Are all Prenatal tests necessary?

Question

I am 22 years old and this is my first pregnancy. I am only 8 weeks. I got some imformation from my obgyn, about some optional testing. It includes Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) testing, at 16 to 18 weeks. It can check for defects in the spine area for genetic disorders such as down' syndrome. I heard down' syndrome usually only happens in older women and men that try to concieve. Is that true, or am I still at risk and should opt for it? I want to do whatever is right for the baby.

Answer 1

I totally agree with Jill.

If the tests turn up something, it might only be a possibility - then you would have to get MORE tests which begins to get costly and invasive and carries the risk of miscarriage (i.e. the amniocentesis procedure).

And if they found something with 100% certainty, nothing can be done about it before the baby is born. Instead, you will just be filled with worry during your entire pregnancy instead of being happy at the miracle inside of you.

We learned several days after she was born that our baby girl had Charge Syndrome, a genetic disorder that causes serious heart defects, vision and hearing loss and kidney damage. We had turned down all testing when I was pregnant and had no ultrasounds, so we had no clue.

And we are glad it was "a surprise." I have happy memories of my pregnancy and her birth. There was no cloud of worry about things we could not have changed anyway.

Answer 2

It's not necessary because these kinds of defects cannot be cured.

However, look at it this way:
What would you do with the results? If you were unfortunate enough to have a test come back and say that you are at a greater risk for having a baby with a genetic defect, would you continue with the pregnancy? If your baby did have a defect, would you rather know, or be surprised when it was born?

It should also be stated that things like the AFP are not diagnostic tools - they simply indicate the possibility of a defect. Further tests like amnio would be needed to confirm. Many people have had false results on AFP and get freaked out for no reason. It is true that Downs is more common in older mothers (over 35), but there are things other than Downs that can occur no matter how old you are, like Trisomy 18, which is a condition that is fatal before the age of one in about 95% of cases.

Answer 3

No, they aren't "necessary." I didn't have the AFP testing. And actually all that is is a screening - if you get a "positive" then they run other tests. These may include amniocentesis which can put you at a risk for miscarriage. It really depends on whether or not it's important for you to know before your baby is born whether or not it has some kind of "defect." There is no way in hell I would ever have an abortion because of that (or for any reason, really), and I also feel like there is no way to really prepare yourself for what it would be like to have a baby with Down Syndrome or some other problem... so I just decided it wasn't worth the testing. It seems like it can cause more stress than it's worth for someone like me. It's not really better for the baby that you have the testing, because there's nothing they can do for most problems anyway. There are in utero treatments for some issues, like spina bifida, but these are very risky and have no guarantee of a good outcome. So, again, no they aren't necessary for your health or the baby's. You just have to decide if it's information you would feel better having - keeping in mind that the screenings and tests can be wrong!

Answer 4

I've had 5 homebirths, and used midwives with each baby. They offer all "routine" testing if you want it, but my midwives explained the pros and cons in great detail.

I opted out of the AFP testing, because they have a high false negative rate. That means that the test can be negative, but come back as positive.

This happened to my sister, who had all the routine tests, and her AFP came back positive. She was so scared that something was wrong with the baby, and they told her they would have to do further testing.

When they finally did more testing, they said that the original AFP test was falsely positive, and that it was actually negative.

All that worry for nothing :-(

Also, the test can come back positive, and the defect can be minor. I know of a mom whose test was positive, and her baby was born with a little tiny opening in his back, and the doctors were easily able to make a surgical repair.

Most doctors, if the AFP is positive, will suggest abortion. That little one would never have had a chance at life had her mother chosen to abort due to a positive AFP test.

For us, we wouldn't abort if the test was positive, so there was no need to test.

That's just been my experience. Do the research, educate yourself thoroughly, then make the best decision for you and your baby.

Congratulations on your pregnancy!

Kirstyn Sierra
Mother of 5

Answer 5

you prefer to do the paintings-up on the 1st OB pass to which consists of re-confirming your blood type and doing an antibody reveal screen, verify your early being pregnant hemoglobin to work out while you're anemic stepping into to being pregnant, in addition they do a hepatitis B reveal screen and syphilis reveal screen and each particularly situations HIV - reckoning on state rules those could be required. in addition they verify to work out while you're rubella immune or if your vaccination has worn off, leaving you in threat of exposure, and figuring out the choose for re-immunization after transport. you may pass the blood attracts for the quad monitors in case you do not prefer to be attentive to whether your infant could desire to be in threat for particular chromosomal or neural tube defects like spina bifida. The gestational diabetes attempt is completed approximately 24-28 weeks and mutually as that's elective, that's extraordinarily stated through fact the hazards of GD are considerable if it is going untreated. At admission to the well being center for L&D they'll draw blood to examine your pre-transport hemoglobin and to have a tube obtainable in case they could desire to do typing in prep for a transfusion. The day after transport they'll draw yet another hemoglobin to work out how plenty it dropped from the bleeding for the period of transport - if your checklist says you had a common volume of bleeding and additionally you sense positive and don't sense such as you are going to faint and your pulse isn't above a hundred then you probable do not choose the recheck.

Answer 6

I got all the reccommended tests, its better to be safer