Testing, testing
Antenatal testing that is. It's not that far into your pregnancy before you have to start making these major decisions. If you opt for a nuchal translucency scan to check for Down's syndrome, it has to be done between 11 and 14 weeks. The triple blood test is done at around 16 weeks, but potentially gives you more information (as it can indicate if there's a risk that the baby has spina bifida). But, if you opt for any kind of screening, what do you then do if it comes back showing a high risk? Katie of Maybe Expectant* wrote a great post on the subject a few weeks back, as to how they came to their decision
Initially, we felt that we would also avoid any kind of screening. For one thing, despite the fact that I'm technically of "advanced maternal age" at 36, the chances are still pretty minimal that there would be any kind of problem. And if we did get assessed as high risk (a number smaller than 1 in 250), we still probably wouldn't go for diagnostic tests, because of the risk (albeit small) of miscarriage, and also because most "high risk" babies are completely normal. Plus you've got the awful 2-3 week wait to find out what the actual diagnosis is. And termination simply wouldn't be an option for us, even in the event of the diagnosis of a problem. Having waited for this baby for so long, we'll take it as it comes, even if that proves to be coming with problems.
However, talking to my sister helped us to find a slightly different perspective (it helps that she's both a GP and a mother already). She opted to have a nuchal scan for both her children, and then to skip all further testing (bar the 20wk anomaly scan). As she quite rightly pointed out, if we did have a nuchal scan, the chances are overwhelmingly on our side that we would be assessed as low risk, which would be very reassuring and would help us to enjoy a worry-free pregnancy. After some further discussion between K and me, that's what we decided to do, and I went for the (private) scan yesterday.
Although it was primarily intended to check the baby's health, and could have produced an upsetting result, it was great to see Pip again. S/he seems to have rounded out somewhat in just a matter of 5 days! And s/he was awake this time, moving around and waving arms and legs, which was utterly magical. K hadn't been able to come as the scan was in the middle of the day, and it was such a shame that she couldn't share that experience. The consultant actually had trouble measuring the nuchal fold because it was so small - I had to ask him whether this was good or bad! Turns out it's a very good thing. I had some blood taken afterwards, and once those results are back from the lab I'll get sent an actual numerical risk factor, but the consultant said that he'd be surprised if it was as high as 1 in 300, and that it was more likely to be in the region of 1 in a 1000. Hurrah for a healthy young Pip! Oh yes, and I got the new picture above showing that sweet little nose.
*if anyone can tell me how to link directly to another blog/site without you all having to read the code (i.e. I would just put Maybe Expectant and you could click directly through to the post), I would be eternally grateful. I struggle to understand much of Blogger's help system! ETA - thanks Marta for telling me just how simple it is - I hadn't even noticed that link icon!
posted by Tamsin at 7:20 pm
7 Comments:
highlight the text that you want to be clickable, then click on the link button (literally, it's a links icon). hope this helps!
i love seeing ultrasounds! good luck with everything.
Marta, you're an absolute star! There'll be no stopping me now ;o)
Pip looks wonderful!
e-mail me at erstellen at mac dot com and I will send you the code for the photo button & tell you how to put it in your side bar.
Hurrah for healthy Pip!!
Glad that pip is doing well!
We didn't do any screening, save the AFP test. The only reason for the AFP was because we were having a home birth, but in event of spina bifida we would have elected a c-section. We also did one late pregnancy u/s to make sure there would be no life sustaining measures needed at the birth. Abortion was never an option for anything, so knowing about it beforehand didn't matter. And it turns out that the health problems he DOES have, would never have shown up anyway.
We're planning a hospital birth, so hopefully if any unforeseen problems do arise, the experts will be on hand to deal with them. And although I did wonder whether we should have the AFP to look for spina bifida, as I understand it, it should be picked up on the 20wk scan, so that we would know what to expect (and to research). We seem to have been given much more info on testing for Down's than spina bifida.
I think that's because spina bifida is over all ages, whereas down's gets more likely as you age. To hear some doctors talk, 90% of over 35 year old women have children with down's. Just not the case. More likely, sure, but still not common.
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