u/s ever wrong on baby's health?

[Hobbermittens]

When my blood tests and ultrasound came back good with DS3, I decided against the amnio. I thought the risk wasn't worth it. I think if everything looks good you can skip it.

Can you tell me what your calculated risk was? Mine for downs is 1:120, which my doctor says is good, because my age related risk is something like 1:80. I know 1:120 is less than a 1% chance, so that's pretty good. Right? How old were you when you had DS3? I am 39.

[Hobbermittens]

Rainbow, thanks for that link and that info!

[Hobbermittens]

Well, it's not something that can be picked up by amnio but I got the all clear with ds1 at my 20 week scan and he was born with heart disease which was only discovered when he was 2 days old. Ultrasound scans can only detect around 50% of cases where there is a problem so it's by no means foolproof. But the chance of something going wrong after an amnio is greater than your chance of having a baby with a genetic disease.

Has your DS had to have surgery? How did they discover his heart problem?

[atomic sagebrush]

Wow Rainbow that is brilliant, thanks! I'm not having testing but it is nice to see it laid out like that.

I read that if you're thin it's way more likely that they will be able to see stuff than if you are heavier-set, but at the same time if you're heavy-set, amnios are riskier too so it's a tough decision for heavier moms to make. I also read that older women have higher risks from amnios than younger women do so for some of us, our risks may be higher from amnio than the general population. So we get scared into having amnios because we have higher risks of some disorders (and heaven knows they never shut up about that!!) but no one ever once has told me that risks from amnio are actually as much as doubled if you're over 40!

All that aside, I wonder if you will ever have peace of mind without the amnio, though?? You've put a lot of thought into this and I wonder if you'd just have more peace of mind if you did go thru with it.

[Hobbermittens]

Wow Rainbow that is brilliant, thanks! I'm not having testing but it is nice to see it laid out like that.

I read that if you're thin it's way more likely that they will be able to see stuff than if you are heavier-set, but at the same time if you're heavy-set, amnios are riskier too so it's a tough decision for heavier moms to make. I also read that older women have higher risks from amnios than younger women do so for some of us, our risks may be higher from amnio than the general population. So we get scared into having amnios because we have higher risks of some disorders (and heaven knows they never shut up about that!!) but no one ever once has told me that risks from amnio are actually as much as doubled if you're over 40!

All that aside, I wonder if you will ever have peace of mind without the amnio, though?? You've put a lot of thought into this and I wonder if you'd just have more peace of mind if you did go thru with it.

Crap, I didn't know any of that about the heavier thing. I am definitely heavier than I should be--not obese, but probably 30lbs more than I should be (maybe that does count as obese!) and a lot of it is around my middle.

I also didn't know the risk of amnio went up with age, either. My gut feeling is that I DON'T want the test. I am just scared of a miscarriage. I hate to go against my gut feeling, because if something went wrong, I would never forgive myself!

At this point I am almost positive that I will just see what the u/s says andgo from there. I am wondering if my Dr would let me get two u/s, one as a "second opinion" at another high risk clinic.

[nuthinbutpink]

Where I live, once over 35, you go to a specialist for all u/s.

[Hobbermittens]

Where I live, once over 35, you go to a specialist for all u/s.

They have me seeing a doctor at a maternal fetal medicine clinic, so I am getting a high resolution u/s by a specialist. Definitely better than going to the local hospital with their old dinosaur of an u/s machine! I was just thinking if I got two of the high resolution u/s from two different places, I would have an even better idea of what was going on in there... just not sure if my Dr. will go for it, and he would have to refer me.

[Sunset]

Has your DS had to have surgery? How did they discover his heart problem?

It was discovered when he was 2 days old when the doctor came and did the routine baby checks. He had a heart murmur which he told me is quite normal for newborn babies but that he would come back the next day and the heart murmur should then have gone if it was a normal murmur.. but it hadn't so they sent my son for further ultrasound scans which picked up on a hole in his heart. The hole at the time wasnt large but it wasnt small enough to ignore either so at first he had to go every 3 months for check ups but after his first birthday it started closing up and now he only has to go every 3 years for routine check ups. We've been incredibly lucky that nature decided to heal itself and we're hoping that next time he goes for a check up that it will have closed up completely... either way he won't need surgery

[Hobbermittens]

That's great sunset! How lucky that he healed up and hasn't needed surgery.

[atomic sagebrush]

Crap, I didn't know any of that about the heavier thing. I am definitely heavier than I should be--not obese, but probably 30lbs more than I should be (maybe that does count as obese!) and a lot of it is around my middle.

I also didn't know the risk of amnio went up with age, either. My gut feeling is that I DON'T want the test. I am just scared of a miscarriage. I hate to go against my gut feeling, because if something went wrong, I would never forgive myself!

At this point I am almost positive that I will just see what the u/s says andgo from there. I am wondering if my Dr would let me get two u/s, one as a "second opinion" at another high risk clinic.

Oh, I'm so sorry, didn't mean anything by that, I just read it and found it interesting. That was actually an (unsuccessful!) attempt to reassure you about the ultrasound, because the odds are quite good that for the average sized woman they can see even better than they can with the population as a whole and so the numbers that Rainbow posted are probably even higher for a person of a relatively normal weight.

I don't think they're talking about 30 lbs, they're talking about 130 lbs., KWIM?? I don't think 30 lbs could possibly make that much difference.