I'm worried about having a CVS test

[Sparkly222]

Hi
I'm new on here. I'm 41 years old and 13 weeks 5 days pregnant with my second baby with my partner of 3 years. My first child is now 9 years old. This pregnancy was a complete surprise and took some time to get used to but now I am really excited but also worried about everything. I had an NT scan last week and although the nuchal measurement was fine, my blood test results put me in 1 in 500 risk for Downs. I am booked in for a CVS this Friday but I'm worried sick about losing this baby as I've heard CVS can cause miscarriage. I want to rule out Downs but I couldnt bare to lose this baby now. Has anyone had a CVS and if so could you talk me through it as I haven't spoken in any detail to my midwife yet?

Thanks

 

[Helenita]

I have not been through the CVS myself, but I am just curious as to why you have been booked for it? Did you choose to do the test because you wanted to be absolutely sure your baby was fine, or was it recommended by the doctor/mw based on the blood results? Because 1:500 is a low score according to your age calculation, which is anywhere between 1:40 and 1:90 for Downs and means you have 99.8% of having a healthy baby.

 

[mtnprotracy]

First off, congratulations! We were surprised by our BFP in September . I am 40, and dh and I just celebrated our 20th anniversary. We have a 16, 15, and 12 year old.....all boys. We just a had our NT scan last week. We decided not to have the CVS test after getting our results. We were given 1:860 odds of Downs. Of course it is all up to you and your oh, but I think 1:500 odds are fantastic odds! I, too, was afraid of the CVS test or amnio. Anyway, wishing you the best of luck! And, again, congratulations

Tracy

 

[Sparkly222]

Thank you for your replies - you both made me see this in a slightly different light. After the NT scan, they phoned me with the results and made me feel really worried. They said I should talk to my doctor about having a CVS or Amnio. I'm of two minds - on the one hand of course it would be great to rule out Downs, but on the other hand I feel like everything will be fine and that I don't want to put my baby through the risk of possible MC. I'm going to phone the midwife today at the hospital and chat it through with her. The CVS is booked for Friday at the moment. My partner and I have 4 kids between us currently - he has kids of 25 yrs, 18 yrs and 16 yrs and my son is 9 yrs old. I'm sooooo excited to be pregnant now - I never thought I would have the chance to have more children. My partner is still getting over the shock! But I think it will be an amazing experience for us both as older parents. Fingers crossed all goes well.

 

[April2012]

Congrats to you and your honey! I will be 35 when i deliver my little boy (my first). My NT scan looked good, my blood work came back low risk:

Down syndrome:
Risk based on age alone: 1 in 290
Risk after blood/scan: 1 in 5781

Trisomy 13 & 18
Risk based on age alone 1 in 524
Risk after blood/scan: 1 in 10,000

I still chose to have an amnio which took place about a week ago. The miscarriage risk is scary, but I thought it was something I had to do. The preliminary results came back looking good. I get the final results sometime this week. I have experienced no bleeding or leaking of amniotic fluid. Technically, they attribute anything that goes wrong 2 weeks after an amnio to the procedure--but the first 24 hours appears to be the most critical.

You need to do what you are most comfortable with...for me...the risk analysis of ds and trisomies seems "uncertain" (lots of false positives and enough false negatives to scare me). I needed the certainty of an amnio or cvs. Others will judge me for the decision based on such low risk...but in a world of so many unknowns, I felt i had to know if my little one would be born with something I could test for in utero.

 

[SabrinaKat]

Sparkly, I think, ultimately, it's up to you.

I was 43 when I conceived and had always told myself I would have a cvs or amnio, but after good results at NT/bloods - went from 1/40 to 1/162 downs and 1/27 to 1/955 for others, we decided not to do cvs and the risk was 1/100 for mc.

We had a detailed scan at 16wks and discussed our worries with the ob/gyn regarding the possibility of mc and amnio, and we decided that IF anything worrying came up, then we would do an amnio. At my 20wk scan, my risk for downs went to 1/300 (I am 44 now) and we are cautiously hopeful that everything is okay.

I just didn't want to be the 1 in 200 (for our amnio risk in the literature given to us by the maternity hospital we attend, I appreciate other centres may have better odds) that mc'ed a healthy baby. I just hope I made the right decision, but whatever you decide is the right decision for you!

best wishes

 

[Sparkly222]

Thank you all for your reassurance. I'm going to go ahead and have the cvs Friday - I'm still nervous but will do as they say and rest up for a few days after. I will be so relieved to get it over and done with though. Should have the results by next Thursday xx Sparkly.

PS Congrats and good luck to all you lovely pregnant ladies

 

[oldmamamia]

i think 1 in 500 are great results, mine were 1 in 135 which led to initial panic but then i tried to put it into perspective like this; for you put yourself in a room with 499 other pregnant women and only one of you will have a baby with downs, if you think like that you realise they are good odds.

there are no guarentees with any of this testing, my best friend spent her whole pregnancy worried sick and was advised to terminate at 20wks after her amnio gave her a 1 in 5 chance and her baby is perfect and ive also read posts on here from a 25yr old who had 1 in 3000 results and her daughter was born with downs.

i chose not to go for any other testing as my baby was so wanted and loved that i would have dealt with any problem or disability but i understand that everyone has a right to their own beliefs and feelings and its such a personal descsion that no one should judge.

really hope it all goes ok and you get the results you hope for.

 

[April2012]

there are no guarentees with any of this testing, my best friend spent her whole pregnancy worried sick and was advised to terminate at 20wks after her amnio gave her a 1 in 5 chance and her baby is perfect and ive also read posts on here from a 25yr old who had 1 in 3000 results and her daughter was born with downs.

An amnio doesn't give odds/statistical analysis...it gives definitive details about the baby's chromosomes. An inconclusive result may be yielded if an inadequate sample was taken, but absent that...she should have been given definitive information as to downs and other genetic defects and problems. That is very strange; I would definitely question what was going on with her file...wow!

 

[oldmamamia]

all i know is at her 20wk scan the nuchal fold was 4. something and her bloods gave her a 1 in 16 for downs, she was then referred 2 days later to kings college, london for an amnio and more blood work and her risk then went to 1 in 5 with these results, she then had a horrible emotional pregnacy and as i said her son ethan was born without any problems.

 

[Sunshine12]

there are no guarentees with any of this testing, my best friend spent her whole pregnancy worried sick and was advised to terminate at 20wks after her amnio gave her a 1 in 5 chance and her baby is perfect and ive also read posts on here from a 25yr old who had 1 in 3000 results and her daughter was born with downs.

An amnio doesn't give odds/statistical analysis...it gives definitive details about the baby's chromosomes. An inconclusive result may be yielded if an inadequate sample was taken, but absent that...she should have been given definitive information as to downs and other genetic defects and problems. That is very strange; I would definitely question what was going on with her file...wow!

Me too. The whole point of an amnio is to get definate information. If it were just odds like it is with NT I wouldnt get it done! x