Protien Levels in Pregnant Mom

I don't know what any correlation between protein levels and Down's are, but in reading some of your responses, it sounds like they are doing the amnio to rule out Down's. I am of advanced maternal age and had a baby in Nov. I denied the testing because our baby was a gift from God and His gifts go so far beyond anything we could ever request. And no matter what, I know that He will equip us for any child we have. My baby is now four months old. She is really healthy and strong and absolutely wonderful. She was referred for Down's testing at her two month check up, and it turned out positive that she is Down's. I look back on whether I'd have done things different on the prenatal testing; and, no, I wouldn't. I had a beautiful pregnancy and I'm so glad I didn't taint it with incorrect preconceived notions about Down's. I so grateful I got to know her before finding out about the Down's. I strongly recommend large quantities of vitamins during pregnancy and taking care of herself just as she would otherwise. Our daughter is really healthy and I attribute it to good nutrition and supplementation during pregnancy. It's hard to believe she is Down's because she is so strong and so with it.

Parenthood in general is a leap of faith, no matter what your circumstances are.

Best wishes!

Not sure about the protein levels being below, but my problem was that they were too high. I much later learned I had a bladder infection and this effects protein count. Not sure if this will be helpful. My daughter has no problems.

I think she is talking about the AFP (alpha feta protein) test. If so then she should not stress at all until after the amnio. The AFP test is highly inaccurate!!!

I have a very close friend who's results were off with the AFP. She stressed for 2 weeks until she could get the results of the amnio because they basically told her that her baby would have down syndrome or another disability. The amnio was fine and her daughter was perfectly health and still is!!

So until she has more info I would not stress at all!

Hi C S

I would suggest you get the book TODAYS HERBAL HEALTH 4th edition by Louise Tenney M.H.

She has a section on pregnancy though all the states, with the herbs and supplements and foods to help have a healthy baby. I would suggest getting some organic calcium, a good mineral supplement and probiotics to help the immune system.

Here is my website...on the reading page is a list of books for more research on natural healing.

www.creeksideherbhouse.com

On the theory page is how the body works. Being pregnant she can not do the cleansing right now, but she can nourish the body. There is a suggested diet on the theory page, there also recipes on the general information page. There is also a lot of good articles on the general information page of interest to most people.

Hope this helps you, All my contact information is on the bottom of the home page of that site

Blessings
J. M

I had the same experience with my daughter. I had low Pap-A in my blood work. My ultrasound that measures the back of baby's neck looked really good, but the blood count was so low that it put me in a high risk for down's catagory. They told me that my pap-A levels were in the bottom 2% of all people tested. My doc's office sent patients to another doc for these tests, and that doc's office scared the crud out of me. The were really pushing for me to do an amnio. I didn't want to take any risks and knew I would not abort know matter what the outcome, so my doc and I decided to just wait. He looked more closely at certain things over the course of the pregnancy. I have a healthy 18 month old daughter now! I will never do the prescreenings again though!

Many, many times these tests are wrong. I am a midwife and we hardly do any testing at all and only if the mom really wants it because so many of these tests are wrong and only upset the parents. Unless the mother would abort her baby if something is wrong then she should forgo anymore testing. And the tests themselves have many risks.

Lisa

Tell your friend that she should not rely on those test. Have the amnio done and you will not for sure. I was told that I was at a very high risk for having a down syndrome baby but when the amnio results came back they advised that everything was fine and it was. I have a heathly baby boy. I am not saying that nothing is wrong with her baby, but if she does not want to be an emotional wreck the rest of her pregnancy then I would suggest she have the amnio and find out for sure. And if it comes back that something is wrong, then she will have enough time to prepare herself for when the baby is born. Tell your friend good luck and I wish her the best.

My levels were extremely low during my first pregnancy. I was told that the best options was to have an amnio and probably to abort. I refused to do either. I didn't want the amnio because I didn't want to abort and I didn't want to worry for 9 months. Thank God I didn't. I have a 12 year old absolutely wonderful son. He had nothing wrong with him. I have learned that the AFP test is considered to be up to 80% false positives. The false positive rates depend on many factors, including appropriate gestational age, maternal age, weight and the presence of diabetes.
In my case I did have a terrible case of gestational diabetes which could have triggered a false positive, even though the diabetes was not tested for a few more weeks. The following website explains a lot about false positives. http://pregnancy.about.com/cs/afp/a/afptesting.htm Good luck and tell you friend I will be praying for her.

Yes, I have heard on several cases that the baby was fine. Some have even been told to abort the baby because they thought the baby was retarded (don't like that word) and the mom refused and the baby was fine. Pray for the mother to have peace and trust God the author of LIFE!!