Level II Ultrasound

I haven't been through this, but I work with special needs kids. I just wanted to say that the Downs kids I've worked with are some of the most loving, happy kids I've ever met. Chin up. Most likely the test is overly sensitive like others have suggested. But if it's not, you family will have a great little addition anyway!

Hi K. ---- my story is a little different :)
I too had the AFP test and the results came back for a 1 in 33 chance of Down syndrome. We went on to have several Level II ultrasounds and my daughter showed none of the markers. They offered us an amnio, but we decided after seeing her on the sonogram that we didn't care one way or another. We kind of put it out of our mind for the most part of the rest of the pregancy, but when she was born, she did have Down syndrome. I have to admit I was shocked and saddened at first, but that went away VERY quickly. My daughter is now 2 and is such an absolute joy that I can't imagine life without her. It is a scary path when you don't know anything about it, but once we started down the path, it's been well worth it. Like most people mentioned, it is probably a false positive, since there are soooooooo many results that come up that are actually false, but every once in a while, it may be a real positive. Keep in mind that if it is a real positive, kids with DS will open your heart farther than you can ever even imagine.
If you ever need any more information, feel free to contact me at ____@____.com
Take care :)

Hello K.. I was in a somewhat similar situation when I was pregnant with my daughter back in 1996. The result of my AFP was abnormal and I also had to have a Level II ultrasound. It has been 10 years since I had it done, and I don't know if it has changed any since then, but basically the ultrasound shows the fetuses internal organs in much more detail than a regular ultrasound. For instance, they can see the structures of the brain, the chambers of the heart, etc. It is much more accurate than a regular ultrasound at finding things like birth defects, but it is not 100% accurate. In my daughter's case, they thought that she had a buildup of fluid in her brain but when she was born, they found that she was actually missing part of her brain(which may sound worse but she's been doing well).She also had several other birth defects as well.I don't want to alarm you or scare you; I know many people who have had a Level II and their results were accurate or their babies ended up being completely fine. Actually, my daughter's prognosis was not the best in utero or at birth but she is doing quite well. She only has minor issues related to her birth defects and appears completely fine to those who know nothing of her conditions.I hope that you are able to find out more information at your appointment; I know that it can be scary not knowing what is going on with your little one. I will be praying for you and your baby. Take care of yourself.-Mel :)

i opted not to have the AFP testing done when i was pregnant. i didn't want to drive myself crazy over something that was "just a possibiity". one of the girls i work with had it done with her 3rd child and they told her that her baby was at very high risk for downs, so she wen tthrough all these invasive tests, including amnio, and just about went crazy with worry...she had even thought about an abortion. When her son was born he was perfectly healthy and had no mental or physical disablilties what so ever. If i were you, I'd just relax and pray for the best. I think id there was something profoundly wrong your baby, it would show up on the ultrasound.

I don't know if your a praying woman, but I suggest prayer. It's the only thing you can do. Whatever happens, if you trust God, he will turn it into a blessing. I had difficulty with my second pregnancy and things did not go and "I" had planned. I was almost hospitalized for depression, and couldn't get past it. After getting wonderful support from friends, family and I even went to my pastor, I finally was able to give it over to God. I told Him, "If this is what you want, help me to accept it and see the blessing in it." By the time Nicholas was born I was ready to accept him and love him for who he was and three years later I only love him more. I will pray for you and hope God delivers you form this burden, but if He doesn't I know He will walk you through it, if you take His hand. God Bless you and you baby!

Hello,

I just wanted to give you my story and hope it helps...I had my first 2 girls with no problem and with the 3rd my tests came back positive for downs. My doc put in for a level II ultrasound and said it would help in telling if it was definately downs, but the only for sure way is to do an amnio. I did the ultrasound and the tech said all the measurements LOOKED ok, but couldn't be %100 without an amnio, which is very risky and could cause a miscarriage. I said that was ok I'll just wait til the baby comes. She was fine/very normal and is now almost 8 months old. I guess the point is you can't change it, whatever it is already-so don't stress yourself out about it reguardless of how it turns out. It will all be ok in the end and GOD won't give you anything he dosen't think you can handle.

Hope this helps, Nickie

K.,

My husband and I went through this exact same thing with our fourth child. Started out with a routine ultrasound at 11 weeks. The nucual fold was "thick". So we went for the level II ultasound which confirmed the fold was abnormally thick. From there we had the blood screenings and met with a genetic counselor. It seemed like every test we had our odds of our baby having down syndrome was a bit higher. We had ultrasounds every few weeks to check for "soft" markers. Which can include heart, nasal, and stomach malformations. All of these came back fine, but we were monitored very closely. After many many prayers, we chose not to have the amnio. We decided that for us the risk to the pregnancy didn't outway the benefit of knowing.

