My OB has given me the referral to have the scan done, I can't have bloods done as I am carrying twins, so they can't tell which one is which.

I spoke in length to the scan place and they can't tell you if your baby does or doesn't have DS it can only calculate the risk factor based on the amount of fluid behind the neck and the mothers age, how active you are, if you smoke etc etc.

To be honest I don't think much of the test at all, I would have been in a high risk in my 20's when I smoked, didn't eat well etc etc and all my boys are fine.

I will probably be put in high risk now because of my age (36 at scan date) and ex-smoker. I think it is just another thing for us to worry about.

My hubby says get the scan cause it is 3D and he wants to see it, but as for the risk factor I am really not going to pay that much attention to it.

They get FALSE (wrong) results on average every 2 out of 10, so that is disgusting, that is really bad. Not one wrong in every hundred or thousand but 2 in 10. So personally if you REALLY are concerned and you really want to get an accurate result get the amnio test.

This is JMO..

Good luck ladies

Congrats! This is great news

I had a 1 in 147 chance with megan, and the fluid behind her neck was over 7mm instead of the normal/average, I think it's 2.4 mm. Refused the amnio as I had already miscarried last year, from then I was put on consultant care and all she did was talk about having an abortion! Got another scan which showed the fluid had went down and there was a nose bone the too. I had 9scans throughout my pregnancy with doc checking for DS, then it was Edwards syndrome and finally a heart problem. I gave birth to a healthy baby with no problems

my friend was put at high risk for downs and believe me she cried for days! but there is nothing wrong with lily at all she is a healthy and happy 2 year old i wish you all the best

Hello
I was a 1 in 149 risk of down syndrome and my baby did not have it. We decided not to do the amnio as we didn't want to risk a miscarriage and thought what will be will be. In the end I has severe pre-eclampsia and my baby suffered deprivation of oxygen at birth and is severely disabled but he is my beautiful angel boy and I love him very very much. What I am trying to say is if you think you don't care too much about whether your baby will have down syndrome or not then you don't need to do the amnio, just enjoy your pregnancy. If on the other hand you think that you could not have a baby with Down Syndrome then take the amnio.

Hello everyone

I was given a 1:89 risk based on the nuchal measurement alone (I'm 24, there was a present nasal bone and no other problems they could see) I decided to have bloods done for the combined result which came back at 1:270, I then had a letter saying I am now classed as low eisk and no further testing is recommended.

However I'm still undecided about amnio, I have a 16week scan next week so hopefully they'll be able to see more then, does anyone know what happens at this scan??

We didn't have any blood work done in my 1st pregnancy to test for downs. When I had my 18 week u/s I have EVERY.SINGLE soft marker there was for downs. I refused the amnio at that time in fear of causing me to miscarry our daughter. I continued until I was 26 weeks when even more problems were found. By that time we did do the amnio just so my doctor would now how to proceed with my pregnancy.

ETA: our daughter did NOT have Downs.

Hi. What medication was that? x

Sorry, I am not sure if I am a bit late in replying to this thread.

I am on my fourth pregnancy, carrying twins, and have refused any testing other than scanning, including the automatically offerred anmio as I already have a child with Downs.

My third son has Downs (first two are perfectly 'normal') and I had the triple test with him at 16 weeks and it came back low risk. I was 27. I am SO glad I didn't find out as I would have thought all sorts of things, like having a baby with Downs wouldn't be fair to my other children for example, and I am not sure what I would have done. (it was an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy anyway, without knowing about the Downs) In actual fact, having a baby with Downs really isn't that much different to having a baby without Downs. My son is now almost 6 and an absolute delight.

Although my son has trisomy 21, which is completely random, it does mean I am at slightly higher risk of having a baby with Downs this time, hence the offer of an amnio. My husband is not the father of my other three children, they are from my first marriage, but agrees he would be just a happy if our baby/babies had Downs as if they didn't. It's really not such a big deal.

My genetic screening results came back as a 1 n 47 chance for Downs, and a 1 > 10,000 chance for Trisomy 13 or 18. We have decided to get the amnio test - in fact our appointment is this coming Friday. We are nervous but trust in our doctors who tell us the risk rate for miscarriage is 1 in 500 (now vs. the 1 in 200 statistic that was from years ago).

My husband and I just feel like it is very important for us to know in order to be able to prepare for caring for a special needs child.

We are confident all will go smoothly.