Ultrasound & CVS testing...your opinions

[hollyxann]

For now I have an appointment scheduled on the 5th for my 12 wk ultrasound the CVS test. But I'm having second thoughts about the test. I know they are only doing an ultrasound to check the flap at the back of the baby's neck and then take some blood. That's it, test over.

But I've talked to a few people and now I'm kinda having second thoughts to do the test. So I want to know your opinions...did you have the test done, what were your results, do you trust the test?

[Darcy Baldwin]

For us, the risk of miscarriage wasn't worth the information that would've been given. We were already prepared for the risks of having a later - in -life pregnancy, the test wouldn't have chanced our mind, and we just weren't willing to take the risk, however small it was.

[CA Dreamer]

I went for a nuchal translucency test(via ultrasound) at around 10-12 weeks and did not do the CVS. For me, the CVS felt too risky. I did go ahead and do the amnio later on. From what you said in your post, it sounds like they are doing the nuchal translucency with blood tests on you. The CVS is actually taking and testing a part of the placenta.

Here is some info: http://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/pregnancy-health/prenatal-testing/nuchal-translucency.aspx

Also: http://www.babycenter.com/0_nuchal-translucency-screening_118.bc

[nikkiARNGwife]

I would not do it...that test is soo sensitive and anything can affect the results..I didn't know any better and had it with DS...his came back with markers for down's ...so it caused us 2-3 weeks of really unecessary worry, thinking we may possibly have a special needs child and how that would be. Obviously the test was wrong b/c he was fine, but during all that I researched it a great deal and it's not that it's inacurate..it's just very sensitive and lots of things can cause wrong results...

I didn't have it with DD.

[dana]

i've had the nuchal translucency test with my first two pregnancies ... w/ the first everything was fine and i was not even on the risk chart. with my second pregnancy - the test DID find something (i was very high risk for a problem - like over 50% sure that something was wrong) and i had to go back in for a CVS ... at first we were worried about downs, but it ended up being a much bigger problem and we ended up losing the baby. for me, it was definitely worth having the test and knowing what was going on - if i hadn't known and had just lost the baby unexpectedly a month later it would have been even worse for me ... i know that you can get some 'false positives' - i.e., it shows a risk and everything ends up being fine - but that doesn't particularly bother me ... with my third pregnancy, i went ahead and did CVS as soon as possible b/c i knew i wouldn't be calm otherwise - then it showed a risk and i had to go in for an amnio a month later .... luckily everything turned out fine, and although i was worried for a little bit, i was better off in the long run b/c i am too much of a worrier/stressed person ... LOL ...

[Leila]

I wouldn't do it either. Just not worth the risk at this point. I skipped that and the triple screen test with D, the results would not have changed anything for us. If I ever get pregnant again, I'll do the same and probably skip the glucose screen too. Since I have no choice but to birth in a hospital due to having preemies and other medical issues, I go for the fewest interventions/tests/whatevers possible before labor.

[jorgies5]

I chose not to do it with any of my pregnancies. I had a friend that had a false positive and had an awful experience (hospital counseling her about aborting the baby, emotional stress, etc.) and the baby come out perfectly normal.

With that being said, I can totally see where Dana is coming from because with my 2nd pregnancy I had an ultrasound at 10 weeks and they were concerned about the baby's neck being too thick. They were ready to send me to have all these tests done, but at my 12 week appointment I found out I had lost the baby. In this situation, it would have been easier for me to go through if I had taken the tests and known exactly what was wrong with the baby.

But ultimately, my decision came down to it wasn't going to make a difference because I was going to follow through with the pregnancy no matter what and I preferred not to have the emotional stress during the pregnancy (I was already highisk for preterm labor).

[schock77]

I did have ultrasounds often (they were worried about me carrying to term) but I didn't do any of the genetic-type tests. And I agree with Nikki- it's not always right... and really, if it had shown I'd have a special needs baby, would I have done anything differently? No... so I didn't do it. HTH!

[emmasmommy]

i wouldn't do it either...for all the reasons stated above.

