Did you have a blood test to test for down's syndrome and chromosome illnesses while pregnant?

[off to a new life]

I'm just wondering if it was an option for you or would you have liked it to have been an option for you, whether you chose to do it or not, and if the results came back positive did you decide to go for an amniocentesis? Or if you just had or were offered the amniocentesis, how did it go and how did you make your decision?

I never realized they could do a blood test for this. My midwife offered and it made sense at the time. I went straight to get my blood taken from the midwife's office, and now I'm wondering if I did the right thing. I'm not in any high risk group for a baby with chromosome problems, so it should be okay. If it did come back that the baby could have something though, I would want to know just to be prepared. I am so afraid of getting an amnio though because there is risk of miscarriage. I know the risk is low but it still freaks me out. Gosh this is scary!

I'd just like to hear other people's experiences and stuff. Thankss!

[J&M's Mommy]

I have been offered the tests with both my pregnancies, and I did the test both times. This is a completely personal choice and all people make the decision for personal reasons. Some say they wont do the test because it would not matter if something was wrong. My reasoning for doing the test is that if it came back abnormal I could prepare myself for a special needs child more if that were the case instead of being completely throw under the bus when he/she was born.

As for amnio, if my test results came back abnormal I am not sure if I would do amnio. As of right now, I say no. But I am not actually facing the decision, so I cannot be sure.

[Monkei]

I decided no to take it as I decided it wouldn't change any decisions that i made and i know of alot of people including one who was given a 1/2 chance and all their babies are perfectly healthy.
Its your choice though and if you didn't want to have the amnio then it's up to you.

Take care <3

[iHEAVENn]

I took it.
At my first check up they found that I carry the cystic fibrosis gene.. So if hubby had carried it there was a high chance of our babies having the actual disease.
Luckily hubby does not have the gene. So all that was passed on to Logan is the gene.

They automatically screened my baby for down's syndrome and a bunch of other stuff because of the gene thing.

[Nicolette]

Here where I live (BC Canada) they don't give you a choice, its part of your prenatal examinations, you get three trials of tests that you need to go in for at the beginning, middle, and end of your pregnancy as well as go for monthly and at the end weekly visits to the doctor. My results all came back negative so there was never any further blood work. Honestly I would have taken all of the tests needed to make sure my baby was healthy.

[Algernon]

I don't know, but I do know that you can have generic therapy for sure.

[guillotine_blades]

Yeah I did the blood test. The only problem that my dr told me about the test itself is that it doesn't show if your baby actually has it, just if you have an increased chance of your baby having it. So even if you get results back from the blood test, you could get an amnio and have everything come back normal. Me personally, if something came back wrong on the blood test, I would have had the amnio. No idea what I would have done from that point on but atleast I could make an informed decision either way. But thank my lucky stars, everything came back fine on the blood test and I have a happy healthy (almost) 3yr old