1st trimester screening

Just curious if anyone has actually declined this? I am leaning toward no.
From my info packet, they do this at around 11 weeks, and use bloodwork/level 2 ultasound to determine what your percentage risks are for having a child with down syndrome or birth defects? Aside from the free ultrasound, I really can't justify the anxiety this test will cause. I know many women who have had it and were told their babies would most likely have some sort of mal-formation....but all babies ended up fine.
So, I'm wondering how everyone else feels about this, and if you've had it done. If so, can you share your stories?  Did the Dr tell you something that wasn't accurate? Or have a problem that the screening process didn't pick up? Thanks!

I had both pre screens done. I felt like either way my baby is my baby but if I could be prepared then I would feel better. Mostly because I wanted to see if everything looked ok then it would be fine but I just like to be prepared and my husband would have needed to be ready. He has more anxiety than I do lol.
My results have all been normal. My doctor was up front with us and said if we wanted to do the testing then do it and if not it was no big deal. I did like the more in depth ultrasound. That was very nice.
I know people who have had abnormal results and everything turned out fine. I think its just a personal choice. I thought about amnio if anything came back abnormal but then thought I had twice the risk since we would have to do two seperate amnios for the twins.
I am happy either way. I feel very lucky for all I have

If I have had the screening, it wasn't anything I was aware of. My doc told me he was doing standard labs, and would call with any trouble. Never received a call. I don't believe he does these unless there are high risk factors. Now, one of our close personal friends had the screening, had multiple ultrasounds, and not once did any test pick up on her daughter's down syndrome, or the heart defect she had. She declined the screenings with her second baby because she lost faith in their accuracy after that.

I had the quad screen blood test around 15-16 weeks. The main reason they wanted it for me is because of my age (so old at 37!) They didn't do any other tests for birth defects. I guess the dr could have been looking for signs on the ultrasounds without telling us too...But we didn't get any inaccurate information either way. Before the test, with my age and other factors, the dr said my chances of having a baby with genetic defects was like 1 in 600. After taking the test, he said my chances were like 1 in 7000.  

I don't know--if you'd have the baby no matter what problems it may have, then I wouldn't bother. But, on the other hand, if you'd have it no matter what, but want to be prepared for any problems, then you'd want to know....jeez, something to really think about.

Good luck, whatever you decide.
Kina

I declined! I will love this baby no matter what and why get all anxious about a 1 in 1000 if u get a positive.
Jessica

My OB recommended I get the 1st trimester screening because of my age (39).   I told her that getting pregnant has taken me MANY years and this pregnancy was something that happened despite my using precautions so no matter what, I would keep the baby.  She also recommended I get tested so that IF there were a problem they could be better prepared for the birth.  Well, I bit and wish I never had.  T


The ultrasound showed my baby's neck measurement was thicker than it should be.  This made my chances of having a baby with downs even greater.  The blood test results came back normal so it helped the "statistics" a litt;e.  I was a wreck!  Wish I never had the test done.   They recommended I do an amnio, but I declined. 

Since then, I have had about 4 other ultrasounds and ever thing appears to be normal.  My Dr.'s remind me often that the only way of knowing for sure is by doing the amnio.  Well, my sister in law's sister had an amnio done and they told her the baby did NOT have downs, but when she was born she did; so I don't think there is any definite way of knowing, even with our advances in technology.  You could be told everything is okay and it turn out not to be and you can also be told everything is NOT okay and it turns out to be. 

One thing one of my Dr.'s said to me that has always stayed with me is:  Most things that are REALLY bad will cause a miscarriage and others can be seen on ultrasound as the pregnancy progresses.  As hard as it is, I think the best thing is to let whatever is going to happen happen. 

 I had it only for the reason that if anything was wrong I wanted to deliver in a hospital that had a NICU...I was scheduled to deliver in a rural hospital that can only handle simple deliveries.  The test came back with a 1 in 48 chance that she had downs...so I had further testing (b/c alot of downs babies have heart issues) and she was perfectly fine.  I delivered at my little rural hospital and it was all good...the testing was stressful, but if my baby had a heart issue and I had delivered in a hospital that could not handle it I would have been devistated.  If you are delivering in a large hospital with NICU staff, I would not be so worried about the testing. 

i had it done.. and i will have it done with any furture children... if something is wrong i wanted to be prepaired and have the best medical staff my money could pay for ready for my babies if i needed them... thankfully i didnt need them.

 I had it done for peace of mind. No matter what I am having this baby, but I wanted to make sure I would be prepared for anything and she would have the best medical care. They also screen for spina bifida which is proven to be a little more of a problem for women who have had weigh tloss surgery. This is one that they can actually fix in many cases by performing surgery while the baby is still in the uterus. That was my major reason for the testing. 

I had it done with this pregnancy thinking I wanted to be prepared.  BUT, I regret it considerably.  My results came back very bad for Down Syndrome, but after a visit to the specialist, I was cleared. The specialist then told me that he wished they didn't even do the blood tests because they were so innacurate.  He showed me research that showed that 85-90 percent of all positives are false positives.  Also, spina bifida shows up in 95% of routine ultrasounds, so the blood screen isn't necessary for that.  For me, all this test did was give me a week of absolute worry.