[Traci Reed]

I won't be having any genetic tests because if the baby has downs etc, it won't change my love for it, nor would I abort it, therefore there's no reason for me to know.

[NeverendingJen]

I would personally never do it unless I already knew I had genetic issues(i.e. family history of something that could be diagnosed via that test) and only then so I could prepare myself best for dealing with it. No matter what the results, I would still carry my child to term, so it would be more for my own sake rather than anything else.

[pewtertm]

I won't be having any genetic tests because if the baby has downs etc, it won't change my love for it, nor would I abort it, therefore there's no reason for me to know.

Ditto...that's exactly how I felt when I was pregnant with Rachel.

[iteach3rdgrade]

I didn't have the cvs, but I did have the quad screen. I ended up having an amnio because of the results. My ratio was 1:2 of having everything be perfectly fine. Hindsight, something skewed my results in my blood work I think.

If you are completely against an amnio then it might be a good idea to skip some of those tests.

Some people prefer to know info ahead of time so that they can plan regardless of the results. I would want to know if I was going to have a child with special needs or if something could happen along the way.

Good luck! I was out of town for my dad's funeral the week that they needed to do the cvs test, so that's why I skipped that.

[jovi_girl]

i had the nuchal fold ultrasound when i was pregnant. It came back as higher risk than normal for my age (27 at the time). They started talking about doing amnio and the risk of a down syndrome baby. I then had to do the blood test, because its the combined result that gives you the actual risk factor. I spent two days agonising over the results of the blood test, and wondering if there was something wrong with our baby. We decided in those two days, that we wouldnt go ahead with any further testing, because we'd keep the baby no matter what. In the end, my results came back at a like 1 in 2000 chance of a chromosome abnormality. We'd been completely stressed out for nothing.

I think its a really hard decision on wether or not to do the tests. Yes they can be inaccurate, and cause alot of unnecessary heatache, but they do also pick up any abnormalites, and i guess some people would want to be ready for that. I wouldnt ever do an amnio or the cvs test because their invasive and they risk miscarriage, but the nuchal fold test isnt, so i think that one is a harder decision. Good luck either way!

[nesser1981]

I never had testing done with either of my kids. If you're not high risk for anything I wouldn't worry about it. There are too many false positives. You already have enough to worry about when you're pregnant.

[AmberK]

That is exactly how we felt as well. And we didn't want to deal with any doctors trying to talk us into aborting if something was wrong so we just refused all genetic testing.

I won't be having any genetic tests because if the baby has downs etc, it won't change my love for it, nor would I abort it, therefore there's no reason for me to know.

[MamaBee]

I did not have it done either... for us, we agreed that it wouldn't change our thinking and we wouldn't abort if something came back wrong... so why take the risk. My cousin had it for her first pregnancy and it came back that Deanna was to have downs... but it too, was wrong and she is fine.

[heathergw]

I haven't had any genetic testing done on any of my pregnancies, even after all my miscarriages because no matter what it wouldn't change my love for the child nor would we abort so it seemed rather pointless... I know if any of my children are special needs there are lots of support groups around here to help me through and since the false positives happen so much I'd feel terrible if I stressed out and got all this support from them and then had a perfectly healthy child.

[Traci Reed]

OH and my mom was "high risk" at 35 so the dr's did an amnio and she miscarried a week later with a 25 week healthy baby :( so I'm 100% against amnios.

[rach3975]

I refused it with all 3 due to the risk of miscarriage. I did have the triple/quad screen. My feeling was that I'd want to know if there was an indication of a problem so I could prepare myself, but I'd go through with the pregnancy and love my child even if he had Down's, so it wasn't worth the risk to the baby to do anything invasive.

[Lauramarie]

I became pregnant with my son @ age 35 and was considered "risk" because of my age. I do not know who came up with that age being the risky one because I am healthy and have never had any medical problems. I refused the CVS test and only did the blood testing which came back normal. I think you should do what feels right but do not let the doctors scare you because of age or what have you. Unless there is a high history of abnormalities in you or your husbands genetic line, you should not have to take such a risky test but it is up to you. ((hugs))

[kim21673]

We did the u/s at 12 weeks....Baby was soooo adorable! We did the 12 week and 16 week blood work too but I would have declined any CVS or Amnio...the risk, even though small, wasn't worth it for me. We chose to do some of the testing b/c we do have an 18 year old with cerebral palsy and we wanted to know...as much as we could know given the test results and we have a cousin that has spina bifida.

