risk of downs syndrome 1 in 5, any experience or advice would be appreciated

[fantus]

Hello all,
I am not sure if I am posting this in the right place and if not I apologise.

I am writing this on behalf of my niece who is currently 13 weeks pregant. She was called into the hospital yesterday to receive the results of her blood tests and 12 week scan which was completed a last week.

She has been told that there is a 1 in 5 chance her baby will have downs syndrome and tthat the nuchal fold measurement was 3.4mm.

She is only young, will be 21 in January, and is pretty shell shocked at the moment. she has to wait 2 weeks for the amnio then another 4 or 5 days for the results. She has said she will be keeping the baby no matter what. I am not sure what I am asking to be honest, just anybody else's experiences or advice. I have worked with young adults with downs so have some info I can give her but I have no experience of babies or the testing she can expect. Also re the nuchal measurement - is this particularly high? I know there are other markers they can look for and she said that no other ones were mentioned.

I was 33 turning 34 when I had dd1 - went on to have another 2 dds the last one born when I was almost 39.

fantus - my dh and I had very postive examples of people with ds living very fulfilled and live sof great quality - relatively independent etc. So when it all happened - especially me - I was more scared and worried about her heart defect that I was about the down syndrome. I simply cannot imagine life without her in it.

Thanks again eidsvold. I know DN is very scared at the minute and I think it is more of the unknown than anything else and although she is certain she will keep her baby whatever the result she is feeling very much in the dark at present. I hope myself and others around can help her with this and stories like yours and others who have posted will make it that much easier