I am very conflicted about a blood test done at 16 weeks..opinions please?

Question

I was offered a blood test for my next appointment that checks for down syndrome and other nueral tube defects. I am not at a high risk age and neither me or the father have autism, mental retardation or anything like that in our family and I have been taking my prenatal vits. My family is encouraging me to do this test, but I dont know if it is right, my risk is low for these things I need some opinions please

Answer 1

Im the same healthy pregnancy family history... but why not?! its just a blood test.

Answer 2

Take the test what can it hurt. I had this test done with no risk factors (23 years old) and it came back positive for defects. I was hysterical all day since a nurse called me on the phone to inform me. At the end of the day they called back and said they had incorrectly marked that I had a child with down syndrome which threw off the readings. I almost blew my lid at this!!!

But I did find out that the test is inaccurate a lot and a test that shows defects may really be nothing at all. They then do an amniocentesis to be sure. I was the told that this procedure has a 1 in 75 chance of causing a miscarriage.

Either way, I would have the test and then if a problem is found you can decide on what to do next. If there is something wrong you can be prepared from birth for the special needs.

Good luck!!

Answer 3

I had the same conflict about that test. It's not amnio, just a reg blood test so no risk to the baby.

It's completely optional and I almost skipped it since I would not have terminated the pregnancy. The reason why I went ahead with it is because my doc said that if something showed up we could be more prepared at delivery - for instance, if a nueral tube defect showed up he would have strongly recommended we change delivery hospitals.

It turned out fine, just a few days spent fretting til the results were in. But I figured if there was a chance that having more information could help my baby then I was all for that.

Best to you and baby.

Answer 4

There is really only one consideration for whether or not you should do this test and that is whether you would abort the fetus or not.

None of the conditions they test for are treatable, with the exception of extreme neural tube defect which if you happen to live near a major teaching hospital they *may* operate on before birth. Also they *may* recommend delivery via c-section. However defects that bad are easily seen on ultrasound.

But nothing can ever change the fact that your baby has Down's syndrome or any other genetic defect. However you will probably feel pressure to abort if your baby does have one of these conditions and whether that is an option for you is your decision. Not mine, not anyone else's (except possibly your partner).

Personally I would not consent to the test because I believe all babies are born perfect. But that's me, you need to make your own decision.

Answer 5

If you have any interest in knowing about a chromosme or neural tube defect, take the test. The test won't tell you anything regarding autism or mental retardation unrelated to a chromosomal abnormality. While you may statisticcally fall into a lower risk group, most babies with chromosomal defects are born to younger women because more younger woman have children.

The test will reevaluate your risk.

Answer 6

I felt the same way when I was offered the test. My husband and I discussed and had initially decided to do it, not that it would change anything but just 'so we can know what to expect'. But I still felt conflicted, so I researched the test and what I found out was that the test alot of times is inaccurate (I forget the percentages) and read some stories of couples who had the test done and was told their baby had something wrong when there really wasn't. I felt like why put myself and my husband through that. So I decided against it.

My little boy was born 3 weeks ago and he is perfect. Whatever you decide regarding this test, don't let anyone make you feel bad for it, it's no one business or decision but your own!

Good Luck!

Answer 7

It's not "right" or "wrong" to have the test - it's completely up to you.

I chose to decline it. There isn't really anything they can do to help your baby if he/she has any of the problems they are screening for - it's really just for information. And the outcome was in no way going to affect whether or not I continued with my pregnancy, as I am strongly pro-life. And, I am not a person who feels that I need to have the rest of my pregnancy to "prepare" for my baby having a problem - though some people do feel that way. I don't really think there is any way to adequately prepare for having a baby with problems, as the reality of it will likely be different from what you imagined it would be like. But, that's just me. Maybe you feel differently.

You should know, though, that those screenings have a high rate of false positives. That means, you might get all worried about nothing. And, if you do get a positive, they usually want you to have an amnio so they can be more certain, but these can cause miscarriage. To me, the risk was too much.

I would say that if you don't think it's important, don't do it. This isn't your father's pregnancy. It's your's.

Answer 8

It's called a Quad-Screen test, and I didn't know any doctor would actually let you decline it. Truth be told, most people's risk for these things is relatively low. Just because you don't have a family history of these things doesn't mean they can't appear in your baby, however. Get the test done...if there is a problem, it can be found and dealt with early. Performing the test will pose no risk to you or baby. The doctor simply draws a small vial of your blood, they send it to a lab for testing, and you get your results back within two weeks. Congrats to you and good luck.

Answer 9

Its just a simple blood test. There is no harm in giving a bit of your blood to make sure your baby is ok. Having autism has nothing to do with down syndrome. Autism isnt even usually detected until your child is about 2. I really dont see the harm in giving a couple tubes of your blood so you can be prepared. Its for your baby, and wouldnt you want to know now rather than later if something might be wrong??

Answer 10

you need to decide what you would do if the test came back positive for something. If you would abort, then you should take the test. If you would keep the baby no matter what, then what difference does it make? There's nothing they can do in utero to help treat the baby, so it doesn't do any good to worry all pregnancy long if you would keep it anyway.

check with your insurance too, only really good plans cover all those tests.

oh, and yeah, there is a huge false positive rate, and the follow up tests are usually invasive, which can actually harm the baby (perfectly healthy babies have died because of an amniocentesis).

good luck!

Answer 11

I've been pregnant 3 times, have four kids and one on the way. I've always said no to that test, this time round the doc didn't give me a choice. The level they check is the afp level, well mine was higher than it should've been. We spent a week panicing and worrrying about our baby just to find it that it was a false reading. The baby is just fine, no d.s. no spina bifida, everything was normal.
I guess you just have to ask yourself that even if your baby is imperfect in any way at all, is she or he still gonna be perfect in your eyes? I'm guessing the answer is "YES"!!
It would be nice to prepare, but as you can see the results could cause some unneccessary tension, and thats not good for you either.
BTW the same think happened to my sister, and her baby was just fine!!!!! Good luck