Ultrasound for Downs Syndrome Testing

Hello T.!

I went through this with my daughter. They called me and said that the ultrasound didn't look right and they got me so upset, well it ended up being that it was the plasenta that didn't look right, not that she had downs.

Don't worry about what the Dr says. it will all be ok.

I haven't met anyone that took that test and they said that everything was ok. When I have another baby, I'm not taking it. :)

I am so sorry that u have to go through this during your pregancy!

Take care,
L. Kay

TRUST is the best thing right now. Just know that God's plan for you and your family is better than anything you can dream. I have a 4 1/2 year old with Down syndrome (didn't do any testing) -- and 3 other children, and we are extremely blessed. May God bless you with whatever it is that your family needs!! Every child is a blessing.

Hi T.,
I had a very high risk pregnancy, but have a beautiful and extremely healthy and normal daughter who is almost 3. I was offered tests to find out if my daughter would have problems, Downs being one of them. I wanted to know so that I could be as prepared as I could before she arrived, and hook up with some support groups of other people who had "been there done that" if any problems were found so that I would know what to expect once I got her home (no surprises).

I was given a simple blood test (blood drawn from me) that tested for several different common defects. Because you and your baby are one in many ways, problems that your child may have can be found in your blood. They can also do an amneo, but as no problems were found in the blood, we did no further testing. The amneo can be risky in and of itself, and you should definitely read up on it before having one, but that can rule out some other issues, too. Always beware though, I had a friend who was told she was going to have a Downs' baby based on amneo findings and her child was fine, so no test is 100%!

Best of luck!

I am sorry you are experiencing this while pregnant. I would ask your dr for any and all information he has. Maybe you need to suggest to go to a high risk dr since you are also bleeding. Is there a Center for Women's Health in your area?

Being pregnant can be scary enough and then to have to go thru something like this with little or no info is even more scary.

I guess I have no answer for you just support. I would drill my dr or midwife for more info.
J.

Congrats on the pregnancy. I would not worry about the U/S they are very far from being perfect. My sister had the sub-chorionic bleed as well and my nephew is a happy healthy hyper two year old now. Try not to worry, just continue to enjoy the pregnancy.

Good Luck!!

Hi T.
No experience with the Nuchal test, sorry. But, I am 27 weeks pregnant and they found a subcorianic hemorrhage at 8 weeks because I was in a lot of pain. I've had ultrasounds every 3-4 weeks since to check it. it did end up resolving itself eventually, but now I have placenta previa, so I am still having ultrasounds. My doctor didn't seem all that concerned about the bleeding, so I never really worried about it. I was just told to go easy on the lifting and stuff. I hope it resolves and doesn't cause you any problems. Good luck with baby#2!!!
J.

Hi T.!
My baby at 14 weeks also had this in utero, but it resolved itself before he was born. He is now 7 weeks old and very healthy. Keep in mind, you are not very far along and if it is something to be concerned with, they will let you know.
We had a baby with Trisomy 13 two years ago, so were seeing a perinatologist during the pregnancy. I can honestly say that if there were something to worry about, they would let you know ;)

T., I had this same issue with my OB when I was pregnant with my first daughter (I was 24). They had me all worked up and worried, sent me to the high risk OB, had more ultrasounds, and then tell me there's a 33% chance baby has major genetic defect, 33% chance its a major heart or lung defect, or 33% chance her lymphatic system is immature and everything is perfectly fine. At this point we opted for the amnio because my sanity needed relief. As it turns out, she was perfectly fine, and we had a very healthy little girl. For my second pregnancy, I switched OB's and when he saw in my chart that they had even checked nuchal thickness on a 20-something mom, he was upset. He told me that test is only for mothers in the mid-late 30's who are at higher risk. We never checked it on my second daughter, and for me, that was a relief! After going through all of that, I wouldn't want to know (that's just me). My second pregnancy was much more relaxing.

My advice is that if you need more info to make yourself feel better, then do it. BUT don't cause any extra stress on yourself by worrying over it because since my situation, I have heard of many more women who had the same issue and the baby was completely fine. Relax, enjoy your pregnancy, and have hope and pray for your perfectly beautiful new little angel.

I had a subchorionic hemorrhage right about 11 weeks as well. It did rectify itself:) I'm sure yours will, too. I don't know about the Downs but just wanted to offer a little encouragement with the bleeding:)
I do know that US are a pretty bad indication of what's wrong and that even the quad-screen and amnio can give false-positives. That's why most midwives skip them. So, don't worry too much :)

If you are worried about DS then I would suggest early CVS testing. I did it.. it was so easy - no pain and very quick. You can do it between 11-13 weeks which is so much easier on your mental health than waiting for Amnio more than a month later. You get quick "fsh" results within 48 hours and full results in 1-2 weeks.

Here is one website I found, but it doesn't start the measurement until 15wks. But you might be able to read it and understand a little more, I'll keep looking to see if I come across anything else.

http://www.ob-ultrasound.net/xdown.html

I am not sure about the nuchal thickness, they didn't find that on my son's many, many ultrasounds. He does have Down syndrome. I know a lot about Down syndrome if you have any questions about that.