Tested Positive for down Syndrome

The same thing happened to me when I was pregnant with my son. I had the amnio and everything ended up being just fine. He is a happy and healthy 4 year old now.

K.,

I am so sorry for this news. My husband and I opted not to do the test for this reason: Even though the test comes back positive it could turn out that your baby comes out normal. In my unerstanding, the test looks for specific genes that are carriers of down syndrom and a lot of the time the test comes back positive and your baby comes out perfect.

I will say a prayer for you in hopes that it is not what you think.

Keep hope that you are one of the many that has a positive read with positive results (meaning no down).

Ever so sincerely,

J.

I was more than 35 when I had my first boy; i have 2, 3 1/2 and 5 years old. i got results much worse than yours for both of them, got 2 amnios and i have 2 perfect boys.
I'm from Europe, and I can tell you that here they always make you feel that you are in the worse case scenario...
I move 10 years ago to florida and since then I had 2 suspicions of cancer 2 of down syndrome and after months and months of worries, stress, mother and sons are perfectly fine. Please, just take it easy.....
The other think I want to tell you is there is still that one chance...but what's really important is what you do with your life and how you care for the people in it...
I have a cousin with down syndrome and believe me her parents would not trade her for anything in the world. she is pure joy....Just you know, there's always a bright side. I wish you the best.

Hi K.,
One of my friends went through the same thing. Her quad 4 screening came back positive for one of the other syndromes (similar to Downs but, no chance of a normal life). Of course, she and her husband were extremely worried. They went to the specialist for the more in depth ultrasound and everything appeared normal. They did not do an amnio. She delivered a perfectly healthy baby girl in August. I will keep your family and your baby in my prayers.
C.

HI - with my second daughter mine came back and they told me 1 in 20. Because of problems in my first pregnancy and the fact that I was 38 I went and had a level II Ultrasound and they measured all kinds of stuff (this was at 15 weeks) AFter the ultrasound my chances changed to 1 in 50. My doctor gave me good advice about the amnio. Unless your going to have an abortion if there is problem then don't have an amnio. His words "miscarriages are a possiblity and in my experience it's always a healthy baby" (since miscarriage is a possiblity) I was suppose to have a planned c-section at 37 weeks. The day before they did an amnio to check her lungs, and it put me into labor. At that point I was so relieved I didn't have one before because my body obviously couldn't handle it. Well, Sara was born by c-section, 4 hours later at 5# 14oz and she will be two on Nov 30th and she if fine.

I have a 35 year old sister that is Downs. I was tested when I was pregnant but was negative and our baby does not have Downs.
Know that if your baby is born with Downs Syndrome you will have a very loving little angel, they will need a lot of schooling on how to do the things other babies pick up naturally. My sister was always being taught motor skills, how to Eat, roll over..... she was in school at 6 months old. We were luck enough to live near a school that was specific to her needs. With their help and our family working with her she was able to grow up very normal. Got a job and graduated high school. She has an intelegence level of about a 11 year old, can read and write. Her maturity level is a teenager, this is the hard part because she never wants to shower!
Good Luck
J.

Hi K.,

Amniocentisis are supposed to be the most accurate test that the doctor's have and even they will tell you they are only right 50% of the time. What a statistic! You already have that statistic in everything else in your life. Please don't let the doctor's scare you. And please, please, please don't stress. That's the worse thing for your baby and for you. Stress does more damage than anything.

These tests get more and more inaccurate as the years go by. They are testing chemicals (hormones and such) in your blood and the baby's ambiotic fluid. The chemicals that we put in our bodies now, inadvertently, are more prevalent than they used to be because there are more in our body due to the pesticides, the antibiotics, the preservatives, and such that we consume. No one can measure the contraindications of such things anymore.

These tests are built for people that HAVE to know what God is giving them as a gift. What would you do if you child was Down's Syndrome? I bet you would cherish him just as much. I know several Down's Syndrome kids that are friend's with my "normal" kids. They are dear, well-behaved, studious children. They learn right from wrong quickly and stand up for what they believe in. Don't let the world define you. And trust God. HE does know best. Tests are for doctors, not for parents!

Best wishes for you and your family!

