Down Syndrome - Mansfield,TX

With my 1st son my chances for Down's was 1/48, I was 34. I opted for the amnio even with the level III sono. We knew we wouldn't terminate, but decided to do the amnio so that we would be prepared (and prepare our family) if it was Down's and wouldn't worry if it wasn't. Everything was just fine and my son is perfectly normal. It sounds like everything will be just fine!

I think of what my dr told me when I freaked out: He said that if your odds of winning the lottery were 98% (my odds of having a normal baby), wouldn't you feel secure that you were going to win and buy the ticket? I know it's not the same thing, but you have less than a 1% chance of having a Down's child!

Good luck!

Have you thought about amniocentisis if you just want to know for sure??? I had the same thing w/ my twins, who are now 3. I am 44. They were born 6 months after my 41st bday and i had my afp test come back indicating a higher risk of down syndrome. I also felt that "either way" we'd love and raise the twins, but i wanted to know more from a preparation standpoint than anything else so i had an amniocentisis on both fetuses and found out (after two long and agonizing weeks of wait) that they were both fine. It just set my mind at ease. If i had found out otherwise it would have at least given us a chance to prepare our family, learn more about raising children w/ down syndrome, and mentally prepare ourselves. I wish you the best, and just suggest this so that you can be prepared either way and relax and enjoy the remainder of your pregnancy. good luck!

R.,

The odds are in your favor for having a typical child. I have knwon multiple people who were told they were going to have a Downs baby and they gave birth to typical children and have heard the opposite too.

If the next ultrasound shows that your child in fact has an issue I would recommend contacting one of two organizations based on where you live: if you live in the Fort Worth/Dallas area contact the Kinderfrogs program at TCU and in the Panhandle please contact the HaliProject, associated with West Texas A&M. This is not the horror so many people think that it is and has some very bittersweet advantages. Both of these programs have "courses" for the parents and are very encouraging. Please know that the vast majority of Downs children now grow up to be productive adults. The older brother of a childhood friend actually has Downs and works as staff member with the parents in the TCU program showing them how great life can be.

I have had 2 friends who previously tested & showed their children (each boys, single births) were likely to have down syndrome-- neither did! Both were born perfectly healthy. I have 4 boys myself and always chose not to have the "optional" tests, due to the fact that they are only 80% accurate and I, like you, had already decided that I get what God gives me-- so no need for the tests! That being said, don't woody/stress about it-- sounds like your lucky little one has parents who love him/her no matter what!

This topic makes me so angry at the doctors. This test is so ridicuolus. The false-positives are too high to even be giving this test. I took this test without even realizing what i was taking (I learned to be more educated in the future) and my results were 1/19...told over the phone that my baby tested "Positive" for downs. WOW!! That moment on, my whole pregnancy changed. Now, I was high risk and had around 10 Ultra Sounds which all looked perfect! But, in the mean time, your mind is rolling!! My advice would be to carry on and enjoy your pregnancy!! You will be blessed with a beautiful baby either way!

I was in the exact same boat. At 32 I came back with a 1 in 121 chance and it was so called "positive." I chose not to do the amniocentesis because I would keep her either way. Remember, a huge factor in that test is your age, so the fact that you are better than your age bracket is probably a good sign. Also, my beautiful healthy daughter is proof that there are a lot of false positives.

N.

PS If you do the math, you have a 99.1% chance of having a healthy baby.

Hi, I'm surprised your OB didn't refer you to an MFM specialist in the first place as I believe women over 35 are automatically considered high risk due to age regardless if they are healthy. My OB did all the work but all my ultrasounds and testing were done by the MFM dr throughout my pregnancy. The only way to know for sure if your child has Downs is to get an amniocentesis done-we opted not to as we didn't care-considering all the things than could be wrong with a child-Downs was the least of my worries.

The problem with all our wonderful high-tech stuff is that we get more info than we need. My daughter received the same info you did. She opted to ignore it since she wasn't going to do anything about it anyway. Her son was born perfectly normal and is 12 yrs old now. Remember that medicine, these days, is a money-making business. The more tests, the more money they make.

My triple screen came back with a 1/67 chance. I was 34, so that was pretty high. We went ahead and had a level II ultrasound which showed no soft markers. The Dr. wasn't very reassuring though for some reason. I declined the amnio because we wouldn't terminate either way. I tried not to worry but it was hard not to at least a little. I read a couple books on children with DS and tried to prepare myself just in case. Our beautiful little girl just turned 1. She doesn't have down syndrome. I'm glad I learned what I did anyway, I definitely look at children with down syndrome a little differently now.

Those tests have a really high rate of false positives. I wish I hadn't even done the test. I wouldn't do it again.

I just hate how some Dr make us feel. I had my son at 40 and the year prior, had a miscarriage. I originally had a Dr in Lewisville who essentially was going to send me to a high risk specialist without ever examining me. I'm in perfect healthy, not over weight, etc. he was just tossing me. His malpractice insurance probably couldn't handle me. I then started to look for Drs who treat pregnancy as a natural phenomena and not a disease or risk to the malpractice insurance. Sorry if I sound like I'm blasting your Dr. He may be very good and you may love him or her. Frankly, I'm surprised your Dr ordered the triple screen. basically, it's not a diagnostic test but shows your odds given a number of factors. It's kind of unique in that way. My dr told me it's always high for anyone around 39-40+ therefore she recommended, if the mom was interested, goign for the level 3 and/or amnio. She highly recommended the level 3 for older patients since there are some other risks for older moms, such as intestines not being inside the abdomon (entirely fixable btw, you just need a c-s). I went to the specialist, checked out ok, and then finished my pregnancy up with my regular ob.

Statistically, you have about a 98% chance of having a normal healthy baby at your age. Try and take some comfort in that. Those are really good odds!! The triple screen is just a number and there are a ton of false positives and false negatives.

Go for the level 3, it's fun, you'll get to see your baby. We went for this as well. If you are a nervous nelly, or like to know everything (like me), you can get the amnio. I know a lot of people will say, i'd never do anything so I wouldn't get a test. That's fine for them I suppose. I wanted to know if there was anything up in case I needed to change hospitals, or doctors or prepare for a c-section. Preparation is not a bad thing and in some cases, saves the baby's life.

When My friend was pregnet she was told by 3 differnt Dr that she was diffently going to have a down syndrome baby all the "test" proved it, and she was courge to abort the baby. She decided to have to baby. :) Happy news is the baby is perfectly normal. Matter of fact he's so smart he actually skip kindergner and went right into 1st grade and is ahead of his class!!!

So I tell people that test are not 100%. If she listen to her DR's she would have aborted the baby that was perfectly heathy!

I am happy to tell you that I had the same results and my beautiful daughter is "normal" and just turned 5. I suggest the amnoiosentisis to help calm your fears. It really upset my husband, as he was not sure I could handle a DS baby, but the results from the amnio did not show any problems with the child at all.
I love your attitude, but it is best to go into this without that kind of a surprise, bless you for knowing that God will only give you what he knows you can handle!

I don't know where you are located, or where you are being sent for your ultrasound, but I just went through a similar situation (gave birth Nov. 2), and was sent to a Maternal Fetal Specialist for a closer look also. I would like to save you a negative experience and suggest you avoid Dr. Howard in Fort Worth. I though maybe it was just me, but I have a friend/neighbor who is expecting at the end of this year who was sent to him also, and she also had a story to tell. After the Dr. Howard experience I saw Dr. Papa, and was relatively happy with her. I also understand Dr. Rosnes is good and having to do it again, I would give him a try. Just my two cents. Good luck!