Who had or didn't have Nuchal Tests at 1st scan?

[Mumdad10]

Hi,

Asking on behalf of me and my wife, we are booked for 1st scan at 14 and 3 which I think is too late for the tests.

We are unsure about having the tests or not so would be grateful if people could just give an idea if they did or didn't have them as we haven't told anyone yet and don't want to ask people we know.

Need to obviously bring it forward if we want them.

Thanks!!

Didn't have them with my elder children but did with younger

Missed time slot in current pregnancy and just had blood test instead which is a bit less accurate and only gives result for Downs

I think what you need to work out is if you had it and had a higher risk would you want further testing etc

If you would like more accurate information you can pay for a NIPT (normally about £450). The test is possible at any point past 10 weeks (I think). It is not diagnostic but much more accurate indicator than the bloods at 14 weeks.

I had NIPT instead at 10 weeks as far more accurate and our age would have made the NHS Combined test automatically high risk.

I definitely wanted to know, but obviously it's only worth it if the results would impact on how you would want to proceed. We had decided we would terminate if any of the Trisomy's found, so early testing was important to us. As a bonus we also got to find out the sex too. Ours cost £400.

I had nuchal tests done at my 12 week scan which was actually 11+4 and got the bloods done at 12+1 as it was over christmas and nobody was in on my scan date to do the bloods, my test results came back about 10 days later as low risk, even with my age as i will be 32 when i give birth, the measurement behind the neck was 1.4 which is in the normal range

I did. For my last child the downs risk was high so I paid for another private test which lowered the risk. It was important for me to have it as I knew we did not want to continue with a pregnancy if the baby may have Downs. I suppose it depends on your attitude to having a Downs baby and the risk factors ie your age.

I think it’s worth considering the range of possible problems that could be picked up. Deciding you don’t want the NT measurements done because you would continue with a trisomy 21 syndrome is different to deciding you would continue with a trisomy 13 or 18 pregnancy. (Down syndrome vs Patau syndrome vs Edwards syndrome) Also, some people who definitely continue a trisomy 21 pregnancy still do the tests because they would prefer to know in advance so they can be better prepared when the baby is born.

We didn't for either. It can only give you a likely risk factor and we wouldn't change what we did with the pregnancy so we decided not to. If it could give you an absolute yes or no we maybe would have

I had it with all three of my pregnancies. I also had the NIPT as mentioned previously with my third due to age at delivery (39)

I've had it, I'm 36 now so age becoming more of a risk factor. 14+2 with current risk for downs was 1 in 17, 336 & edward's/patau's 1 in 100k. I'd rather know if there was a high risk than be surprised after birth. We have 5 healthy children already who were all given low risk results.

Of course no guarantee a low risk will not have any of these.

We didn’t have it on our 12 week scan. The baby wouldn’t get in the right position for them to do the measurements. They offered us the blood test anytime from 14+3 but so far we haven’t bothered with it. I’m not sure if I even want it doing to be honest. I don’t think I would go for the testing of the amniotic fluid of the risk factor came back as high anyway x

We didn't have it. We would have proceeded with the pregnancy regardless, so we didn't feel it was worth knowing/worrying about the possibilities in advance

Thankyou so much for all your responses. So helpful to help us make a decision. We have rang and managed to get an earlier scan just after 12 weeks so atleast have the option now.

At the minute we are leaning towards having the tests and then dealing with anything that comes after that.

Thankyou!!

Hi we had it done. I am 35, obviously the risk is a little higher in my age group. The results came back low risk, I was glad we had the tests. Definitely helped me feel more relaxed.

We did with DD1 - didn't really think it through, it was just the done thing. It came back high risk which put us in a quandary as it had taken 2 years to fall pregnant and we were set on having the baby no matter what. We didn't want amniocentesis, which was what was offered, as it carried a risk of miscarriage. We had a more detailed scan at 17 weeks to look for other soft markers. This was purely so we could plan and prepare.

Second pregnancy, we didn't bother.

It might be too late. It was too late for me to have a decent NT reading at 14/3. That was ten years ago though.

It's really all about whether or not you'd continue a pregnancy if the baby has a chromosomal abnormality. A high NT will put you on the pathway towards more testing. How was the blood screening test? Did it show any risk?

Sorry... I'm all fuzzy. You haven't had the screening test yet. Forgive me, I haven't had babies for a few years. I forget that the bloods are done at the same time as the 12 week scan. I think.

Anyway, it's so good that the scan's been moved up. I got in at 14/3 when I was 39 and pregnant with then-DC3. It all went woefully wrong and she didn't get a diagnosis of a chromosomal abnormality until the 20-week scan... at 24 weeks. Nightmare and trauma from start to finish. Anyway... this WON'T happen to you. It's just good to get in there and get these tests done within a reasonable timeframe. Everyone sleeps easier when that happens. Congratulations and good luck!