Quad screening positive for down syndrome

[Borboleta]

Hello ladies,

I had a stressful day today! I am 37 almost 38 years old and this is my first pregnancy. Had my quad screening done on Friday and today I got the phone call that I got a positive for down syndrome. Been stressing over this since. So I decided to see my doctor today and he told me that at my age bracket the chances to have down syndrome babies are 1 out of 133 and my blood test result came back at 1 out of 94. He told me that if I want I can get to do the aminiosyntheses next week. But after hearing 1 out of 94 I am not sure if I want to go for further test because I still have a good chance of having a normal baby.I don't think even my due date is correct according to my last ultrasound which I heard can influence the test.

What do you ladies think? Any experience with that? I am feeling a lot better now after talking to the doctor.

 

[vintage67]

Practically all of us have been through this. I've been through it twice. At 36 when pregnant with my son, we got a 1:23, and then with this baby, at the age of 43, I got a 1:162, oddly. My age based risk at 44, (age at delivery) is 1:30 with this baby.

It's confusing and emotionally upsetting to say the least. We declined invasive testing such as amnio with our son 7 years ago. He turned out fine.

We have again delcined amnio with this pregnancy due to miscarriage risk. Though small, the risk was too much for us, having had 3 miscarriages trying to give our son a sibling. There are a lot of "soft markers" they can look for on your ultrasounds. These are not 100% guaranteed, but can offer some measure of comfort.

Having an amnio is a very personal decision that has to start with, "If the baby has down syndrome, what will we do?" Depending on your answer to that question, you'll be over half way there in deciding what to do.

 

[Gia7777]

No experience yet as Im awaiting some results myself but just wanted to say you have lots of support here and Vintage67 said it perfectly. Hugs to you.

 

[Andypanda6570]

I just know everything will be ok, I know you are upset but try to stay calm.
Thinking of you XOOXOXOX

 

[Borboleta]

Thank you so much ladies. My husband and I have made the decision to not do the amnio. God is in control of everything and this little baby is our little miracle after ttc for a while with no success. And tests can be deceiving. Hoping for a healthy little one.

 

[Storm1jet2]

Thank you so much ladies. My husband and I have made the decision to not do the amnio. God is in control of everything and this little baby is our little miracle after ttc for a while with no success. And tests can be deceiving. Hoping for a healthy little one.

Hope it all goes well for you - I declined all the tests for DS knowing I wouldn't do anything if they came back with poor results.

Here is to a H&H remainder of your pregnancy

 

[Glowstar]

I also declined ALL testing with this pregnancy. Don't get me wrong I am a little worried that something could be wrong (I'll be 41 when this baby is born) but I really wanted to enjoy this pregnancy and falling pregnant again straight after a MC, this baby was meant to be.
I knew I wouldn't have an amnio as I know someone personally who had an amnio and lost there little girl 2 days later...this little baby did NOT have DS despite the tests showing high risk.

 

[Michieb]

Those tests have a lot of false positives!! I was given a 1:23 for downs Than we did the high level US - there were no soft markers present so i declined the amnio - didnt want to take the risk!
From what i have been told - even someone who has a child with downs could get a low score - and not raised any flags - and i also heard stories about people with a 1:2 chance and their babies were fine!
So although w/out the amnio i cant be 100% sure - i raher not take the risk!!!

 

[April2012]

I have decided to go straight to CVS (no screening). I do not trust the screening tests. There are so many that come back high risk only to be perfectly healthy babies. Other people are told they are low risk and give birth to babies with DS. I just want to see the chromosomes and know for sure. Thus, I am scheduled for a CVS at 12 weeks. Though I do not know exactly what i will do if I am told my baby does have a problem, I am at least entertaining the idea I may opt for termination in such a case. I would say if there is no way you would opt for termination under any set of circumstances...then don't do the test.

 

[StranjeGirl]

I read that so many people over the age of 35 get false positives for the quad test because they factor your age into it. Keep in mind that the majority of people who get a high risk screen deliver a non-down syndrome baby. I know our chances are higher, but it is still really rare. Sorry you have to go through this stress. I hate these tests!!

 

[Borboleta]

Thank you ladies for your support. Sometimes fear just strikes and I worry about the outcome. I have a friend that did this test ( 28 years old at the time and first pregnancy) and it came back negative and she had a ds baby! She had 3 other pregnancies including one at 40 years old and she ended up with 3 healthy little girls. She declined the quad screening after such a horrible first time experience and went right to amnio with all her other pregnancies.
I just need to try to relax and enjoy this healthy and normal little baby that is growing inside me. God bless all of you ladies with your pregnancies. Healthy and normal babies to all of us.

