Harmony test

[LetMeOut2021]

I’m 12 weeks, my midwife said she’s not sure if I’ll get my NHS scan before 14 weeks because my booking in scan was late (because of Christmas, I told the surgery in good time that I was pregnant). She has suggested the harmony test and I have looked into it and decided to have it. I’ve got that together with a dating scan tomorrow. This is my second baby.

Are there any drawbacks I should be aware of? Or anyone have any experiences to share?

If you're very heavy they sometimes can't get enough foetal DNA to test and have to repeat the test. A bonus is finding out the sex. A nerve-wracking wait, but worth it!

I’m a normal BMI, why is that an issue re being heavy? It’s a blood test.

I don’t want to find out the gender. It’s the screening tests I want to do it for.

I’m not aware of any drawbacks ?

I had the Harmony test. I had a lovely long scan which was much more informative than the NHS one (understandably I was paying for it !) which I really enjoyed.

They took 2 vials of blood.

I got my results in 5 working days. I also got to find out the sex of the baby which was nice (you don’t have to)

Thanks @WalkingMeAway that’s good to hear

I had it, great scan, really took their time. Unfortunately they had to do a redraw (normal BMI, not sure what the reason was), but they gave me a free scan with the redraw. Unfortunately that was inconclusive too! They offered me another test but I declined and they gave me a partial refund. Apparently it doesn’t work for some people, but if it works for you, then I would recommend.

Thanks - is the scan itself different then?

I had harmony scan and bloods this week, after dating scan and bloods placed me as high risk,
Scan was the same but she spent more time explaining things and took lots of pictures, plus two tubes of blood, results 5 wd or 7 days approx.

@LetMeOut2021 it’s just a lot more personal. And they spend more time looking at everything and explaining it to you. But you are paying for it so I wouldn’t expect any less !

Don’t get me wrong my NHS sonographer was lovely but her goal is to look at all the important parts and not have inane chit chat with me explaining it all 🤣

Had the harmony recently myself. Same as a normal 12 week scan but more in depth. I would say if your not high risk that it's not really worth the money, especially if you don't want to find out the gender either.

You could just have a normal scan? Would still be the 12 week one

I paid privately £500 for IONA which is another brand of NIPT test at ten weeks.

I have a history of mc so it was amazing peace of mind (well, for a few minutes...) and the private scan was reassuring.

Found out he was a boy too, which was amazing so early (though understand that’s not for you).

I would definitely have it again. There is a tiny, tiny, tiny chance of false negatives but statistically speaking in broad terms it seems as good as diagnostic.

Thanks everyone. I’m not high risk, I have one healthy son but recently had an ectopic pregnancy (I lost a Fallopian tube) and so feel like stats aren’t on my side. The greater certainty really appeals to me. I just feel hyper vigilant with this pregnancy!

I definitely recommend getting NIPT and strongly disagree with the posters saying it's not worth the price if you aren't considered high risk.

My husband and I just found out via NIPT ( though not harmony as we are not in uk) and subsequent amnio that our little one has a serious and rare chromosomal condition. We are both healthy, in our 20s, no family history of issues, spontaneous (but wanted) pregnancy. Nothing showed up on the 12 week NT scan for us so it was a huge shock. We are thankful we had the option and made the decision to have the NIPT.

Most NIPT brands have over 99% detection rate for the main three trisomy conditions I believe however detection rates of other conditions are lower and there is a higher chance of false positives of sex chromosome abnormalities.

My advice is to go for the test, but make sure you are fully aware of its limitations. Your provider should give you guidance and counselling about what information the test can give you, but often this is not the case.

Chances are, it will come back fine, and it has a much higher detection rate of any conditions than the regular NT scan + blood work, so with good results you can be more confident your little one is healthy.

@ShootingStar94 thank you for sharing your experience and I’m sorry you have been through a tough time.

As far as I know this test only looks for downs, pataus and Edwards.