Long story short. Today we have a fantastic and healthy 18 month old. And after we started to discuss this with friends and family there was a surprisingly high number of people who had experienced the same thing. This is just an opinion, but I think that this testing is relatively "new" and still has some "tweaking" to be done. My thought on this is based on the fact that of the 5 people I know that have gone through this all of our babies have been fine.

I am not trying to give you rose colored lens, please listen to your doctor and do what is right for you and your family.

We used the approach of expect the worst pray for the best...I know this is the scariest thing in the world and my heart goes out to you. Try to focus on the positive and not let this get you too crazy.

You are more than welcome to contact me at ____@____.com
Good luck!

K., I completely sympathize. It's crazy. And if you spend any time doing research on the internet about the test, you just get yourself worked up even more!
First off, there are sooooo many false positives to the AFP. We had one. As soon as I told my Mom about it, people were coming out of the woodwork telling us how they knew someone too.
For us, we had to wait 10 days between hearing the results of the AFP and having the Level II done. At first, I thought I couldn't handle the not knowing. By the time the day came, I was resolved that no matter what, I'd be okay with the results. And the results turned out just fine!

We were sent to St. V's Prenatal Diagnosis Center for our Level II. They cannot say 100% without the amnio, but what they told us was, "they were reassured that our baby didn't have Downs (or anything else, for that matter)." With the risks associated with the amnio, we were satisfied with "reassured".

Good luck. Keep your chin up, and keep us all posted!

As you can tell from the responses below, this test is often wrong. It happened to my niece and I don't know how many others. They do these test way too early, but they (medical professionals) routinely do them to try to get in under the wire of getting an early abortion if there is something wrong - now who knows how many parents have been upset by this crazy test and aborted a healthy child. How horrible a thought that is, but I fear it's true. Have faith in God the Creator Who knows exactly your heart and mind. He loves you and knows what's best. You can always trust in God.
May He bless you with a healthy baby.
M. J

Just like other people, I've had this issue come up. I think the thing that made me get the amnio, despite the risks, was that I wanted to know because I wanted to be prepared for what my life would be like. I know raising a child with Downs is hard and I wanted time to deal with that possibility emotionally as well as be able to find resources so that my child would have the best life possible.

I would like to add that my son was born fine and, in fact, punched at the ultrasound thingie (I forget what it's called). I think he was trying to tell the nurses and doctors that he wanted to be left alone. ;)

Hi K.. I understand how you feel. When I was 20 weeks, they found a "calcification" in my baby's heart. This can also be a "marker" for downs. We had the high resolution, 4D ultrasound done and they checked for all the other markers. There are several other markers, so don't worry about just this one for now. Try to be optomistic, I know it's hard.

With my daughter the initial ultrasound showed that she only had a 2 vessel cord instead of the normal 3. We had to have a level II ultrasound too. The one thing that I highly recommend is to wait until the results before looking to find information, especially on the internet. It is hard not to look, but you will find stories and documents that may upset you. I hope everything turns out okay for you!

The exact same thing happened to me with our son. The only way to know for sure is to have an amnio. With that there is a risk of miscarraige. So you have to decide if it is worth knowing. Would your decision on what to do with your pregnancy be different if you know your baby had downs? We had the big ultrasound and went back for a second. Everything looked ok for us so we decided not to have the amnio. We knew that even if he had downs we would have him. It is a hard decision, just know that the AFP test is the most unreliable test you can have during pregnancy. I know how you feel though. you are a nervous wreck until you know for sure. We waited until ours was born and only then we kn ew that he was perfectly healthy. Good Luck, and if you want to chat my email is ____@____.com

K.,
I too, had an AFP test come back abnormal. The level two ultrasound procedure is not much more than an very detailed ultrasound. It is the results that my husband and I were un-prepared for... Our baby girl had a condition worse than downs and would not live. This past February was a very rough month. I wish you the best. Please know that there are many professionals that can make a hard situation bearable. Also, make sure that you are comfortable with any diagnosis that a doctor makes. We saw several doctors until we were sure this is what it was. Do not be afraid to seek other opinions. We are now expecting a healty baby in February.

Good luck,
S.

Hi K.! I went through the same frustrations with the AFP test last year, it came back positive for increased chance of down's. We were presented with option of Level II ultrasound or amnio. Since the amnio would let us know 100%, we chose that. What a horrible ordeal! The AFP test comes back with false positives all the time. It is a very unreliable test. Go for the ultrasound, when they did the ultrasound at my amnio, they said there were no other "markers" and I think that should have been enough to reassure us (we would not have aborted the baby no matter what the outcome, we just wanted to be prepared). So, my advice would be to try not to stress about it, it is frustrating to not know, I think that is the worst part. I hope you have a good dr. who will listen and answer questions, that is really important. Lean on your husband and supportive friends and family. I wish you the best! (By the way, I have a healthy, happy 15 month old boy now, everything was A-OK) If you have any other questions, feel free to email me at ____@____.com