To (prenatally) test or not to test

re: To (prenatally) test or not to test

Leslie — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 04:09:54 GMT

I was 37 the last time I had a baby and did not have any tests. Not only would I never terminate, I also felt like if there WAS something wrong, there'd be all the time in the world to deal with it; why not enjoy the pregnancy? I feel a little different now at 41; if I do get pregnant again I think I will ask for the detailed ultrasound. After having lost a baby, and with everyone around me so paranoid about the whole thing, I think I'd like to be able to know that everything is okay if possible. Still, I wouldn't do anything invasive and in your case I would certainly not do the CVS. I think you SHOULD do what you did last time, though, because it's important to you to have at least some information.

There's a wonderful website called benotafraid.net with stories of women who were given poor prenatal diagnoses but chose to go ahead with their pregnancies. I would encourage anyone with a baby diagnosed with a birth defect prenatally to check it out. It's not "pro-life" per se--many of the women considered abortion. The stories are heartwarming and offer a different way of looking at a tragic situation.

re: To (prenatally) test or not to test

Karin — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 02:58:09 GMT

My first son was born with a serious heart defect resulting in heart failure at 2 weeks of age and open heart surgery at 3 months of age. It took me 6 years before I was brave enough to try again. I talked to my OB, who is also a personal friend, about testing and he said with my history of miscarriages he would not recommend any of the invasive tests but if I really wanted it he would do it. I didn't have any tests done and everything turned out ok and I had a beautiful baby girl this summer (we've met in the E.E. Cummings Rm a few times). What I'm getting at is that even a serious birth defect isn't the end of the world. When we found out about my son's heart it felt like the end of the world but now he is doing great and the only troubles he has is that he has to take antibiotics before dental appts and he will see a cardiologist once a year for the rest of his life. Not sure if that helps or not but hopefully it does.

re: To (prenatally) test or not to test

clara — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 02:38:55 GMT

I am late 30's and pregnant with # 5. I personally can see the desire to be prepared, but I don't do any testing. At the 20 week u/s anything really obvious should show up, anything else we will deal with. I consider my kids equal, the one in utero equal to the others so I would think about termination only if my life were at risk. If a child of mine had an incompatible with life defect, I would let them go naturally. (I've lost a 7 week old baby who was born at 41 weeks and suffered brain damage. He was never on life support or forced to be here for our sake, although I am grateful for the time we had with him)

This is just anecdotal, but I know 4 women IRL who had CVS, 3 lost their babies right after the procedure. All were healthy babies which made it even worse. I think CVS is a little intense. Wat about doing what you did last time, like Dewi said? When you think of all of your options, one option will give you the most peace as you think about it. Good luck with your decision.

re: To (prenatally) test or not to test

Erika (uumomma) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 02:07:45 GMT

well, I had did all the tests ooops, no amnio, my cvs was fine, so i did not havta do that. my pg was high-risk for many reasons, so lots of tests and lots of U/S.

if we get pg again..IF... i would do it all again. and i would terminate if i had to, we have three other children to think about.

but it was very scary..

(hugs)

re: To (prenatally) test or not to test

EG — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 01:47:44 GMT

I just had this same conversation with my doctor today (any reason you haven't told us when you're due?). I'm in a different situation as I'm 30, but we decided against any screenings. If I were 41, though, I think I'd do them except for the CVS, because of the increased risk of miscarriage. You'd have to resolve ahead of time that regardless of the results of the other screenings, you wouldn't do the CVS.

re: To (prenatally) test or not to test

Sheri — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 01:11:22 GMT

My dear friend had a routine ammnio and ended up having one of the admittedly very rare miscarriages that is a possible side effect. At age 34, I was due to have an ammnio about three weeks thereafter. We decided to cancel, since we felt fairly confident we would continue the pregnancy in any case. We had two ultrasounds, but skipped the CVS--had a healthy daughter at age 35. I think that taking it very easy on the tests gave me a little less to worry about during the pregnancy, but then I am a diabolic worrier!

re: To (prenatally) test or not to test

Michelle — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:25:39 GMT

My opinion..."skip the CVS and do the others"...but DO the others.