M.

Hi K.,

First, I am so sorry you are going through this right now. I know it is very scary! I went through the same thing with my daughter. I was a high risk pregnancy. Because of my age (I am pushing 40), I was at a higher rate to have a baby with DS. I had all the tests done and when the first round came back, had a 1 in 100 chance of having a baby with DS. I opted to have the amnio done because I wanted to know what we would be dealing with, with our daughter. The amnio does have a very small risk of miscarriage or infection, I believe 1%, but our doctor at USF/TGH had done many of the procedures and only had two patients that miscarried (in one something was very wrong with the baby and he knew right away when he saw the amniotic fluid). The amnio came back and everything was fine! For me, I would do the amnio again. It is the only test that will give you a positive answer. All the rest of the tests are truly just "screening" tools.

Good luck and hang in there!
Danielle

Hi K.. Did you get the results from your amnio yet? I have experienced false negative and false postive results. I had a positive reading and had the amnio. No Down Syndrome. Then, 5 years ago, I had a negative reading for Down Syndrome but during a routine ultrasound, the Dr. didn't like what she saw. Two of my babies heart chambers didn't look like the other 2. This is a sign of Down Syndrome but she explained that maybe my dates were off and I had my ultrasound too early but sent me to a specialist anyway. I had 2 appointments with a specialist and all of the measurements were normal. The heart chambers had finished deveoping and he told me that he would be shocked if my baby had Down Syndrome. After all, I had a negative reading. I didn't have the amnio because, well...I don't know why. I guess I though that this guy was a specialist and if he didn't think there was anything to worry about, then why worry. I took my little one for his first Dr. appointment I believe a day or two after we were release from the hospital and that is when the Dr. told me he was seeing some physical signs for Down Syndrome. We had some blood work done and it was positive. I'm glad you opted fr the amnio. It it is postive, you will at least be prepared. My little Alex was born healthy and is healthy to this day. He hasn't had any of the complications typical for chldren with Down Syndrome so don't let a lot of what you read scare you. The Dr. also told me that only 5% of children born with Down Syndrome is genetic. I hope everthing is well and I look forward to hearing your results. There are wonderful support groups out there and it was hard going the first couple of times. I would watch the children, some more delayed than others, and get freaked out. I have learned to take things day by day and enjoy watching him grow into this little man. He is so funny and makes us laugh every day. Good luck.
W.

YES! My best friend had this exact thing happen to her with her last pregnancy. Her Quad test came back positive, she and her husband freaked out, then they found out the chances were similar to yours, 1 in 200-something. When they did the ultrasound and amnio they found out the baby was FINE!!! As far as I know, it's a fairly common result to get a false positive on your Quad. They had a completely healthy baby boy in April. My advice is not to worry yourself silly over this, if you can possibly avoid it. I know she was very upset and worried, and it turned out to be over nothing. Good luck to you, and I hope this helps!

I couldn't even read all the responses because i feel so angry about this! don't have a heart attack! The nurse you talked to sounds horrible and it should be your doctor, not a nurse talking to you in the first place. This makes me want you to get a new doctor because mine personally called me at 6pm on evening to tell me this news. It was with my son and i was 27 years old and couldn't believe what he was saying. I thought this only happened after the age of 35+. I cried and cried! However, my doctor was thoughtful enough to tell me better than the nurse told you. It is a very vauge test and there are more false positives than anything. Mine actually came back as a 1 in 99 chance, which he said was high. So we went to the university of Google and looked up the test. It is so off, I don't know why they even do it! Ok, it is to cover their asses from getting sued by not doing it and that is about it!
I went to the level two ultrasound and had two of them. Both came back showing nothing abnormal. Yes, the only way to know for sure is amnio, but I can't imagine why anyone would do that. i delivered a baby boy who is perfect in every way!
Take a deep breath and get your ultrasounds and I'm sure you will be fine. The only reason to get the amnio is if you will abort if it comes back positive.
For my next pregnancy, I think I will still get the test simply because i got an extra ultrasound out of it which is cool!

