LittleLala- I also just saw your news as well...if you received a higher risk of Down's at your nuchal translucency scan/blood test, know that that particular test is well known to give false high readings, and many, many women go on to discover their babies do not in fact have Downs or another chromosomal abnormality. It's a shame you can't just have one of the blood screenings, such as MaterniT21, Harmony, or Verify...those are FAR more accurate, and often eradicate the need for amnio. Good luck to you. I have my fingers crossed that all will be well!
I had an NIPT done on Monday (called Percept I think, it's the same as the ones you mentioned). It's annoying that where I am doesn't rebate it at all, even if it is medically necessary. Anyway. The specialist recommended the amnio and gave me a referral for the NIPT and it was my choice to use it if I wanted to or not. So I went and had it done to hopefully fill in time before the amnio and give me some peace of mind. The reason he is recommending the amnio is because the NIPT only tests for 4 chromosomal abnormalities - trisomy 21, 13, 18 & monosomy x. He is concerned of OTHER chromosomal abnormalities that the NIPT cannot pick up.
They are most concerned about my very low PAPP A levels. So low that I am below the 1st percentile. They are worried about still birth, IUGR, pre eclampsia and infant death (which is a common occurrence with pregnancies with levels similar to mine, and that is if the fetus is chromosomally normal).
So after I heard that, I went and friggen googled it. What a MISTAKE. and then I read studies and that freaked me out more.
However, I am taking aspirin every night to thin the blood to help prevent pre e and to ensure the blood flow to the placenta is easy or something, and last night before bed I was reading on forums about women who have had this issue previously (which resulted in stillbirths) but had in newer pregnancies taken aspirin and everything had turned out better. So that made me feel so much better. Amazing what a simple little tablet can do.
They have booked me in to have lots of scans to monitor growth- one will happen during the amnio, then 19 or 20 week morph scan (not booked yet, will do that through my GP), 24 weeks, 28 weeks, 32 weeks, 36 weeks, 38 weeks all booked at the hospital. So that's good. I will also have regular urine samples and my blood pressure checked regularly
Luckily it's only rearranged for tomorrow evening, (initially they were saying a week on Friday, but then they told me they offer evening appointments, which would mean my husband could look after our son, I really wanted reassurance today!
