Triplescreen Testing?

I opted at my dr's appt yesterday to not take it considering the high amount of false positives, plus if something comes back abnormal, i don't know if i could go ahead and do the amnio. Just too much added stress to my highly stressful life already. What surprised me, is that my dr agreed about the high false positive rate and that he sees lots of women who get an abnormal result, then don't do the amnio, and worry the rest of their pg's.

What do you think? Did anyone opt not to take the triplescreen test? (downs, spina bifida, etc)

Re: Triplescreen Testing?

We opted to take but I know for sure I would have gone through with the amnio and for me personally I would have worried more if I didn't have the screening tests done.
I think it's a hard personal decision everyone has to make. There isn't any right or wrong it's just a matter of what steps you will take.
My midwife wasn't a huge advocate of the tests and with all the anxiety I had during my pregnancy when it came time to decide if I wanted them or not she said "In order to decide if you're going to do the tests or not you have to determine what you are going to do with the information that it gives you." I guess she meant what would your next steps be. If nothing then it might be best not to do the testing.
Relax and enjoy the rest of your pregnancy. Its such a wonderful time even though some days its difficult I miss my baby belly.

Re: Triplescreen Testing?

Re: Triplescreen Testing?

We're opting to have it done and I'll talk to my dr about it next week. I have a family history so thats why Im doing it. Pending those results, we'll decide on the amnio. Im more scared that something will be terribly wrong if I dont have the tests.

Re: Triplescreen Testing?

I did not have any testing done. Since we would not terminate, and would not have an amnio we decided not to do the testing.

I will say that at my 20 week sonogram, they found something that may be a "soft marker" for Downs (dilated kidney, which is very common). If I had the screening before hand, they wouldnt have told me about the marker because it is almost definitely something that will fix itself before my peanut is born. Because I did not have any testing, they told me about the risk for Downs because they had no earlier test results to look at. I then went to a specialist for a Level II Sono on more advanced equipment, and they still saw this marker, but no others and everything else is perfect. I was offered an amnio but it was not pushed on me at all, for which I was grateful because I wont do it.

The risk of Downs is lower than the risk of losing the baby through an amnio, so we decided immediately not to go through with an amnio.

I guess my point is, that even if you won't go through with an amnio and will keep the baby no matter what, the blood tests (since they are so non-invasive and pose no risk) may be a good idea. Just so that things like this can be ruled out rather than being put through what we are going through now. Although you do have the risk of false positives, so it is definitely a personal choice. I just thought you should know that this can happen, because I did not and although I honestly don't know if it would have affected my decision regarding the bloodtests, I wish I knew this to make a more informed decision.

Good luck to you!