I am 37 years old...pregnant with my 4th child (had a m/c earlier this year) and am in perfect health. The doctors didn't even see the need to send me to a perintologist (SP??)...thank goodness!!! I am considered higher risk due to my age and preterm births with the boys but we are taking extra precautions this time around and everything is going great!!

Good luck with your decision!!

[mummytothree]

I've never had any tests with any of my 5 pregnacies, even this last one when I was 35 and considered "high risk" because of "advanced maternal age". The results would not have changed anything for me so why would I risk that small chance of miscarriage!!!! :hugs: It's tough being a momma sometimes but just follow your heart!!!!

[jessica31876]

I had it done with my middle son. I had no clue what they were testing for when they took the blood the nurse reassured me it was just routine blood work so of course I was like oh ok no biggie. Then I got abnormal results and was told I needed to go for further testing. I went into the office not really knowing what further testing they would need to do. They talked to me about an amniocentesis once I got there though. I was there alone and terrified something was seriously wrong with my son. So I signed the papers to do the amnio. It took two whole weeks to get my results. I finally had had enough and called to see if the results were in and after being put on hold for what seemed like forever the nurse came back and said everything was fine and said the results had actually been ready for several days and she was not sure why I had not been notified then asked if I wanted to know the sex of the baby (which they could tell 100% sure what we were having) I said yes and was told it was a boy. After doing a little research (this was way before we had internet service) we found out we may have had a false positive because I was further along then they thought. So like others have said the test results can be skewed and if I had known then what I know now I would have neither of the tests done. I met a really nice lady at the hospital that day of the amnio testing while waiting for my ride and she talked to me about genetic testing and told me she is a foster parent to many children who have what they were testing my son for and told me how wonderful they are and I believe it was like a message sent to me to tell me even if my son was born with a disease I would still love him no matter what and really what was the point of knowing so far ahead IF it was not going to change anything in my heart? She gave me her card and told me to call her if I had any questions or just needed someone to talk to. I did not...I knew at that moment if she could take someone elses child and give them all that love there would be nothing that could stop me from loving my own.

[Gemma]

I won't be having any genetic tests because if the baby has downs etc, it won't change my love for it, nor would I abort it, therefore there's no reason for me to know.

What Traci said.

I refused all the tests with my 2, and would refuse if I ever got pregnant again!

[nikkiARNGwife]

I was wrong..I didn't have the CVS..just the screening...it's been a while so I forgot what it was called, but I wouldn't have the CVS or an amnio after the screening showed markers for downs. My doc really recommended it but I refused any invasive testing b/c like pp have said...it wouldn't have changed my love for my baby whether he had special needs or not so why risk it.

[nanienamou]

I didn't have any genetic testing with my three pregnancies. During my 20 weeks ultrasound with my third, they told us that his neck was too thick, and I didn't even want to investigate further. It wouldn't change anything for us. He was in perfect health when he was born.

[ryliesmom]

I wouldn't do it. I didn't even do the AFP triple screen with either of mine. I knew I wouldn't do an amnio if it came back positive and there's no history of birth defects on either side of our family so I just didn't see the need.

