high risk for down syndrome and 2 vessel umbilical cord at 12 week scan

[Gracy 004]

Hi eveyone i am just looking for some stories from people who may have had experience with this. I am 12 weeks 2 days today from an IVF pregnancy (2nd attempt, 1st ended in blighted ovum at 6 weeks). I went for my nuchal scan today and was told that i am in the high risk for down syndrome 1 in 250 and will need an amniocentesis. The nuchal meausurment itself was in the normal range but i was told it was the blood tests that have elevated me to high risk. I was also told that the baby has a 2 vessel umbilical cord and my placenta is covering the cervix. I am absolutely devastated as it has been such a long road to get this far. I cant believe our bad luck, does anyone have any advice?

 

[MikaylasMummy]

sorry hun dont have much advice about the first two except 1 in 250 chance to me still seems pretty low considering 249 babies will be born perfectly healthy..
with the placenta covering the cervix it is still quite early and as ur uterus grows more often than not the placenta moves away from the cervix..there is less of a chance if the placenta is completely covering the cervix..but mine was covering at 20 weeks and now at 34 weeks is 3 cms away..still low but not dire.so there is hope that this will fix itself.hope that helps.

 

[littleblonde]

with your 2 vessel cord they will keep an eye on you but i have heard of plenty of times where it has caused no problems. With the placenta being low in most cases it has moved by 20 weeks,if not you get a rescan at 34 weeks. Your more proan to bleeding with a low placenta. My mum had 1 with my brother. They dont concider it a problem till your 34 weeks or start to bleed. My mum bled all the way with my brother and had him at 37 weeks. This was 11 years ago. Lastly your nuchel fold measurement was good. Thats the visual marker so thats great. The rest is just a prediction. So you have a high chance of having a perfectly health baby. These tests arnt based on fact just on taking information and making a guess. I have seen so many women worried for them to then give birth to a healthy baby. And on the other hand my cousin has downs and she is beautiful!anyone would be lucky to no her. Good luck x

 

[vickyd]

How old are you? The Papp-a blood test they do with the NT scan stops being accurate after 35. This is why in many countries now they do an amnio after the age of 35. If the NT measurement was good i think that most likely everything will be ok.

 

[bump_wanted]

i was 1:92 for downs and refused the amnio thinking what will be will be my lo is perfect xx

 

[genies girl]

i was 1 in 10 for downs ive not met anyone with a higher risk and my baby girl doesnt have downs

 

[louise85]

My risk was 1:89 from the nuchal scan and 1:270 after bloods. I refused amnio and had detailed scans.

My little boy was born perfectly healthy.

Hope all goes well.

xxx

 

[tateypot]

I was 1 in 7 for downs after Nuchal measurement and blood tests. I had CVS test and they came back negative for chromosonal abnormalities.

 

[Gracy 004]

Thanks for your replies everyone, its reassuring that most people who have been told they are high risk go on to have a normal pregnancy. But i am so worried, i feel pretty ripped off as i so desperately want to enjoy finally being pregnant but between still having severe morning sickness at 13 1/2 weeks and now this i am really struggling.

We saw our doctor today and he played the whole thing down a fair bit but wants us to go for amnio. He said that the presence of the 2 vessel cord acutally increases our risk to 1 in 125. He feels the risk is not great enough to go for cvs and to wait 3 weeks and have amnio. I made the mistake of googling 2 vessel cord and wished i hadnt, it was full of horror stories!

To make matters worse, after i posted last week after the scan i had a really heavy episode of bleeding and cramping that night! We went straight to emergency and baby was fine but internal scan showed that the placenta completely covered the cervix. I had to stay in hospital for the night but the bleeding has now tapered off to just light brown spotting.

I thought IVF and infertility was the worst thing i have been through but this is worse! Sorry for the rant ladies, just had to get it off my chest

 

[Gracy 004]

Oh by the way, the blood results that caused the problem was low papp - a and high BHG.
Papp - a = 0.63 MoM
Free BHCG = 2.2 MoM
Anyone have any experience with this? Thanks

 

[CelticNiamh]

a friend of mine had a low lying placenta and had loads of bleeding through out her pregnancy at 24 weeks her doctor wanted to section her and she said no, just give me more time, the placenta moved and she had a normal birth and a lovely little girl.

Im wishing you the very best of luck,

 

[Sammy2009]

Just wanted to say dont let them scare you with all the hype of Downs... i was 1 in 250 and they said i was really high risk. My DD is 12 and perfectly healthy! Good luck

 

[Szaffi]

I think 1 in 250 is the cut-off point (if you were 1 in 251, that'd be low risk) - isn't that silly?

With my daughter, I was also high risk 1 in 139. I was 33 at the time, NT was ok, but blood test was not good (I had a different one than yours, the triple test at 15 weeks). We refused the amnio, didn't want to risk MC as it was very hard to concieve the baby. She turned out fine.

I did have a private level 2 ultrasound though to look for soft markers and did a second blood test that came back low risk. Just to let you know how inaccurate those things are.

I hope you'll have a healthy pregnancy and your baby will be fine!

 

[Gracy 004]

Hi everyone, just thought i would update this post. After the bleeding that happened we waited for 16.5 weeks and decided to go ahead with the amnio as we both felt we had to know. It was a really tough decision as the baby is ivf and i was petrified of miscarriage. We researched and found the best consultant available to do the proceedure to give us the best chance. The final results came in last week and are all clear, our baby has typical chromosomes and is a little girl The ultrasound at the time also showed that our baby does not have a 2 vessel cord at all and they got it wrong! So very relieved, it was the absolute worst wait of my life.

I am still having some problems with bleeding and cramping at the moment which may be related to the placenta being low or something else entirely , no one is sure. But for now i am just hoping for a good outcome , we have already overcome a lot of hurdles with this pregnancy. Today i am off for my level 2 ultrasound to do all the heart checks and stuff, fingers crossed for no more problems. Thanks everyone who replied with reassurance, its so helpful when you are feeling so low

 

[Luzelle]

Oh wow. Thanks for the update. Just goes to show how wrong they can be. You must have been worried sick until 16,5 weeks, waiting for the amnio. I hope your pregnancy goes well and you get to meet your perfect little girl when she is full term. When are you due?
Good luck with the ultrasound and - enjoy it!

 

[Szaffi]

Great news!!! Hope you'll have a healthy and pregnancy from now on. And congrats on the pink bump!!

 

[knitbit]

I'm so glad everything came out normal! In the research I have done, I found out that IVF usually has lower hormone levels than without IVF. It can look like Down's unless the lab knows you had IVF and adjusts the baseline.

 

[JaniceT]

Hi, firstly I am so sorry that you are having to go through this. I can only imagine the anxiety you are feeling every moment of the day!

I by default had a 1:250 risk of downs syndrome by virtue of age. Hence do not see it as very high risk. It's less than half a percentage. Trust your doctor and listen to what he recommends. Many times, it's the not knowing that causes most stress. Once you know, either way, it'll be a weight off your chest