Hi K.,

When I was pregnant with my son 8 years ago, I tested positive. I believe it was called a triple-screen test back then (I think it's a similar test though). I had an amniocentesis and found out everything was perfectly normal. I was told that false positives are common. To me, a one percent chance out of 270 seems like a very low possibility.

If you do get the amniocentesis, make sure to plan to rest for the remainder of the day. Not that it hurts afterwards, just because it's good to be extra careful.

I hope this is reassuring to you. I remember feeling like you do. For me, I was glad that I had the amnio to put my mind at ease.

I wish you the very best!
T.

I had this happen to me when I was pregnant with my daughter. It really freaked me out and caused a lot of stress but in the end it was a false positive. I researched the test on line and found out that it was very common to have false positives. I had the amino done and the result came back that she was fine. My family had no history of d.s. either. I'm not sure what you need to know but if you have any specific questions you can ask me. I went through exactly what you went through and I know how scary it is/

I had a lady in my church get a positive down syndrome test and the baby came out perfectly healthy. I do not know what her "1 in whatever" chance was. So, the chance is still there for the baby no to have down syndrome after all.

I went through the exact same thing when I was pregnant and my chances were about the same. I also looked into it and met SEVERAL people who went through the same thing. Everyone I met had children who were fine, and I as well now have and extremely healthy 18 month old child. I can remember how horrible I felt even right up until he was born, tortured by worry. I went to Shand's and had a level 2 ultrasound and the doctor there could not find any reason to believe that my baby would have Down's but the only way to be 100% sure is to get the amnio. But the level two ultrasound brought the risk of me having a baby with Down's to a lower level than the risk of having a miscarriage from an amnio, so we opted not to have the amnio. But, everything turned out fine. That test has a very high level of false positives. I wouldn't worry too much just get the tests that you feel comfortable with and find out for sure. That is all you can do. Prayers don't hurt either. Well, I wish you and your family well. I hope you can find some sanity in your trying time.
J.

I'm sure the nurse told you this, but the quad test is only a screening measure NOT a diagnostic tool. The test very often turns up false positives. A friend of mine who has twin boys had the quad test and the results revealed that one of the boys was at increased risk for down syndrome. She delivered two healthy sons almost two years ago. The point is, the screeing test is just that. I know it must be extraordinarly difficult, but hang in there!!

I have read several of the responses and I have to agree that it is usually nothing. I had some indications also but I asked for an ultrasound because I thought I was a week less pregnant than they thought due to a 6 week cycle ... anyway, if the blood test is run too early or too late in the pregnancy there could be an odd result. After the ultrasound looked normal and I saw my little boy for the first time I did not want to risk the amnio because I didn't want to lose him no matter what. He is a big healthy 20 month old. BUT he was born with an extra thumb which is probably what the test results had found. Who knows. He had surgery to remove the thumb and everything is great.

K.,
I am 1 of 5 sisters who all have children. One of my sisters on her 6th child tested positive for DS after 5 healthy babies, there is no DS that runs in our family either. Those test have over a 50% false positive rating. She decided to get the amnio done and it showed that there was NO DS present, she worked herself up for weeks for NOTHING. Don't worry, get the amnio done asap and if that comes back normal them you will feel much better!!! Until then pretend that the test never took place.

Hi K.,

Yes, I went through the same thing with my son along with many other challenges/diagnoses along the way and my son is 2 years old now and very healthy. I will spare you all of the other details of a difficult pregnancy and birth because they have nothing to do with the whole Downs screening. But I had about the same odds as you have mentioned, freaked out, met with a genetic counselor, and decided to do the amnio which turned out fine!!! It is such a scary thing when they present you with this info but it is also not exact science and to be truthful, I wish I would have never had that screening. Stay positive and have faith- your little boy will be beautiful no matter what!!!

L.

I don't have any concrete statistics or actual experience, but when I was pregnant both times and was reading up on genetic testing and such...there seemed to be such a high percentage of false positives that I declined to have any of the testing done. I didn't want to put myself or my husband through the worry when things might be fine! I had my children at 33 and 36 respectively, so I even had increased chances and still didn't get the tests done. I have heard that the special ultrasound they do is pretty definitive, so I am praying that yours turns out fine and you have this stressful burden lifted from you at such a joyful time in your life.