[Stacey42]

I had the nuchal and quad screen with both pregnancies at 11 weeks. I was 35 when I had my first baby & my OB wanted the non invasive tests done. He recommended avoiding the CVS & amnio unless there were significant markers on those & another u/s at 15 weeks

And I wanted to know. I hate being thrown into situations blind & wanted to know so I could prepare. It's not about love, it's about practicalities. This is a poor rural county & I wanted time to find out about what help I could get for the baby & have stuff planned & organized. What did my insurance cover for Downs treatment, what did the state provide, where did it provide it? There would be many long drives in my future if the baby had Downs, I would have to quit work to take him any therapy & other things & I needed to know that in advance

But everything turned out fine. Both screenings came back fine & I found out at 11 weeks each time I was having a healthy boy

[luckyme]

I had the integrated prenatal screening (u/s at 12 weeks and bloodwork at 12 and 16 weeks) and it came back very low risk for my age with both my pregnancies. I have a perfectly healthy 4 year old DD and a perfectly healthy almost 6-month old DS. However, DS was born missing the digits on his left hand - a condition called symbrachydactyly. Researchers theorize it's caused by a vascular constriction occuring around the 6th week of pregnancy. Basically, a blood clot forms right at the time that the arms and digits are forming, causing development to stop in those areas. This is a condition not detectable by CVS or amnio. (It may have been caught by u/s late in pregnancy, but it's difficult to see unless baby is in a perfect position because the bones are so small and still soft.)

I'm telling you this because for all the testing I had, I had no idea I would have a special needs baby. But I wouldn't trade him for all the world! He's completely stolen our hearts.

I'm glad that I was able to meet him and see how utterly loveable and adorable he is. Honestly, his little hand is an afterthought. I think if I'd known about it before his birth, I would have spent months of needlessly worrying. He's been nothing but a blessing for our family.

PS - Congratulations on your pregnancy!

[Tracie Stroud]

I haven't done either and I'm refusing the quad screen as well. To me, the risks are not worth it, and I don't have any risk factors, and I'm only 31, so age isn't an issue either. All those tests have high rates of false positives. The 20 week ultrasound is likely to catch anything major.

[Lizzy257]

We must be living in the dark ages here, because none of this testing is done here (unless of course there are risk factors), but it's just not offered to anyone else. In a healthy mom, they do basic bloodwork in the beginning, and an u/s at 20 wks....and that's it! TBH I'm glad those tests weren't offered because it saved me having to decide whether to do them. But I think I'd be with the girls who said that it wasn't worth the risk, and the results wouldn't change anything anyway. Best of luck.

[hollyxann]

I think I'm going to just do the bloodwork and ultrasound...forget anything invasive. I've already had 1 miscarriage I don't want another one. Plus we don't have any genetic disorders in either family so there really isn't a need.

Thanks so much for all the input ladies.

[newfiemountiewife]

We must be living in the dark ages here, because none of this testing is done here (unless of course there are risk factors), but it's just not offered to anyone else. In a healthy mom, they do basic bloodwork in the beginning, and an u/s at 20 wks....and that's it! TBH I'm glad those tests weren't offered because it saved me having to decide whether to do them. But I think I'd be with the girls who said that it wasn't worth the risk, and the results wouldn't change anything anyway. Best of luck.

Same thing here, they don't offer those tests unless they have a real good reason to think something is going on. They are definitely not routinely offered. I had 4 pregnancies, a m/c with my first, and they didn't do anything out of the ordinary with any of them. I had a scare with my middle child (my third pregnancy) and ended up with more ultrasounds as a result, but no further testing.

[Sharon Kay]

wow I am just astonded at the number of tests they do now!!! I don't know what any of those are ... wow.

My first child was born in 1988 and I was going to be 30 the month after he was born so they did an amnio ... that was before we had home computers & could research on our own ... he is totally ok ...

I had an amnio (and was NOT told of the risk of miscarriage...isn't that what you all are saying?! gasp! dr highly encouraged basically didn't tell me there was a choice...because of my age at 35) with my middle child ... he was born in 1994. He is on the autism spectrum with a diagnosis of PDD-NOS / aspergers / ADHD, anxiety disorder, sleep disorder ... and none of the tests done back then indicated anything was amiss. ...maybe things are more advanced now ... but then we didn't know anything was possibly wrong until 3rd grade when he "diagnosed himself" with ADHD....and it went on from there....

My 3rd child in 1995 ... just ADHD (which is EXTREMELY better with meds...not noticeable in other words) and sleep disorder (which is extremely better with meds).

Just an fyi on my experiences ... even though they were 15 or more years ago ...