If you chose not to to have any non-invasive screening (first trimester screen, triple screen), what was your reasoning?
-
We only did the 20 week scan, that's all my doc recommends.
-
I didn't want to terminate regardless, and I felt the ultrasound would tell me what I wanted to know. I also just didn't want to stress -- I've heard about so many false alarms .
-
Agreed with above. I wouldn't terminate and thought 20 weeks was sufficient time to prepare for anything. If there was any concern, I still think I would have been glad to have some period of pregnancy that was filled only with excited anticipation without it tempered by stress.
-
There is no family history that concerns me (there is cleft lip and palette, but that is discovered upon ultrasound and we did have the 20 week US for gender scan.. Plus if there were major abnormalities at least would could emotionally prepare), so that was a large factor for me.
Secondly, no matter the circumstances, I personally would never terminate. So it wasn't worth it to me. -
We would not have terminated, regardless of outcome and I feel the tests have a high rate of false alarms, so we declined.
-
The first thing that made us consider not having it done was that our insurance didn't cover it. If it had I probably would've just gotten it done without thinking about it. But since we did have to pay I considered it and realized that it wouldn't be beneficial for us. We wouldn't terminate regardless and it's not like the early tests tell you stuff for sure anyways. If we'd gotten "increased odds" of whatever I would've serious stressed because I"m an emotional person and I felt like there wasn't really any value in the information for me.
-
I didn't qualify for the Maternit21 test because of donor conception and by the time I saw my OB it was getting too late for me to have the NT scan.
-
We weren't really worried and knew we wouldn't terminate regardless of the results.
-
No family history or risk factors and my offices doesn't recommend it for patients in that category.
This is my third pregnancy and we have denied it for all, except this time we will be checking to see if I am a carrier for CF. DD was just put through a sweat test and it was traumatic for her (we knew it would be negative) and my midwife suggested in this case lets just test me in case this baby has similar issues as DD (she is neutropenic of unknown origin). She said ordinarily she would still recommend to deny all screening, but in this case she thought it was smart to test me. I'm okay with that. The results won't change anything, we wouldn't terminate like others have said, it is more to know if we can r/o CF down the road and save the baby from potential testing if he/she is like DD.
-
We would never terminate a pregnancy so for us the early testing was moot and anything major they would likely catch at the 20 week ultrasound so that we would have had a bit of time to prepare.
Also, as someone mentioned above: false positives. I've known of a couple people who were told their child would have Down Syndrome based on early testing and the baby was born without it so I didn't want to stress over something that may or may not be accurate information.
-
I thought percentages would give me anxiety and I didn't want invasive testing. With our 2nd they found a marker so we had a diff kind of ultrasound to rule out a few potential issues. But even then the Drs advised against an Amnio saying there was more of a risk of miscarriage than anything being seriously wrong. And besides for a very soft marker baby looked great.
-
Pretty much everything that has already been said. Honestly, hellobee is the only place I've heard of most of these tests. My OB mentioned two (I don't remember the names) but it was in passing like it wasn't a big deal. Most people I know only have an anatomy scan.
Now that I'm definitely AMA I wonder if I'll be offered more testing next time. I had just turned 35 with my second pregnancy and my age didn't make anything different.
-
We haven't done any of the screenings for any of our kids (I am currently 20 weeks pregnant with our third), and we even opted out of the NT scan (though we did get a 12 week ultrasound). I've still had multiple ultrasounds (dating, 12 week, 20 week, and then one later on in the third trimester), but I didn't feel it was necessary to do any of the other testing.
We are very low risk.
It would not change our decision whether or not to keep the pregnancy, no matter what "issues" arose..
I didn't want to spend my pregnancy worried/anxious if there was even a chance something could be wrong.
I just wanted to trust in my body, the process, and most importantly, God, and know that everything would turn out just the way He planned it. -
No family history, otherwise low risk, would have cost us about $250, and since the blood testing wasn't available the first time around, we wouldn't have considered more invasive procedures to give us more definitive results. We did do the anatomy scan though for any major physical abnormalities, but that was for knowledge. This time around, nothing was offered and I didn't ask.
-
My first three pregnancies we didn't do any testing and skipped the NT scan. (Well, first two didn't make it far enough anyway, but we wouldn't have.) I felt the risk of false positives outweighed any benefits, and assumed there were no circumstances that would lead us to terminate. I even considered not having any ultrasounds at all, but wound up just wanting to see the baby the first time, and then after having miscarried twice I needed the periodic reassurance. I had no reason to think we would have any issues.
Obviously, I've changed my feelings on that drastically, and now feel very strongly about ultrasounds in particular and testing/screenings in general.
-
I knew that false positives happen a lot and that it would stress me out so we just declined. I was satisfied with the basic screenings & anatomy scan. It surprised me because I definitely thought I would want to know everything but once I was pregnant I had a different mentality.
-
I believed that the anatomy ultrasound would discover any problems. We already had a known genetic issue and I was low risk.
-
I have family history (I have a brother with CP and other issues) and was an older first time mother (pregnant at 34). I thought long and hard about it, but in the end, I just decided against it.
-
I didn't do any of the screenings for either of my two successful pregnancies. I think they give lots of false alarms and like most said above, we would not have terminated.
-
@Torchwood: I'm with you. Need all the info
-
No family history of anything genetic, I was tested before we TTC to see if I'm a CF carrier (I'm not), and we didn't want to have to think about whether to continue a pregnancy if a test came back with a fatal diagnosis.
At the time I decided that I would rather enjoy my pregnancy and deal with whatever issues our baby developed, if any, once s/he was born.
That said, I think it's great that the option to test exists, and that the option to continue a pregnancy or not exists. Only you and your baby's other parent know what's right for you.
p.s. I'm in the Baltimore area too! (assuming you are from your name)
-
Thanks for all of your replies! My NP presented the testing as what they prefer/recommend, and really only cited "would never terminate regardless" as a reason not to do it. I was curious if there were other major downsides that influenced people's choices.
We would consider termination under certain circumstances, but are still undecided about the screenings. I'm going to call on Monday to see if my insurance covers them, and then we'll go from there.
Reply
Subscribe to our newsletter
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
22 comments