R 16Week Pregnant Blood Screen... over 35Yrs Old

I was 40 with my last pregnancy and had the blood screening. It came back negative or said the baby was not at any significant risks for defects.

She is now a very healthy 13 month old taking a nap right now.:) Don't stress until there is something real to stress about. Good luck!

An amnio DOES NOT HARM THE FETUS!!! In this day and age the miscarriage rates are almost nothing -in fact they have to report any miscarriages by women who have had an amnio even though most would have miscarried anyway. Sorry, but I read so much misinformation on here about amnios it drives me crazy -especially because it's a very routine test that's been around for years now and can alleviate a woman's fears completely or help her and her delivery team be prepared for anything.

Go ahead and see what the results say. I've had two pregnancies over 35 and one amnio -and would have had two, but the first baby would never move his head out of the insertion area. The amnio is actually 100% accurate -again -the 99.6% figure is from .4 percent of lab failures when growing the culture. If the results show you elevated for anything, have the amnio and relax. The procedure and you and the baby will be fine -and you'll be able to spend the rest of your pregnancy knowing!

Please also be aware that they're going to give you a ratio result that may seem more dire than it is. 1:250 or 1:500 can still sound scary to a pregnant woman. You can opt to have further ultrasound testing done to measure the baby's neck and search for markers or visible defects. Just see what they say, but if you feel you have a high probability for something, get an amnio -they're NOT dangerous. If there's some unique reason it might be more risky for you -your doctor will discuss this with you. Believe me, no one practices CYA these days like doctors!

****And these people saying if you wouldn't terminate the pregnancy -there's no need for it haven't thought very far. Down's and other babies with fetal abnormalities often have physical problems that need to be attended to AT BIRTH. It could be the difference between life and death for your baby as to how fast a NICU team gets to them. Having tests like amnios allows your doctor and hospital to be prepared. There are also some abnormalities that can be GREATLY improved or fixed in utero. Don't listen to the people trying to push some "agenda" of theirs because it's a false argument. People who wouldn't terminate and use that as an excuse not to do amnios are possibly endangering their babies' lives even more!

I am not over 35 but I didn't have the blood test done with either of my children. It's really about your beliefs. If you get the test and something comes back positive- what will you do? If the answer is continue with the pregnancy then you probably don't have a need for the test. I opted out because I would never temiate a pregnancy and with only 75% accuracy it was an extra stress I didn't need. There is also the chance of false positives- I've definitely heard of this happening. You want to be able to look back on this time as a happy time not a stressed and worried time. You may get some very different responses but that is just my opinion. I would say unless your doctor can tell you of something they might find that they could fix if they knew about pre-delivery.

Good luck and God bless!

I am also 36yrs old and 15 weeks pregnant I'm not sure which test this is specifically, a couple weeks ago I had an ultrasound and they asked me about a blood test to be taken that day to check for down syndrome and other defects. I declined the test due to the high rate of false positives and I knew that no matter the outcome it would not change anything there is no treatment or anything they can do and I didn't want to have to worry about it until the baby was born and more than likely not even have any defect.

When I was prego I had the blood test done. Reason being is because IF I had a baby with Downs, then I could at least prepare myself for the baby. I WANTED to be sure my baby had everything possible coming into this word and if my baby had defects I wanted to educate myself as much to prepare. My test came back fine...most do but there is a chance....and then if you test comes back abnormal, then the amnio test gives you better results

Well you have it and if there is a red flag then you can either decide to have an amnio for more accurate results or not. There is not really any point in getting an amnio if you would keep the baby even if it was sick. But it is good to know about any problems before birth so you can prepare.
I have had this blood screen 3 times then followed up with amnio.
I have had 2 amnios due to a severe abnormality in my second baby. They don't really hurt. You get to take it easy all day. There are risks but they are low. There is no harm to the fetus.

I had my last baby 18 months ago at age 37. My doctor told me about the screen but didnt really push it. I decided against it because of the fact that it is only 75% accurate and I really didnt know what I would do if it came back with a positive result anyway. I have a friend who was told her baby absolutely had birth defects and her doctor was actually angry with her for not aborting the baby but when he was born the only thing he ended up having was a lazy eye which was easily corrected by wearing an eye patch for a few years. I also have a co-worker who had a positive result which ended up stressing them out unbelievably and putting his wife through a multitude of test and once again the baby was perfectly healthy. He wishes they would have never had the test. It is definately a personal decision. I know how difficult it is so good luck deciding

One thing I've noted with my 3rd pregnancy (I have a 3 month old, a 12 year old, and a 16 year old) is that nowadays, they sure know how to scare the beans out of you. First off, relax. I wish I would have. I turned down the screening as it only gave you statistics, but, I did CVS as I could NOT stop stressing. Mind you, I'm 44 and was 43 and pregnant! I did have a CVS vaginally, similar to an amnio. Your odds will be much better than mine were. If you are stressed about it, you can go directly to get an amnio. If it doesn't matter, then don't do anything. You dont have to do anything if you don't want to, the choice is yours to make. Best of luck to you.

