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Prenatal paternity test

Hi everyone, I did my paternity test at just over 7 weeks pregnant it came back as the man I really didn’t want it to be was excluded 0.00% I was so happy with this result but now have worries that it could be inaccurate!
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Hey! Look at your inbox☺️
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134578 tn?1693250592
COMMUNITY LEADER
Did the swabs and samples go by express shipping, do you know?
The only time I have ever heard of a bad result was not from the father's sample but the mother's, because the samples were held up in shipping and the weather was hot. Nothing about your situation sounds like that, though. Try not to worry.  Is testing with the other guy out of the question?
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My samples were done and I sent off the same day by express they received my blood the next day! And no it’s definitely not an option for me as the other man I had been seeing behind their back and it would ruin our future if he knew!
DDC has a good reputation, and everything shipped fast and they were able to process the results. I wouldn't worry.  (Except, of course, you might want to determine what caused you to see someone behind someone else's back, since you don't want to ruin your future.)  It's pretty common for someone in your position to transfer fear of getting found out into worry that the baby is from the wrong guy, but it's just fear, not enough to overturn a DNA test.
Thanks for the reassurance! So have you ever heard of anyone getting 0.00% and then it being wrong after birth? Like a false negative? Thanks
I have not heard of anyone have a problem in the situation as you described it, where you saw the samples go from the man into the envelope and supervised the shipping to the DDC and the samples arrived in good time.

I have heard of one or two cases where an answer from the DDC was disproven, but in both cases it sounded like nobody who knew the guy had witnessed the swabs being done, which of course opens the possibility of deliberate fakery by the guy sending a ringer in his place. I have not heard any report that suggests there is anything wrong with DDC's lab work once they get the samples -- if there is ever a problem connected to the better labs (and the DDC is one of the best) it would be at the collection end or sometimes in the length of time in shipping, not once the lab gets the swab. I guess if you are determined to worry, you could wonder if the guy you tested is a chimera, but I don't recommend it.

I can't reassure you out of having a guilty conscience or fear of the future. Just try not to pin it on lab results. If you fear your intended guy will find out what you did, see a therapist about that, and you'll find yourself with less fear about paternity as you address what is really bothering you.
It’s just that I seen this post from 2019 and you commented

Miasmomma, if you tested and got an inclusion, it's hard to see what the problem is. We have only had one poster who has written into this community that had a problem with the DDC, and her problem was an exclusion (he had been the only guy she was sleeping with and they said he wasn't the dad) not an inclusion. A false positive is a lot harder to get than a false negative, at any lab with any test, and the DDC is one of the best in the world for this kind of testing.


This is why I asked you as I was worried.
That was one of the times where it seemed likely that the man had cheated the test.
Just to be clear, as I said above where I said "I have not heard of anyone have a problem in the situation as you described it," in your case the guy did the swabs as you watched, and you sent them in yourself. In the case you are asking about, the guy did not want to have anything to do with the mother, and she never saw him take the test. A later test disproved the one he had claimed was his. There was a lawsuit to get him to take the later test.

Please don't scan the Internet obsessively to prove that a 0.00% result from a very reputable lab was somehow wrong. It doesn't sound wrong. If this is going to eat at you, see a therapist and talk about the origins of your anxiety. I can guarantee you that it is not a genuine fear that the wrong guy is the dad.
The problem I have is that the dates don’t really add right I know an ultrasound can be off but I had one very early.

Could you please look at my dates and see what you think.

Man A= fling
Man B=boyfriend

I had sex with man A on the 16th august
I came on my period 17th august
I had sex on my period with boyfriend between 19-22nd I’m not sure what day exactly
I came off my period on the 24th
I had sex with my boyfriend 24-26th
I had sex with man A on the 28th
I had sex with boyfriend then 30th-1st

I then struggle to remember the next time I slept with man A.

