High Downs Risk

I haven't been through what your going through as i'm only 19 with 1 child but I think it depends whether in your mind if you knew bubs was going to be downs would you keep it anyway, I would!
If you wouldn't then you may choose to risk it to find out as it could be the same out come or if you would keep it anyway then haveing the test done won't make any difference and there for it would be a risk tat wouldn't be worth taking. At the end of the day will you love your baby even if he's different?,
I know people with downs who live very happy lives with the right support and some of then have the most touching smiles.
let me know if this has helped and what you are thinking.

i agree with the others.. if you would terminate then yes i would do the amnio... although we probably wouldnt and would probably still do the amnio as for me the worry would be worse.. 1:310 is still pretty low in percentage though? (i think amnio is 1:200 risk)

I wondered about the bloods as hardly anyone i know got them done...mw said usually makes the number bigger not smaller..?:(

anyway hugs to you and whatever you decide to do.

I had a high probability (because of age), however I wouldn't have terminated so I didn't do any tests as I didn't want to have the worry that a high risk factor result would bring (I figure there is enough things to worry about)

I think the others have summed it up very well, if you would terminate based on the possible risk or if you just want to be prepared, then sure go for the amnio.

For me personally the tests would make no difference to us keeping the baby so I wouldn't bother with extra tests. As someone said, it also only shows the risk, it's not a 100% result. I'm already leaning strongly towards skipping the triple blood tests myself.

Good luck with your decision.

Edited by Paws

em26 wrote: And also with the amnio it is only showing the risk, its not 100% accurate whether baby has downs or not. I read somewhere on this forum about a mum whos risk was really high, had the amnio and had baby and he was absolutely fine.

Um, that's not right. Amnio involves a genes test and will see if there is a trisomy 21 (which is what people with Downs have).   

The risk with amnio is about 1:100 but it does depend on who is doing it.

I can understand both sides of the equation. For me, I wouldn't terminate but I would want to know so I could prepare myself and get all the supports in place (esp with an older child). BUT, when it came down to it, I don't know that I would be comfortable doing an amnio that has a much higher risk rate - it is 3x more likely that there will be a miscarriage than the baby having Downs. But that is just me.

Have you got a good GP/MW that you can talk it through with??

It's a tough one. I know I would abort if I found out my child had downs so I would want to know, but that in itself is a very hard decision and process to go through.

Thanks ladies for all your comments. It's a very hard call to make. I am not sure if we could deal with a Down's baby and it would be very hard for DD as well with a Down's baby most probabely needing heaps more attention.

On the other hand, I can feel this baby moving already and I can't imagine killing it. Also if something happened at the amnio and I would mc, I prob would never forgive myself. And I don't think I would try to get pregnant again.

So I'm pretty much stuck in the middle.

However, I read some stuff about the blood test on the net and apparently one of the reasons why it will be replaced by a new one in October is that there are too many false positive risk factors. If that is true, I won't even bother and go with my low risk of 1:1289. So I have lots of questions for my MW.

I had a very high risk with DS 1:18 and i was 29 when I was pregnant with him.

We wouldn't have terminated so DH didn't want any more testing done. I agreed with him so we didn't test any further.

I sort of thought, there is 1:100 risk of miscarrying so what has the higher rist? In your case the amnio has the higher risk...

The other thing is...if you aren't planning on terminating...the 20 week scan will be able to tell you alot more about your baby. Apparently downs babies are highly likely to have heart problems and they will pick this up at that scan. Also, there size is a bit different. If you can wait another couple of weeks, you could see what your scan has to say.

I wouldn't have said that you had a high risk based on your age and the results you had.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

BTW we had a perfectly healthy little boy

as far as the blood test... it's only just come in doing it in chc so they are changing it?

anyway hugs in whatever you decide it's a hard decision!

Edited by Four_eyes

Thanks Rachand Jack!

Sorry if I was mistaken, only repeating what I have heard