K.

Hi K.,

I know of someone that had the test about 8 yrs ago. She was told that her baby was going to be born with Downs and she went throught the whole process of preparing for it. She contact specialists and was ready for whatever God gave her. Well the baby was born without Downs. Sometimes the tests are not accurate. You may to have the amnio and see what the shows. I had the triple test six yrs ago and did not have the amnio. You will have to decide, but whatever you do good luck and God Bless.

M.

K.,

I dont know how old you are, but i got a positive test result with my daughter and it was do to my age. I am 38 and have a healthy normal 4 month old daughter. I freaked out with my test too, but soon found out that just because i was older the chances were higher. My doctor wanted me to get an amniocentisis to rule it out, but i decided to just get a 2 D ultrasound first and see what the results were. It turned out that was all that was needed to rule it out. I have done a lot of research on amniocentisis and did not like the risk!
Good Luck! P.

I have a beautiful daughter who is 3 years old and very healthy! I also tested positive for Down Syndrome with her with similar results as yours. I had no family history of Down Syndrome nor my husband, but I was almost 40. I had an amniocentisis done and they were able to tell me with 99% certainty that she was fine. You should definitely have more testing done to be sure and put your mind at ease. Wishing you all the best.

I am sure you have already delivered...but was wondering if they were 100% sure about the DS. I found out my little girl had Mosaic Down Syndome at 1 month old. The sooner you start working with them the better. My daughter is 14 weeks old and she is rolling over, since 5 wks, holding her head up, since 3 weeks, almost sitting up, etc. Basically beating the odds right now. Don't give up hope and always set high expectations. That way your little boy will always be challenged and not bored. Because I believe their learning comes to a hault once you stomp challenging them. Good Luck and God Bless!!

When I was pregnant with my son, who is now 4 months and handsome and healthy, I had to go to a perinatologist because of my high blood pressure before and during the pregnancy. Around 3 or 4 months in to the pregnancy, the doctor told us that the baby may have downs syndrome because of the measurements of his brain and kidneys. They continued the measurements each time we went in, and each time they were slightly larger than normal. He pushed us every time to have an amnio because of the concern of downs. We did not do the amnio because it would not have changed anything, he was our boy whether he had downs or not. I don't know what the percentage accuracy is with the amniocentisis, but you could ask the doctor when you have your ultrasound. The only sure way to know with most of the "screens" is to wait until the baby is born and be sure that the pediatrician knows your concerns so they can check as well. Good luck, and don't be afraid to ask the doctor as many questions as you have. My husband and I had to realize that the doctors want the moms to be as prepared as possible, which sometimes means being overly cautious with test results.

Just wanted to respond to your situation. I am a labor and delivery nurse. I have seen people who's screening test positive but they have a perfectly normal amniocentisis. And I have also seen it the other way around, Where someone had a normal quad screen and then once they delivered they had a baby with down syndrome.. The only way to know 100% is to have the amniocentisis!! good luck..

Do not freak out yet. I tested high for Downs with both my kids. I had an amnio with my daughter that was negative. I didn't get an amnio with my son, but was sent for extra ultrasounds to monitor his progress and he turned out just fine. We had to sit down with a genetic specialist. It was really scary because We got the test results and they were ushering us into the genetic specialist's office before we knew what was happening. There are many things that could throw off the result.

Have the amnio and cross your fingers for two weeks until the results come in. In the meantime go online and check out some resources for parents of Downs children and you'll see there is so much support out there. Downs children are challenging, but so loving that it is totally worth it.

Good luck,

Jen P.

I myself and my girlfriend were both positive for Down Syndrome. My doctor sent me to a specialist were they measure the baby as it grows thtough high tech songorams, They are a Fetal Specialist. I did not opt for the amnio. It would not have changed my descision to have her.
My girlfriends third child testes positive, she also went to the same specialist and her son was also fine.
The doctor said that there are alot of false positives but also false negatives.

It was not until I was about 30 weeks they concluded my baby did not have down syndrome.

Try not to drive yourself crazy until you it is confirmed with songorams and if you choose to the amnio.

