 12 week screening tests

[mrssunshinexxx]

Would love yes/no answers if you want to add reasons would also love to read thanks

I didn’t first 2 times (I have 4 DC and am pregnant again) but did the have the combined screen the other 3 times. For me, I wanted to know if there were any possible issues as, personally, my decision would probably have been/ would be to not continue the pregnancy because I have other children to consider and the effect it would have on their lives was very important to me.

I do some work with adults with special needs and I love the this part of my work but it does open up the really realities of what would be involved it the care of a child and then adult for the rest of my life.

I used to think very differently but thinking changes with time.....

Well me and hubby just had a big chat over dinner and have decided we aren't going to have the screening done if there was anything crazy wrong we figure it would be picked up on the 20week scan (I appreciate I could change my mind 10 times again by scan date )

Just to give a different viewpoint I decided not to have the screening as thought may cause unnecessary stress and worry. The 20wk scan is very thorough (had mine this week) and although things can be missed I still feel happy with my decision. Good luck with rest of your pregnancy!

The screening also picks up the need to have any in utero treatment. You can have the screening, and continue the pregnancy if you know you get a negative result. And in addition to that, by having the screening done you’re helping doctors gather data on measurements and numbers to help treat pregnant women and babies.

I think it’s worth having the screening for the health of your baby for those reasons.

Thanks @becca3210 your reply make me realise it's the right choice for us x

I’ve had them both times. Mostly for peace of mind, I know you can never be totally sure. They are none invasive so there’s no harm. If high risk, you can quickly explore the options. The 20 week scan is much later & if there are any major issues & you wish to terminate for medical reasons, a late term abortion strikes me as much worse than one prior to 20 weeks. Not in terms of emotions (obviously both are utterly heartbreaking) but physically & mentally as baby is so much bigger. That was my thoughts anyway. Plus, given some babies are born with Down Syndrome unexpectedly, I’m guessing it’s not always that easy to spot on the 20 week scan.

I had screening, to know our chance (low, in our case) and also because I wanted to know other hormone levels which can indicate a higher incidence of complications such as pre-eclampsia or a growth restricted baby. Everything came back normal but I felt better having had the check. It’s a very personal decision, and if not having screening feels like the right decision for you OP then that is the right decision! You can change your mind after the 12 week scan and opt for screening, if you wanted to know that!

@Bol87 I wouldn't terminate a child with Down syndrome

@OrangeSlices998 thank you that's helpful x

Yes, I had the screening in both pregnancies. Although I wasn't certain if I would/wouldn't continue a pregnancy with a baby with Downs Syndrome, I certainly wouldn't have continued a pregnancy with Edwards or Patau syndrome and I would have wanted to know if there was something wrong. Or at least increase the changes of it being detected.

Our thinking was that the screening did not pose any risk to the baby, and if we came back as high risk then we would have opted for further non-invasive screening privately, and then invasive testing as a last resort.
My screening came back as extremely low risk both times which was good enough for me and both babies were unaffected by any chromosomal abnormalities.

@OhHolyNightWaking can I ask what extremely low risk is? The NHS usually give you a 'low risk' but haven't heard of extremely low risk x

Yours is extremely low loveyourself. There is no definition but high is greater than 1:150, and so being In the thousands to 1 is extremely low when the lowest they go on the test is 10,000:1.

Had no screening in any of my pregnancies. I've always said to them to look for anything that would mean the medics need to know at the moment of birth that they're going to need to operate immediately etc. But that is usually things spotted at 20wk scan. So things like heart problems etc.

I figure that once the baby arrives, I'll then have the time to learn about them and what their needs are. I think I'd worry about worst case scenarios if I knew I had a baby with additional needs on the way. I'd start panicking about living near special schools etc., when actually a newborn doesn't need that! And they may grow to not need special schools. I'd only know once the child was with us and growing up.

So my preference has always been to not know unless it is something requiring urgent medical intervention. Other things we can learn about as needed.

I wonder if posters realise how unreliable/ inaccurate scans are as a diagnostic tool? I didn’t know myself until we had further testing for downs but we were told things like heart defects are only picked up in about 50% of cases. If you want to know, don’t rely on the scans!

Not had them yet but will be doing, only because it doesnt harm the baby unless its high risk and you decide to have further texts. But whatever the result it wont change anything, its just nice to know if there is a risk so you can be prepared. If there is high risk i wont be going for any further tests as it can cause miscarriage.

@Passthecherrycoke that's interesting. I didn't realise. So the further testing is more accurate in detecting things like heart defects? I'm not at all scientific but would love to understand how genetic testing gives info on heart structure within the womb.

Or is it just that certain conditions would mean heart problems are more likely. So you'd actually still have no idea about the likelihood of surgery being needed, just that the child has a condition that might mean they would..?

Jadelouise DNA testing is a blood test and has no risk - which is what’s being referred to here. It’s the Amnios that have some miscarriage risk.

Gruff I’m afraid I don’t know if you can test some other way for heart defects- but downs can cause heart defects which is why we asked about it. That was the specific example, but the reliability is similar for scans being able to pick up downs via NT measurements etc which is why the offer the quadruple test.

I had the 12 week screening tests in my first pregnancy simply because it didn't occur to me not to. We were also excited at the prospect of seeing the baby at the scan.

In my case, the sonographer picked up serious brain defects which were confirmed with further scans as being incompatible with life. That pregnancy ended with a surgical termination at 15 weeks. If I'd not had the screening, I would either have had a termination further into the pregnancy, or would have miscarried, either of which would have been more traumatic for us than what we went through.

It's a personal choice, but for me I'd rather know and be prepared. I've accepted all testing in subsequent pregnancies, which has been more than the average due to my history.

With my first and second I didn't do any screening, I simply wanted to enjoy the pregnancy like that. I don't think they are accurate and knew about a friend who was told her baby is down and he wasn't. It just made her worry the whole time till birth.

With my third and fourth ( 16 weeks now) I did it just because I didn't want my consultant to say that I don't want the screenings. We are anyway high risk for another condition so for me the 12 week screening was meaningless. Instead I do extra scan to exclude my other possibility.

@loveyourself87 sorry, when I said "extremely low risk" that was my personal interpretation of the number (1:100,000 IIRC) rather than the official wording the NHS used. I should have been more clear. My NHS trust still gives you the result as a ratio rather than simply saying you are low/high risk.
With one of my pregnancies my risk or DS was 1:5000 which is obviously still low risk, but seems not quite as low as the 1:100,000 for ES and PS (hence me saying "extremely low risk").
Hope that makes sense!