NEED HELP - Prenatal Screening, 1st was Neg but 2nd is Pos

[wantinglilones]

UPDATE:

DH and I met with a genetic counselor and had an extensive u/s on the twins.

The counseling session felt like a basic biology lesson and it was all I could do not to say "yeah we know all of this, just get to the u/s". My ob/gyn had already told me that we would have sit through the counseling to get to the u/s, the latter of which was the only thing that mattered.

All went very well during the u/s and neither of the girls showed any of the "soft markers" for down's. In fact both of them look great - strong heartbeats (140 and 141) and really good weights and sizes. Twin B had a slightly thicker nucal than Twin A during the first screening and apparently this was taken into account when the risk level was generated. During the u/s both twins were nearly identical in size, weight, etc and Twin B's nuchal this time was well in the "normal" thickness range. The data from the u/s actually reduced our risk ratio from 1/120 to 1/240. The cutoffs for "risk of downs" ranges from 1/250 to 1/270 so we just didn't feel that the risk was high enough to warrant the amnio. Anyway we are not going to terminate and there's nothing you can do if either baby has down's so we are just going to continue forward with this pregnancy and pray for the best.

Thank you all for your stories and support. I'll report again on this matter in May when the girls arrive.

Best of luck to anyone else going through this same situation. Feel free to contact me if you need to talk to someone who's been through this amazingly stressful ordeal.

Tummy rubs to all!
Lisa

[Babyb]

That is GREAT NEWS so far!!!!!! I have a really strong feeling that both of your girls will be just fantastic. Like I said, when there is a positive on the second go around (after a neg on the first screening), there is a higher false positive rate. I believe this is what happened to you. I'll be praying for your girls and can't wait to hear of their healthy arrival in May.

[wantinglilones]

For anyone who followed this situation, here is how the story ends (it's a happy ending)...on Wednesday 5/28/08 my girls arrived happy and healthy. Alexis was born at 6 lbs and Addison was born at 7 lbs 12 oz! Neither girl has Down's or any other issue.

Thank you all for your love and support.

Side note: I've had two other girlfriends go through similar situations with the genetic screening - both had 1st round 'negative' and 2nd round 'positive', one went for the amnio and the other opted out after an u/s that appeared normal (of course both women were only carrying singletons) but all in all I just cannot recommend the 2nd part of the screening to anyone after an initial negative result. It's just not worth the stress and worry in my opinion, especially if you are carrying multiples.

[sarahalf]

Thank you for the update! I wish I had found your story sooner. I had an excellent n/t result (also preg with twin girls) and then my quad screen came back high for downs (1 in 85, which was high enough for me!).
We did the genetic ultrasound and one of our babies did have one soft marker for downs (small amt of fluid on kidney) and the somewhat anti-amnio dr recommended an amnio. So we got scared and did a double one on the spot. I found out both girls were fine within 5 days, and then I continued to worry for WEEKS about miscarriage post amnio (as it happened to me last preg!!!).
My advice to ladies in the similar position would be to do ALOT of research before you have the amnio. There are SO MANY false positives (esp with twins...).
Thank you for your success story..I am in the home stretch and it is a great piece of mind. When were your girls born (how many weeks?) and how did the labor and delivery go?
Sara

[riogirl71]

I had a false positive on my first test. the nuchal was fine but my blood gave me 1 in 170 for Downs, I cried and panicked for a month trying to decide. I was almost sure I was going to an amnio but then my level II ultra sound and blood came back fine, false positives do happen. If it puts your mind at ease then do the amnio. I would do the amnio if my chances had come back worse than 1 in 350 which is the miscarry rate here at my clinic. I heard of false positives with twins. Please research boards at poor pre natal diagnosis at Baby center.com they have a lot of women who had false positives and it helped me a lot.
Good luck and I hope you have healthy girls!