nuchal scan?

jillycat-42312 · May 31, 2007 11:53AM

Hi
I hope some-one can give me a little bit of help. We are trying to decide if we should have the Nuchal fold scan and blood test between 11-14 weeks. Unfortunately where I live these tests are only available privately so will cost us between ??175-200. Our other option is to wait to have the triple test after the 16 week stage. The difference in picking up problems is 90% with Nuchal fold and blood test or 60% with the free triple test. The reason we are thinking off maybe having the tests is my age of 34 at present and I will be 35 when I deliver in Dec if everything continues to go OK.
Has anyone had the nuchal fold and would they recommend this as they way to go?
thanks for any help
Jillycat

KirstyMacey · May 31, 2007 7:26AM

hi Jillycat,

I have never had the nuchal fold scan but i had the triple blood test at 16 weeks and was told this is very realiable. I think a question you would have to discuss with you partner is that if anything abnomal came up on the scan that costs ??200 would that change your dicision to have the baby or not. I did discuss this with my partner and it really helped. I know that 1 of our friends had the blood test and it came back very high for downs sydrome but she would not terminate so it wasnt worth the money to have another scan. Sorry this dosent help much, im sure you will make the right decision between you and your partner. Take Care x

Hopeforbump2 · May 31, 2007 8:09AM

Hi Jillycat, my name is Megan and i'm 14+5 with our first baby. At 10 weeks i had a bleed and when the midwife scanned me she said she wanted me to have another scan at 12 weeks because she didn't like the level of thickness at babies neck. As you can imagine this scared my husband and i out of our minds. Once home i had to really think about what this could mean if our baby had problems. We decided to go ahead and have the nuchal scan and i realised that no matter what this was my baby growing inside me, part of me and my husband so although everything was fine after scan you have to be sure that it wouldn't change anything in your mind. I've gone on and on, but i hope this helps. Meg xx Let us know and good luck with what you decide xx

gr2007 · May 31, 2007 8:24AM

the advice i was given on this was - what would you do if the result came back high risk? If you would keep your baby no matter what, knowing that there possibly may be problems earlier could simply cause you extra worry.

i knew someone who was told that her baby was 'high risk' of having some problems. Both she and her OH went through agonising times deciding what to do before deciding finally to carry on with the pregnancy. But it was a really traumatic time.

Sorry to be so serious, but i hope advice helps. there's no really right or wrong answer - just whatever is right for you.

If you decide not to go ahead i'm sure you'll have lots of fun buying lovely things for the wee one when he/she arrives with the money you've saved!

Good luck,

gr

CarolynB3 · May 31, 2007 8:32AM

Hi Jillycat.
I had a private nuchal fold and addmark blood test done on Tuesday this week at Leeds. The reason I booked it initially was due to my age which will be 41 when I give birth, but funnily enough the nearer I got to the scan the more I had decided that regardless of what they told me I wouldn't terminate, and my husband and I had decided individually that a baby with downs wouldn't present a problem for us. But I wanted to know so we had plenty of time to research what we would need to do and also it would be better for our other 2 children to know as early as possible.

The scan was really good and it was so reassuring to see the baby and for the ultrasound operator to go through from head to toes, but first of all checking the nuchal fold and then looking for a nasal bone.

I have gone from a risk of 1:95 based on my age, to a risk of 1:31,000 based on the scan and the addmark blood test,.

I wanted to be fully prepared and ensure that my ongoing healthcare was based around what our baby needs, but you have to take that in the context that the risk at my age was 1:95.

Hope this helps, and sorry I went on for ages...yawn!

Carolyn

jillycat-42312 · May 31, 2007 8:51AM

Thanks everyone for your comments

I think the thing is that we are not sure what we could cope with or not as this is our first child we don't know what to expect or do for the best.

We aren't sure what we would do if it came back high risk but I think as Cally says would give us time to look at options and research things if we did proceed.

Cally if we did have the test Leeds is a place that we may go to was it one of the obstetricians that did the scan? how long where you there and did you get a pic? Sorry so many questions just may help make the decision if I knew the staff were kind etc.

Jillycat
P.S. I am glad things worked out well for you Julie and Cally

[Modified by: jillycat on May 31, 2007 01:53 PM]

Hopeforbump2 · May 31, 2007 9:30AM

Hey i know that you asked someone else for these details, but here is what happened for my nuchal scan. I lasted about twenty mins and the consultant measured the fold first and told me it appeared normal, then measured pretty much everything! They are very nice and reassure you. I asked for a picture and got one, still had to pay the ??4 for it though! Hope this helps. Meg xx

clare_davidson · May 31, 2007 9:39AM

Hi there Jillycat. I am pregnant with my 3rd baby and I have had issues with Nuchal fold test in all my pregnancies. Every time I have been for scans my babies show up with irregularities.I've been through the blood tests and the amniocentesis. What I am trying to say is that all 3 of my children are absolutely normal and perfectly healthy so don't get too worried about what the tests may show. Best wishes for you and your baby.

Eva247 · May 31, 2007 10:23AM

Hi Jillycat,

I had the triple test and this came back with a result of 1 in 18,000. I had a real lengthy conversation/discussion with the consultant before she took my blood to see what this would mean to me either way. She advised me that an amniocentesis would only be offered if the results were 1 in 250 or less as the amnio runs a higher risk of miscarriage then the possibility of downs syndrome in a baby of those results/ratios. Really, I decided at that point that it wouldn't really matter if I had the test or not as even though my results were 1 in 18,000 - I still worry as I could end up being that 1 person in those 18,000 to have a baby with downs. The numbers mean absolutely nothing to me personally and theres a risk either way - a risk of having a baby who could have downs or a risk of terminating a pregnancy on the grounds that there is a risk of downs and the baby turns out to be completely healthy. Good luck with what you decide to do. Eva x

Kristians_mum · May 31, 2007 11:00AM

hi
ihad that nuchal scan at 12 weeks but i think is just waise of money becouse they dont tell u if ur baby is haveing down sindrom or not they will only tell u u r high risk of haveing a baby with down sindrom or low risk and statistics are one in 100 pregnant women with high risk is really haveing a baby with down sindrom which means even if thay say u r a high risk u have smal chances of having baby with down sindrom and u wont terminate ur pregnanci hoping that u r not that one in a hundred

CarolynB3 · May 31, 2007 11:53AM

Hi Jillycat.

I went to Leeds Ultrasound Screening Centre - Tel 0113 2621675.

We were in there for around 20 mins and my bloods were sent in atleast a week before my scan. So it wasn't done at the hospital and the lady was a DCR(R) DMU MHSc - not sure what that means! She seemed very skilled and checked the nuchal fold initially and then went from head to toes stopping at certain areas that would also indicate problems such as the heart and how well that was pumping, checking the stomach to make sure there was fluid in there etc. We could listen to the heart and I had 5 members of my family in the room as well with me which they were fine about!

We got about 5/6 pictures and if you ask at the start you can have an DVD for an additional ??10. I received 2 reports which she went through and copies are sent to my GP and i had one for my blue folder.

Very easy to organise, when you phone for an appt they then send you everything you need to send your blood off, which can be taken from 10 weeks onwards. It did seem a bit strange sending my blood off via Royal Mail Special Delivery!

If there is anything else I can help with, then please let me know.

Carolyn

I also found out I was a week ahead of my dates - so glad I went when I thought I was 12+1

nuchal scan?

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