When I found out I was pregnant on the 27th September the test said 3+ weeks
I went for an ultrasound which gave me the date of the 19th august 5 weeks 5 days but I was on my period.
I had another ultrasound which placed me at 22nd august again on my period.

My 12 week scan took me back to the 19th all of these dates I was on my period.

This is why I did the dna testing but I keep going from dates to the dna which isn’t making any sense to me.

Hope you can give me some light on this.
You said you went for an ultrasound which "gave me the date of the 19th august 5 weeks 5 days but I was on my period." Can you look at the face of that ultrasound (if you have a copy) and report back what date it was done and what it said about the gestation date (GA) of the baby?


So the dates are

First ultrasound
28 September and it says 5 week +5 days

Second ultrasound
10 October and it says 7 weeks
And, are you aware that the pregnancy time period (the GA or "gestational age") does not begin the count on the date of conception, but is instead a count of the number of weeks since day 1 of the woman's period?
Oh right no I didn’t know this I thought they measured the size of the Fetus this is why I was confused why the dates came back to me being on my period.
Conception to full-term birth takes 266 days, but doctors use a 280-day count, and count back with it to the first day of the woman's last period, which is the start of the GA time period in pregnancy. "Day 1" is day 1 of her last period, and she is assumed to have ovulated on or around day 14.
I can post you some stuff from previous threads about why doctors do this (and ultrasounds, and medical textbooks, and nurses, and all the medical counts of pregnancy). But your GA count given to you by your medical person should count back to your period, that is exactly where such a count does begin.)

This won't help you much if you slept with Man A around the time your ultrasounds suggest you conceived (September 2-5) but it might otherwise be helpful.
Thanks for this information so basically my only option then was a dna as I would never of really known. I can now stop looking at the dates that would of never made any sense!
If you were sleeping with both guys at around the same time, the DNA test was needed.

As far as the dates making sense, they do make sense to me, but that's because I'm used to where the medical way of counting out of the pregnancy time period begins. A number of weeks "gestational age" said in a medical setting always refers to a count beginning when your last period began. Conception would be two weeks later.
I understand, thanks so much for that.
Another concern now is that I wouldn’t of been 7 weeks for testing, my blood was taken on the 14th October so now I am confused. Clearly DDC would of told me if there wasn’t enough fetal dna wouldn’t they?
If there had been no DNA to measure, they would have handled it in the standard way and asked you to send in another blood sample in a couple of weeks. Labs are not in the business of giving you an answer until they have an answer.

Please see a counselor about what is behind your search for problems with this lab test. If what was really bothering you was just the worry about who is the dad, when you got that 0.00% result, you would have been really happy and never looked back. But instead you're brooding and ruminating and "getting confused" and wasting effort puzzling over things that don't even matter. My guess is that other worries are driving this, not the stated question of whether the test result could be wrong.

I've said often to ladies on this site, and will repeat for you, women sometimes set up paternity fears as a "straw man" when deep down they have anxieties that are more amorphous, or hard to identify, or just hard to face. Such fears might be guilt or shame for having cheated; closely related but more subtle is a deep-seated feeling that it's unfair to the father not to fess up about the true state of their relationship. Or the woman might be catastrophizing the consequences unrealistically -- "If my partner found out I had sex with someone else, my whole life will end." (Well, not unless her partner would literally kill her. Life will in fact go on regardless, and probably be about as good.) She could be worried she won't be a good mother. Or maybe she doesn't want to be a mom or doesn't want more kids, and feels bad about it. She might wish the other guy were the father and not the guy who is. (Closely related: she might not like her boyfriend or husband much but not want to admit it.) She might be devout and feel God will punish her. She might be ashamed of being unmarried and pregnant. A big one is the fear she won't be able to manage financially. Or, she can't see any way to take care of the baby besides by pleasing the father and feels that relationship is shaky, or doesn't feel much for the guy but he is a "good catch."  