I know of a young mother who had the triple test (now it actually "tests" for four things) and hers came back positive. She worried and stressed, but when her child was born he was perfectly fine. I believe that way too mant times the Triple test returns a positive even when there is only the very slightest of chances that something is wrong.
I will pray for you and your sweet baby (number 2). God Bless.
L.

K.,

First of all, stop and take a deep breath!!! OK, now that you've done that let me tell you just how unreliable that blood screening is. It looks for INDICATORS for certain things such as Down Syndrome. Notice that I said indicators!!! It does not mean that your child has Down Syndrome. When I had it done, it came back with a 1 in 18 chance that my daughter had Down Syndrome. Of course, I freaked out just like you are right now. There are so many false positive test results that many people opt to skip this test. If you do some research online you will find just how unreliable this test is. Some women get the opposite results of what we got and then have a baby with Down Syndrome. I know it is hard to be calm about this, but I think if you do some research it might put your mind at ease just a little. If you want to know for sure, you can have an amniocentesis done and then you will know in 2 weeks with almost 100% certainty whether or not your baby truly has Down Syndrome. I had an amnio done and found that my baby was totally fine!!! Talk to your doctor about it. He/she will discuss with you what your options are. I know one of my friends had the same thing happen and she chose to get one of the 4D ultrasounds and her baby was totally fine too. When I went for my amnio, the ultrasound tech said that she did not see any signs of Down Syndrome, but she couldn't say that she was absolutely positive my baby didn't have it. There are certain things they look at during the ultrasound which can indicate that the baby has Down Syndrome. She did not see any of those signs.

I know you are totally freaking out right now, but try to calm down. Most likely you have a healthy baby. I remember going through that 2 weeks of hell like it was yesterday!! If I have another baby, I will most likely skip this test and just have an amnio done -- that way, I will have no reason to worry for 2 weeks. I know this is probably not making you feel much better. It is really hard to think past the next 2 weeks of your life right now, so you just need to envision your baby being totally healthy to get you through this. If you need to talk, please feel free to email me at ____@____.com. I know what you are going through!!!

Best Wishes,
K.

I had this test with both my sons and it came back positive for my oldest. But this test has a LOT of false positives!!! I went to the ultrasound, which was a higher level ultrasound than you typically get. They measure the baby and several key indicators - the the skin on the back of the neck, which is typically thicker than normal babies. They saw none of this from my ultrasound but said that the only way to completely rule out Downs was to do an amniocentisis. Then they told us that the percentage rate of miscarriage was higher than the percentage rate that we would actually have a Downs baby. So we decided that even if the baby was sick, we wouldn't abort and we didn't want to do anything to endanger the baby so we opted out of the amnio. (The doctor was visibly disappointed by this!) But we had a perfectly healthy baby. My advice to you would be to do the ultrasound and if there are any key indicators that may suggest the baby has Downs, then you can decide if it is important enough to get an amnio. Best of luck!!! Jen - mom of two boys with a third boy due in January :)
PS - if you have any questions or need to talk please feel free to email me!! ____@____.com

Hi K.! I know you must be stressed, but I have talked to several people who received false positives on this test. There is a good chance that everything will be fine. Although it will be very hard, I hope you can relax and enjoy the rest of your pregnancy.

Best of luck with everything,
M.

My friend had the same thing happen to her a few years ago. She went to the specialist for the ultrasound and had the amnio done. The amnio results came back negative and she gave birth to a healthy baby boy. The quad test, from what I understand is really just a screener test and won't give you a definite result. My OB told me that when I had it done that if you are young(early 20's) that there is a slim chance that it would happen. Hope this helps some and good luck with your tests.

K.,

First of all, take a deep breath...you need to be calm for your baby. I am pregnant w/my first, due in Jan. The quad screen is just that...a screen. Just because the result came back "positive" does not mean that your baby definitely has Down's...just an increased probability of it. As the nurse told you, the baby has a 1 in 270 chance of having it. Further tests, like the amnio, will help the dr narrow down the chance that your baby has it. I have heard a lot of women who got a false positive to this test & go on to have perfectly healthy, normal babies. So, keep your chin up, & try to stay positive for your baby's sake! It's always scary to hear news like that at first, but just breath--it may not be as bad as it seems at first. Good luck!!

