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NT scan

I'm really undecided whether to have the NT scan (downs test).

Half of me is like, if it comes back high risk i'm gonna spend all the pregnancy worrying, i wouldnt have the 20wk test anyway coz of risk of mc, so whats the point, also if i was carrying a downs baby, i wouldnt abort anyway!!!

Then the other half of my is telling me, i'm having the scan anyway, its not a big deal, not like ive got to have a seperate test, its better ot be prepared. Also i'm only 22 so the chance of my having a downs baby is very unlikely although i no it does happen.



What's your opinions ladies????

Which of you lot are having it done?



love jess

10+4

xxxx

Replies

  • I think you more or less answered your own question there!! you wont have the 20w test anyway or abort so whats the point of worrying for the rest of your pregnancy...it will do you more harm than good.....plus they only tell you what chance you have of having a downs baby eg 1 in 100 or 1 in 20000 which make no difference even if they say 1 in 10 or 1 in a million you still dont know if your that 1, personally i think its a bit of a pointless test, i declined mine and the midwife seemed to be on the same thinking as me cause like you i wouldnt have done anything further
  • Its such an individual thing to decide. I would always get the test done, not necessarily to abort etc but I am the type of person I would want to be really prepared. I would want to know what to expect, speak to other mums etc.



    Just like I want to know the sex of the baby for me I would want to know.



    Plus downs babies tend to have several soft markers, so if they knew they could further scan for heart defects etc, again being prepared.



  • G/C from DIJ/A



    As everyone says it is such an individual choice. My MW booked me for one anyway, and said if I changed my mind I could just say at the hospital that I didn't want it to be done.



    I too would not have had an amniocentesis or aborted, but I did want to have the knowledge of the risk. I would not have worried about it if it was a higher risk, I am just one of those people who would have wanted to find out about local mums with downs babies/read lots of info etc.



    As it turns out, my baby was very uncooperative and despite me throwing myself up & down on the bed we weren't able to get an accurate nuchal measurement, so that decision was made for me!



    If one of my friends wasn't sure what to do, I would just say to them that if they weren't going to have further tests and they were just going to be worried then I would probably say it wouldn't be worth it to have the nuchal scan in the first place.
  • I'd get it done for the simple fact your scan will be longer and you get to see more of baby lol!



    I wasn't bothered either way, I wouldn't abort or have further tests if the result was high, but I wasn't able to have the test with Elliott and the scan was over so quickly! This time arpund I decided I'd have it just as if they're checking for 1 more thing I might get an extra couple of minutes looking at baba!



    As it was...I have such a little wiggler they couldn't get the measurement, but I had 45 mins of them trying and therefore me seeing our little button! xx
  • we were the same PB, last time they didnt offer the NT scan and 12 week scan was about 5-10 minutes max x this time they have only just started offering the NT scan and it meant we got to see pudding for about 35 minutes which was amazing, and in the end she couldnt get a good enough pic, but it was great to get such a long scan x x
  • I had it last time - it sort of comes with the 12wk scan if you know what i mean. I never even thought of saying no. I actually dont think i was given the choice??
  • Be carefrul though as the reason I didnt get it first time around was because when I got to scan room I was asked 'have you been councilled (sp?) for the Nuchal scan' and I said no as I hadnt really, so they said I couldnt have it. Second time they didnt ask me this they just asked if I wanted it. xx
  • Hi,



    I'm G/C. We were given the choice and my midwife gave us as long as we needed to go away and discuss it. In fact we actually had to consent to the scan either with or without to get anything.



    It is totally personal and nobody can tell you what to do.



    My reasons for opting out were that I'd been poked and prodded enough through my medical history that I didn't want anything extra. For me the NT is just statistics and was never going to be a firm answer and I knew I wouldn't have an amnio let alone an abortion BUT did know that I would agonise over the decision if I knew i was high risk.



    As an analyst I'd sort of figured that the odds of having an amnio on a healthy baby was more likely than having one for a Down's baby and I couldn't run the risk of m/c on those odds.



    I'm a worrier anyway and I wanted my scan to be a happy occasion and not mixed with me worrying about test results.



    We could very well have a Down's syndrome (or other condition) baby but the chances are low and we'll manage it when we come to it. For me the biggest risk was me being stressed out about the NT test and causing my perfectly healthy baby issues from that.



    My MW didn't try to influence us either way but I got the impression she thought it could cause a lot of worry and heartache for very indefinite results for a lot of women.



    My advice is do what feels right for you. Really think about how you'd feel given the news of high risk, amnio etc.



    Best of luck x
  • Thank you for all you replies, been very helpful and interesting. me and hubby have to decided to have it,

    A) to be more prepared

    b) to have a longer scan
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