The most interesting part of your story to me is the fact that the 0% guy wasn't just a one-time fling, and yet you are adamant that the other guy is the one who you want, to the point that you are determined to go to great lengths to hide that the other affair was happening (so much that even with a legitimate reason to test both guys, you would not even consider it because it would mean admitting there was a question to the guy you are hiding the affair from). In your shoes, what I'd work on when talking to the counselor is, if the first guy is that great, what on earth was I doing having an affair with the second guy? The counselor could help you dig into what this meant, and what it might mean in the future if you would ever be tempted again by the same combination of circumstances to step out on your relationship. I don't think every person who has ever cheated on their partner should always confess, in some cases the damage would not be worth the honesty.  But I am saying that in your case, it sounds like your obsession about whether the test is wrong comes more from the first guy and the situation, not from distrusting the science or the lab work.

The brain hates being in constant stress, so it can let its anxiety settle on a worry (like paternity) that is cut and dried to answer. The problem is, getting an answer to one question when you are more anxious about another that's hard to answer, doesn't help you stop being anxious. Address the bigger concerns with your counselor, and you'll be able to believe your lab test.
Hi Annie,

So as the time gets closer to my due date the anxiety has kicked in… so I am from the UK I didn’t realise when I sent everything off it sent to London DDC who then sent it to America where the lab is. I re read our conversation and obviously we spoke about shipping which now I understand was wrong. It wouldn’t of got to the lab within 1 day it would of got to London the next day.

I received my results 7 days after I sent everything off.
Think I’m just looking for reassurance that’s all.
You have asked and asked and asked, and every time you got reassurance you thought of something else to scare yourself about, and though your worry about "x weeks pregnant" was logical because you didn't realize it didn't mean the same thing as "x weeks from conception," other worries have just never stopped. You went to a good lab, and did things the way they told you to, and got a 0.00%, and that is not enough. You read something that applied to someone else not you, and then quoted it back to me as though it proved your lab results must be wrong. You keep asking for reassurance when your results seem to say there is no more need for reassurance. So, can you see a counselor about what is actually behind your worry? No reassurance about the mechanics of your testing or dates are going to help you right now, if they didn't help before. You need to fish out your deeper concerns if you want to stop stressing.
Sorry, I feel like your become frustrated with me…
The dates I agree was logical because at DDC you have to be 7 weeks from conception however I was 7 weeks and a few days from my LMP. That’s where most of the stressing is at at the fact I didn’t understand and if I did understand I would of waited a couple more extra weeks. They still gave me a result so even though I would of been only 5 nearly 6 weeks pregnant so my blood must of contained enough fetal dna. Your right I do need to see a councillor about my worries but I do come on this site just to help settle me and it does work. Sorry for bothering you Annie.
Babymum, as you note, if there had not been enough DNA from the baby in your blood, they would not have sent you a result. They would have sent you a message saying they could not give you a result.

Please stop thinking of more and more far-fetched ways that the test was wrong, you're being run by anxiety and not listening to medical evidence or logic. This stress cannot help your cortisol levels or your pregnancy. Community leaders on this site are volunteers and we only have so much time, and someone who is asking repeatedly "What if? What if? What if?" can eat it up pretty fast and still never address the real cause of their worries. Please do see a professional, and try to figure out your deeper concerns. Obsessive fears about paternity will fade into irrelevance when you dig out what is really stressing you.
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So yes DDC send out the swabs so I swabbed the potential father myself and kept his swabs in the envelop provided. A registered nurse came to my address and took 2 tubes of blood. The same day I sent everything off in the pack.
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134578 tn?1693250592
COMMUNITY LEADER
0.00% sounds pretty sure. Were you there when the guy did the swab, and watched him hand it off to the lab tech?
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Thanks for your reply! So it was a home testing kit I did his swabbed I swabbed his cheeks and sent everything off.
How was your sample done? Pre-natally, doesn't the mom have to give blood?
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