First, I would like to say I am so sorry for what you are going through. I too am pregnant with my third. Everyone constantly asks me if I want a boy this time and I say I don’t care as long as it is healthy. You take that for granted when you have already had one healthy child. I know I was so worried about my first having problems but not as much about the second. I do know someone that had a positive and went through all of the tests as well. Of course they can only predict the child will have down syndrome or being more likely to have it. Anyways, the individual I know had her daughter tested at birth for down syndrome and yes she did have it. I would try to stay as calm as possible until all of the tests are done. One test can come back and say the child doesn’t have it. If they all are still positive there still is a change the baby wont have it but you will need to be prepared. Collect all of the information you can about it and what you are going to face. Talk to other parents who have children with down syndrome. Be as much prepared as you can so that when the baby is born you are ready to deal with whatever God has in store for you. Until I read your post and until Friday I never even thought about my baby having any problems, especially with 2 healthy kids. Now I pray daily that this baby will be healthy. I took my daughters to a wiggles concert on Friday. You never know how lucky you are until you see other disabled children. At the concert there was a whole row of children in wheel chairs not moving or interacting at all. I think they had cerebal palsy. They looked like they were in a coma, arms couldn’t move or feet, they couldn’t talk. One child was throwing fits and hitting the parents and this was the only one that was mobile at all. I felt so sorry for those children and parents. When you look at them you will realize that you are blessed to only be dealing with a down syndrome child. They are slower but totally understand everything, talk, interact, mobile and loving. I know it is easier for someone like me to say because I didn’t get that diagnosis and I know if I were in your shoes I would be praying every second that my baby was ok. Down syndrome isn’t necessarily hereditary. If the mother is over 35 years old then they are more like to have a child with down syndrome because their eggs are older. As far as I know everyone over 35 years old has the testing you had done because they are at a higher risk. I wish you and your family the best and remember it could be worse.

I tested positive also. When it is time we are going to do the amnio just to be sure. My huband's brother has DS so we expected......something. Not to mention Patau's Syndrome on my side of the family.

I'm glad everything turned out well for you.

Hi K.:
Do not freak out yet. I got similiar numbers, 1 in 225. My doctor told me to wait for the ultrasound before becoming concerned. They look at a flap of skin on the back of the baby's neck. If it is thick then the DS is confirmed. Normal measurements means that the numbers worked in your favor. They also look at the nasal bones. A baby with DS is missing one of them, thus the flat looking faces they have. My 18 month old son does not have DS. Where are you located? You will be sent to some amazing people if you are in Sarasota. Good luck and hold on to your sanity for now. I opted not to have an amnio because of the possibility of something going wrong. The ultrasound will give you the answers you need.

as others have said, I also tested positive for downs when I was pregnant with my first. I opted to have an amnio because I needed to know. My daughter was fine and I'm glad I chose the amnio for the peace of mind it gave me for the remainder of my pregnancy.

However, with my second pregnancy, I went straight for the amnio (which was negative) but my 2nd daughter was born with spina bifida.

So, do what is right for you and your situation, just know that false positives AND false negatives are possible with both the quad screen and the amnio.

A friend of mine was told by her dr that her baby would have downs syndrome and that she should terminate the pregnancy. She ignored their advice and her baby girl was born 100% healthy!!! Drs don't know everything...they are only PRACTICING medicine. Trust God and your own judgement.

I had this happen with both of my pregnancies. There is a lot of information on the internet about the Quad test. It does not have a true positive or negative result. It simply shows that your risk is slightly higher than other women at your age and gestation. This test is linked to the day of your gestation. If your doctor is off on your dates by even a slight amount, it can result in a "false positive." With both mine, I went to the fetal specialist and opted for the Amnio. I just needed to know so I could prepare. The Amnio actually takes a small amount of the baby's DNA that is floating in the amniotic fluid so it is extremely accurate (I think over 99%). Please don't let this result upset you. Even if your increased risk is accurate, you still have 269/270 chance that nothing is wrong!

