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down syndrome screening

I am 15wks. Today my dr. asked if I wanted to get a quad screening for down syndrome.  I decided not to but I am thinking about what if  it does have this.  Is anyone else having these fears?  I am 32 and I have a perfectly healthy 5 year old. The dr. said my risk is low 1/604 or something like that. I guess the ultrasound at 20 weeks will show if there are any problems.  
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Avatar universal
has anyone known of a woman who had a baby at 46yrs old and the baby had no "older mom" related abnormalities > My OGYN told me chances of downs is 25% or 1 in 4.
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489000 tn?1364302227
And keep in mind, most u/s can show spina bifida by exposing the hole in the spine.  At least that is what my MD told me.  Most abnormalities can be found on u/s these days, too.
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403788 tn?1237037212
I wasnt going to do the quad test because i didnt want to know, my husband abd i decided were going to love and keep the baby no matter what so why ruin the rest of my preg. with fears if something is wrong.  But at my last doc apt (july 30) they said the test also screens for spinal bifida wich is something i did want to be tested for because I've read you should have a c section if your baby has s.b.


LauraB78... it might not be to late i didnt do my blood test til 17.5 weeks.
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Avatar universal
thanks to all who responded. I think I am going to have it done. Brand..
Helpful - 0
489000 tn?1364302227
I am seeing a high risk OB in addition to my regular OB b/c im 35 and that is what they wanted me to do and I had no objections to that.  The good part about it is that I get more checkups than usual.  I like that!

We met with the genetic cons. prior to our nuchal translucency test via u/s and she went over with us the different tests for down's syndrome.  We opted to only have the nucal test done and no other blood tests since we would opt to not have the amino done regardless of any blood test results.  (This is a personal decision and I am just sharing mine.)  The nucal test was fine.  You need to have the nucal test done, I think, between wks 13-15 or somewhere in that range.   After a certain wk, this test is no longer valid.

The nuchal test can also show that there might be something else going on with the baby as well.

Whatever decision you make will be the right one for you and your baby.
Helpful - 0
304970 tn?1331425994
That's just great. I am so annoyed by that..

I did just switch Dr.'s though, b/c I really didn't care for my old one! UGGH!
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268356 tn?1236002604
LauraB78 - It may be too late. The first part of screening takes place around week 12.
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304970 tn?1331425994
It was never even offered to me? WTF?

I am asking at my next appt.
Helpful - 0
268356 tn?1236002604
Haha, natemomma27, guess that is a bad word... I got the quad too, mainly because it was another chance to see my baby. Even if he/she had down's or some other problem I would not abort. I have tried to hard to get pregnant just to start over again.
Helpful - 0
427258 tn?1266445242
apparently u cant spell p  r  i  c  k
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427258 tn?1266445242
i too had it done b/c ive had two pregnancies that were high-risk and then suffered 2 m/c's. it was a finger ***** blood test and an u/s...no biggie! the u/s came back normal from what they could see and a week later they called to tell me the bloodwork was normal as well!
Helpful - 0
294043 tn?1354207946
I had it done and like Kash12 said, it's not an invasive test and they check you out for other abnormalities as well.  We did it at perinatologist office, not my regular ob and it's nice to have a second opinion and an extra u/s!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I did.. mainly becos I got an extra U/S to see my babies.  
Its not an invasive test.. just a blood test and then an U/S. Both the test results give you the probability.

There have been a lot of cases of false +ves... but we had decided not to go for amnio or cvs incase any test does come positive.
Its completely a very personal decision and as I said.. we took it for the U/S purpose:)
Good luck deciding.
Helpful - 0
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