 

[April2012]

Thank you ladies for your support. Sometimes fear just strikes and I worry about the outcome. I have a friend that did this test ( 28 years old at the time and first pregnancy) and it came back negative and she had a ds baby! She had 3 other pregnancies including one at 40 years old and she ended up with 3 healthy little girls. She declined the quad screening after such a horrible first time experience and went right to amnio with all her other pregnancies.
I just need to try to relax and enjoy this healthy and normal little baby that is growing inside me. God bless all of you ladies with your pregnancies. Healthy and normal babies to all of us.

The friend who had a baby with DS...she got a flase outcome on the quad screening or the CVS?? I have never heard of false results with the CVS since you actually see the chromosomes.

 

[Caezzybe]

I got a false negative with my son, 1 in 560 and he has Down Syndrome (I was 41 when he was born). My current pregnancy is 1 in 750 and I've declined invasive testing. You can ask for a more detailed scan if you don't want amnio or CVS, I opted for the detailed scans. I also had an echocardiogram on the baby I am expecting and everything came back normal (my son has a minor heart defect so I wanted the reassurance).

If it makes you feel better, most "positive" tests turn out to be babies without a chromosome problem. Put another way, 1 in 94 means that there is a 94% chance your baby is perfectly normal!

 

[Borboleta]

Thank you ladies for your support. Sometimes fear just strikes and I worry about the outcome. I have a friend that did this test ( 28 years old at the time and first pregnancy) and it came back negative and she had a ds baby! She had 3 other pregnancies including one at 40 years old and she ended up with 3 healthy little girls. She declined the quad screening after such a horrible first time experience and went right to amnio with all her other pregnancies.
I just need to try to relax and enjoy this healthy and normal little baby that is growing inside me. God bless all of you ladies with your pregnancies. Healthy and normal babies to all of us.

The friend who had a baby with DS...she got a flase outcome on the quad screening or the CVS?? I have never heard of false results with the CVS since you actually see the chromosomes.

The lady that had the false negative just did the quad screening at the time. After that she had the amnio test with all her 3 subsequent pregnancies. All normal babies.

So after no being able to sleep last night thinking about this I told my husband that we should have an amnio done. So I am going in on wednesday and I can just pray that everything will be okay. I will keep you ladies updated.
Thank you so much for all your support .

 

[Borboleta]

I got a false negative with my son, 1 in 560 and he has Down Syndrome (I was 41 when he was born). My current pregnancy is 1 in 750 and I've declined invasive testing. You can ask for a more detailed scan if you don't want amnio or CVS, I opted for the detailed scans. I also had an echocardiogram on the baby I am expecting and everything came back normal (my son has a minor heart defect so I wanted the reassurance).

If it makes you feel better, most "positive" tests turn out to be babies without a chromosome problem. Put another way, 1 in 94 means that there is a 94% chance your baby is perfectly normal!

Thank you so much for sharing your story with all of us. It is crazy how this blood test can give you so many wrong results. With my friend she had the same negative result and had a ds baby too. They should stop offering you this blood test and just go right to the point and just do the detailed scans, cvs or amnio. If I decide to get pregnant again that is what I will do. No more quad screening for me!
And by the way your baby is really cute. I am a music therapist and worked with ds kids and they were such a joy to work with.
Hope you have a wonderful and healthy rest of the pregnancy.

 

[mumoffive]

Goodluck with what you decide. I am not pregnant but had my dd 4 months ago at the age of 43. I decided, as with my other children that i would not have any tests at all. All my three children that i have had in my late thirties and early forties have been fine. I hope this gives you some confidence and comfort that not all babies that are born of older mothers are going to have some condition. I was 39 when i had my dd, 40 when i had my ds and 43 when i had my dd. If i had of had the tests im sure they would also have come back high risk. I decided against as i would not have terminated either way and would have worried about the risk of miscarriage. It is a personal decision and different for everyone.

 

[April2012]

So after no being able to sleep last night thinking about this I told my husband that we should have an amnio done. So I am going in on wednesday and I can just pray that everything will be okay. I will keep you ladies updated.
Thank you so much for all your support .

Good luck with everything. I go in for my CVS in about a week. I am a little nervous, but I feel I just need to know if I am carrying a baby with ds or some other genetic defect (that is within the scope of the test).

 

[motorcyclemom]

wow, glad this was posted and thank you for all the responses, good to hear all this! I got my bloodtest yesterday, no results yet, but I feel better just knowing what I am dealing with. Hugs all!