I had one mine turned out fine and so forth. I have a very very health boy. they are looking for downs and such. as far as if there is a defect they wanted to do a test for downs after I had an ultrasound which showed good. but the test can make you miscarry so I decided I would love the baby either way so why put the baby at risk. god never gives you more than you can handle. good luck I will pray for you.

It's really no big deal. I'm over 35 too with a surprise 3rd. I did the test to have information. We've never tested before, and we wouldn't have terminated even if something were wrong. I just wanted to know what I was facing if I needed to set up special services. It's 2 blood tests and an ultrasound. My risk for downs went from 1:250 to 1:7000. But if you're hesitant in any way, don't do it. It's not worth the stress. Best of luck!

I would not get the blood test. With my last pregnancy, my level was positive for Trisomy 18. I then had to go through the trauma of going to a perinatologist, frequent ultrasounds and a major emotional ordeal for nothing. My daughter turned out perfectly and I at one point thought she would not make it! Unless you would do something with the pregnancy if something were wrong, do not put yourself through this!

I have had 3 children so far. During each, I turned down the blood screen. My reasoning was that if there was an abnormality, the types that they usually check for can also be discovered during an ultrasound. (The tech checks the brain, heart, liver, stomach, etc, etc, etc.) If the ultrasound discovered something, then my husband and I would pursue other options.

With my second, the ultrasound tech discovered that my son had "bubbles" in his brain. It was an indicator for Down's Syndrome, but it also was found in completely healthy children. We had another ultrasound done a few weeks later, and the "bubbles" were gone. I asked my doctor about if it would have appeared on the blood test, and he said maybe, but that an ultrasound is a much better predictor of any potential abnormalities. (Plus you can see your baby's heartbeat, movements, and cute features already!)

I was a high risk pregnancy for all three children because of a genetic kidney disease. The blood test becomes "standard" during high risk pregnancies. If all else is going well, I say don't take the test. Make sure things check out during the ultrasound, but beyond that, relax and have a great pregnancy!

I was pregnant with twins at age 39, which this test is not very accurate for that. I took it anyway. I just wanted to take every test possible because I was so nervous. This test came back positive for a very high chance of i think downs syndrome. I did the amnio and everything came back as negative for any defects. I had a lot of scares with all of the tests, but everything did turn out ok at the end.

I had it done with my first child but I was under 30 at the time. It came back saying I had an elevated risk for Downs Syndrome. I was freaking out!! And I ended up having an amnio done. Everything turned out fine and my daughter is a healthy and happy 5 year old. I know the risk increases when you are over 35 but I wouldn't do it. It is just unnecessary stress but it is your personal choice. And I must say that if you do it and end up having an amnio, they really aren't that bad. It is a little uncomfortable and there is pressure but it really doesn't hurt. Good luck!!

It all kind of boils down to what you want to do if you have a test come back possitive. I was older with my last two. I knew that I would not abort the child even if it really had down syndrome, so to me, even with a possiltve tripple screen (now the quad) I was not willing to have amnio and risk a 2% spontainious abortion. The doctor said that the risk was worth it under the circumstances, but it was not worth it to me to just know for sure, I was not aborting anyway, and the ultra sounds continued to look fine. While I did have the screen, I would not do it again, but that it just me. Your age is one of the factors that is used to give you your "odds" so keep that in mind. This is the only time in my life that I refused medical advice, and my daughter did not have down syndrome, but I had to check into the hospital with a card that said that I refused amnio...

M.

That's interesting because I was 39 when pregnant with my last, and my ob advised against the blood test because it wasn't very accurate at my age. She suggested an amnio would be more accurate. We chose none of it. At the time my son was stressing that we were going to have another girl. He worried what it would be like to have a younger sister as well as older sisters. He didn't KNOW what it would be like, just thought about it. With Down's Syndrome, there are so many levels, from barely affected (mosaic) to profoundly affected. A test couldn't tell what type my child had, or how severely affected. So I would stress the whole pregnancy, much like my son, for something I wouldn't really know what it was like until the child was born. If it was a worse genetic defect, I wasn't aborting. So I didn't have any blood tests or amnio. I ended up having a healthy baby boy who is now having problems in school. That is something else no testing could tell me, if my child was going to have problems later in life.
Good luck on your decision. This is just my opinion and it's what worked for me and why.

I don't do any genetic testing during pregnancy. There is a pretty high false-positive, I wouldn't abort if anything were found, and there's no evidence that the blood testing before birth saves any babies because an abnormality is found that has to be treated immediately. Same with extra ultrasounds and amnios. Last I read, the amnio has a 1-in-150 rate of causing spontaneous abortion. That seems REALLY risky just to test for a genetic abnormality that I wouldn't purposefully abort for anyhow :(