Reasoning... my last child was born when I was 33 so there wasn't a reason to do any testing; however, I did the AFP (I think it's called something else now but it's a blood test @ 13-15 weeks). The results showed the baby was at greater risk for spina bifida. They did a detailed ultrasound and they found my son had spina bifida when I was 18 weeks pregnant. We were offered an abortion which I couldn't go through with. I always thought I could if the situation presented itself but I couldn't. We continued the pregnancy; however, regardless of its unusual nature, I had a wonderful pregnancy. Not perfect but still wonderful. I had 17 ultrasounds (my insurance company LOVED me, I'm sure) so I got to watch him grow. I had 3 amnios...not my favorite thing but it didn't cause any adverse effects (and I refused to watch on any of them!). They wanted to deliver him early but his lungs never matured quickly enough so he was born 11 days prior to my due date via c-section. I had a very controlled delivery and all of the NICU staff was there to handle him as well as the neurosurgeon. He had 2 sugeries in his first week of life and stayed 3 weeks in the NICU.

Would I change anything? NO! It gave us time to prepare. I had a friend whose daughter was born w/ Downs when my friend was 34. She didn't know beforehand. The medical staff at Park West handled it very badly and it was a very negative experience for her. Having a child w/ a disability is not life-ending. Having an opportunity to prepare, educate, and accept is priceless. As with everything in life... it all depends on how you approach it.

I'd say go w/ the other tests... personally the CVS would freak me out. More risks than benefits especially since they'll likely ask you do an amnio later which will also give you the same results.

re: To (prenatally) test or not to test

kristina — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:19:19 GMT

Well, my gut wrenched when I read your previous post about the debate whether to test or not. I had an anencephalic pregnancy almost 2 years ago (I was 32). I had been on prenatal vitamins, but obviously something still went wrong. I found out through a second trimester ultrasound and we chose to terminate. I think the combo ultrasound blood test is a good idea. A good place to start, anyway. In the support group I was involved in, you wouldn't believe the number of women who had always said they would NEVER terminate, no matter the diagnosis, but guess what? It's so hard, either way. I'm sure your baby is fine, but having been that one in however many, I'll never look at pregnancy with the same innocence. I did go on to have a healthy baby and he healed my heart in a way I didn't think was possible. Best wishes.

re: To (prenatally) test or not to test

Meagan Francis — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:39:55 GMT

oh my goodness, I'm behind on my blog reading and totally missed that you're pregnant!! I'm going to link to this post from my WEtv blog on Thursday--I was going to cover testing (or not) so the timing is great.

I would be very torn on this in your position, too. I'm young enough that we aren't really in a risk category for genetic problems, and like you, the idea of the procedure itself really skeeves me. I am fairly sure I'd carry a pregnancy to term no matter what, but then again, it would be nice to know if something unusual or possibly devastating is going on, so that you can prepare. On the other hand, can you ever REALLY be prepared for that? So I guess what I'm saying is, I hear you on the indecision!

re: To (prenatally) test or not to test

Dewi — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:35:38 GMT

Sounds like you were comfortable with the test you had last time. Why not do that again, g-d forbid they see something you want to know more about, at that time you take the greater risk with more invasive tests.

re: To (prenatally) test or not to test

Cricket — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:20:08 GMT

I was in my late 30's for both my pregnancies and had an amnio with both which was not a big deal to me, the results were fine. I did them because although I don;t know what I would have done if I found something "wrong" out, I would want to be prepared. Let's say you found out you were going to have a downs syndrome baby and decided to keep the child. Think of how you could emotionally start to deal with it and create and a network with others who were in the same boat. This way when your baby came out you would be happy and not disappointed.

re: To (prenatally) test or not to test

kgranju — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:19:35 GMT

Suzanne - The story you just related will give me nightmares! I am so glad their daughter was okay. That must have been terrifying.

Katie

re: To (prenatally) test or not to test

melissa — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:12:40 GMT

I decided to not do any of the tests with my last pregnancy. It makes my worry factor go way up and I hate any increased chance of miscarriage. Those false positives that can happen are a nightmare that I went through last time.

re: To (prenatally) test or not to test

Suzanne — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:11:39 GMT

A friend of mine had genetic testing at 42, and was told that her child had chromosomal mosaicism, and would be severely handicapped. After an agonizing few weeks they decided to keep the baby, who turned out to be a completely healthy little girl. They had actually picked up cells from a nonviable twin. So... my advice is to always double check whatever results you are given.