ultrascreen?

i called a midwife today to schedule my first appointment with her and she mentioned that i should do a bit of research on things so i can come in prepared for that meeting with questions and such. one of the things she mentioned looking into is an ultrascreen. she said i don't have any obvious reasons as to why i would need one, but to do some research on it and she would explain further/answer any questions i had on it at the first meeting and schedule an appointment for one if i was interested.

i was just wondering if you ladies had any information that you could offer on ultrascreens - pros/cons, reasons for having one, etc. i'm looking around on my own to, but i figured i'd ask the people who'd been through/are going through this all now.

thanks!

Re: ultrascreen?

ultrascreen is a test where they measure the back of the babys neck.. the nuchal fold.. its a way of determing the babys % of being born with downs syndrome. Pros and cons are a personal different for each person.. depends on what you would do with the results.

For me.. i planned on having the baby either way the results were.. not everyone feels that way.


eta: it also isnt the only test, they also do bloodwork with that sono, and have you do another blood test before that all for downs... and I believe its not 100% accurate, and they also determine the #'s by your age.

Message edited 9/30/2008 4:22:34 PM.

Re: ultrascreen?

so does it only look for down syndrome?

Re: ultrascreen?

Re: ultrascreen?

it also checks for trisomy 21 & fragile x, I believe.

Re: ultrascreen?

I am also seeing a midwife.

The ultra screen is just that a "screening" sonogram that measure the neck fold of the baby. A higher neck fold measurement can be an indicator of Downs.

We decided not to do the Ultra screen of AFP (blood work that is another screening tool) because of a high rate of false positives. We are both young and healthy. Usually if you have a high number reading they recomend an amnio and that was NOT an option for me so we chose not to do either one of those tests.

We are having an anatomy scan in teh next few weeks to make sure the babies organs are all developing properly etc.

Do some research on these tests and talk it over with your DH and midwife. It is a personal decision to make, everyone does somethign different!

Re: ultrascreen?

Posted by Blissful

I am also seeing a midwife.

The ultra screen is just that a "screening" sonogram that measure the neck fold of the baby. A higher neck fold measurement can be an indicator of Downs.

We decided not to do the Ultra screen of AFP (blood work that is another screening tool) because of a high rate of false positives. We are both young and healthy. Usually if you have a high number reading they recomend an amnio and that was NOT an option for me so we chose not to do either one of those tests.

We are having an anatomy scan in teh next few weeks to make sure the babies organs are all developing properly etc.

Do some research on these tests and talk it over with your DH and midwife. It is a personal decision to make, everyone does somethign different!