K.: My Quad test was positive also and came back with an extremely high chance for Downs in my baby also. I have a strong faith and I also did not have any history of this in my family nor does my husband. I "felt" very strongly that my child was fine. I did go for the extra ultra sounds, I mean who doesn't take every opportunity to see their miracle every chance they get. They can tell a lot by the ultra sounds alone. I DID NOT agree to the amnio however. Please do your homework on this before you let them do it. It is YOUR CHOICE to have that done or not. There are quite a few risks such as: miscarriage, drainage/leakage of amniotic fluid (later to cause HUGE problems for your baby) etc. They are actually sticking a needle in your sack where your baby is to withdraw fluid, this can cause tears and also there is a small risk of sticking your baby! The risks are too high and I refused that test. Do some research on this please. I also discovered that this particular test (the QUAD) has an EXTREMELY high error rate and in fact there is a push for it to no longer be used at all. Go with your gut instincts & heart is all I can say and please do a little research on your own. My daughter is now 11 months old, she is beautiful and very intelligent. I hope my experience helps you.

I think the older we get the more the percentile drops. I had this triple screening test as well and mine was 1 out of 270. There is no downs syndrome or any other type of defect in my family, but for days I cried about this and didn't know what to do... I was suggested to have amnio, genetic counseling and ultrasound. I did a lot of research on the internet and saw that this was a common thing (to get a positive and it not be accurate). I would start out with the in depth ultrasound b/c there are special areas they check on the baby to see if there are defects... I am 35 weeks today and never went through with the amnio, but all my tests after that one have come back wonderful and the baby is developing great and all the points they check are perfect... so don't worry yourself so much... this is probably just a false positive.

Huggs momma... i have heard those tests are very inacurate. that is why i always decline them. i am sorry you have to go threw this,,

I had a friend who was told with her 3rd child that she probably would have Down Syndrome. She refused an amnio to find out for sure.
Her perfectly healthy little girl is now 4 years old!

Also, I have known many wonderful people with Downs Syndrome. Their families are blessed to have them, and they make the world a better place.

With my first pregnancy I also had the test and came back 1/84.... I cryed for many many days and could not get the thought out of my head- I felt I was hurting my baby due to all the stress and decided to go ahead w/ the amnio (which has a risk of miscarriage)----- My daughter was fine 100% and I could not believe that I had gotten myself so self involved that I actually had decided to do the amnio even though it had such a terrible risk to my little girl. I now have 3 healthy kids and w/ the 2nd and 3rd pregnancy I refused the testing, since I knew I was going to keep my babies no matter if there was anything wrong w/ them or not.

I wish you the best just know MANY of us have been in your shoes and know how you feel. Like the other moms said, try to relax for your baby and you are sure to make the best decision YOU need to make for the both of you.

K., I understand that instant fear. I've been there, done that, and wouldn't wish it on anyone. I have 6 friends I can think of who had positive initial tests as well. 5 were over the age of 35. One had a family history, including a sister with Down Syndrome. In the end, NONE of them had a child with Down Syndrome, and the ultrasounds and/or amnio confirmed that immediately so they didn't have to spend an entire pregnancy worried about it.
Downs happens, and if it happens for your family I can only wish you the best and believe that you are the kind of loving mom who will do everything in your power to be the best mom to both of your kids. But I also know it is VERY, VERY rare to have the initial positive test be an actual indication of Downs. I know no amount of comforting before hand will make you feel sane until you actually know for sure, but if you can compartmentalize the worry by telling yourself over and over the actual statistics, try that. It is very unlikely. And tell yourself that you are not going to ruin your wonderful pregnancy with that kind of worry. You only have 9 months to hold that beautiful baby inside... try not to be consumed with fear. I wish you the best of luck.

Just because you tested postive does not mean your baby will definitly have Down Syndrome. Really, I think it is a worthless test that just causes unneccessary stress. My sister-in-law had the same results and both of her kids are fine. I've heard several similar stories from other moms, and my midwives always advised against taking it. Really, what does it change? If your baby is born with Down Syndrome, will you love him any less? And if he isn't, you'll have spent all this time worrying over nothing. My advice is to just put it out of your head; easier said than done, I know. And remember that nothing will happen that you can't handle. Good luck!