MaterniT21 Blood Test- 1 soft Marker

Hi ladies,

I posted a few days ago about my level 2 sono in which the tech found choroid plexus cysts on my LO's brain. Even after being told that this baby is completely healthy as there were no other markers and my bloodwork was great, I still feel super uneasy. I guess it's the first time mommy in me. My doctors didn't recommend any further testing at all. When i asked why not,t hey said the amnio risks far out weigh the risks of something being wrong. When i asked about the maternit21 blood test my doctor said it's 99% accurate and since I am basically at a99.9% chance that nothing is wrong, he thinks it's a waste of 400 dollars and would not recommend it.

my question is, with only 1 soft marker, would you do any further testing or just have faith that everything was ok? The baby looed perfect in all other areas and was measuring big! I am just so torn! Thanks for your help!

Message edited 1/9/2013 7:34:57 AM.

Re: MaterniT21 Blood Test- 1 soft Marker

I would do it....my ob wanted me to get the maternity21 test and not bc anything was found on the ultrascreen but bc I'm 34 (35 this friday) and the amino wouldn't be a choice bc the placenta is anterior ....we probably would've said no to te amino anyway but since the maternity21 test isn't invasive we did it I'm crossing fingers my insurance will cover the majority of it but I just felt that I would regret it if we didn't do it and when the doc asked for it and god forbid something was wrong after all ....so yes I would do it especially if there was a soft marker involved

MaterniT21 Blood Test- 1 soft Marker

I am in the same boat. Only it was a soft marker on the intestine. The doc said not to do any further testing since everything else is fine and i am still on 1:10,000 risk for downs. But i am going to ask him today about this test just to put my mind at ease a bit more.
I have to go back once a month for a sono now though too to make sure the baby is growing properly. But at 19 weeks it was 9 oz so i think it is fine. Good Luck.

MaterniT21 Blood Test- 1 soft Marker

I would do it. We had a soft marker with my DD and had the choice to do an amnio. I declined, and just worried & worried & worried until she was born. If I could go back in time, I would have done the testing, just to know for sure.

Re: MaterniT21 Blood Test- 1 soft Marker

I probably wouldn't do it. My baby had one soft marker for Downs, but they said its not uncommon and everything else says he is ok. So we didn't do further testing. He was born fine.

Re: MaterniT21 Blood Test- 1 soft Marker

i guess for me - I would think of it like this. if everything else looked perfect, no obvious huge life threatening abnormalities, I wouldn't do it because the results wouldn't matter.

save the money! thats enough for a crib

Re: MaterniT21 Blood Test- 1 soft Marker

Haha on the crib! I think I'm feeling like this test isn't 100%. There's still a chance of trisomy 18 and ill still be scared. If this werea syndrome that a baby could live with of course I wouldn't even consider the testing. But it's not. Babies with this die and I would think about it just to be prepared. My gut says its fine but my inside worry says but what if? Ugh this is hard!

Re: MaterniT21 Blood Test- 1 soft Marker

Re: MaterniT21 Blood Test- 1 soft Marker

Posted by maymama

Posted by LDrinkh20

Haha on the crib! I think I'm feeling like this test isn't 100%. There's still a chance of trisomy 18 and ill still be scared. If this werea syndrome that a baby could live with of course I wouldn't even consider the testing. But it's not. Babies with this die and I would think about it just to be prepared. My gut says its fine but my inside worry says but what if? Ugh this is hard!

can you do the test down the line (another few weeks) if the soft marker does not get smaller or disappear?

if it will give you peace of mind, go for it

Re: MaterniT21 Blood Test- 1 soft Marker

We had the same situation this pregnancy. I'm 34 in April and baby is due in March. We had bilateral cysts on the brain at 19 weeks. Everything else was perfect. My NT results were favorable too.

The OB referred us to a genetic counselor, who took our family hx (no hx of birth defects or congenital disorders) and answered our questions about the materniti21 and amnio. We deferred making a decision until after our follow up sono. We had the follow up sono 6 weeks later and the cysts were gone (most do go away) so given that and the low chance at the NT scan, we decided not to do either. Regardless of the outcome, we knew we wouldn't terminate unless my health was a risk but if the cysts were still there, we'd want to know if we would be losing the baby shortly after birth.

Hth!

Eta - my DH calculated our chances of something being wrong in front of the genetics counselor and figured we had a .00001 chance. It made me feel better about deferring our decision at that time and now, not doing the tests at all.

Message edited 1/9/2013 9:45:35 AM.

Re: MaterniT21 Blood Test- 1 soft Marker

I hear this is very common and everything usually turns out ok in the end.. I know a couple people that had cysts and they went away or the child was born healthy.. if the doctor isnt concerned then I would prob not do further testing.. They told me at my 20 week everything was perfect but I had something called a persistant umbilical vein which they said is no big deal and doesnt mean anything when stand alone.. but they said if it makes us feel better they recommend getting a fetal sonogram but it wasn't necessary they said for piece of mind cause its a closer look at the heart.. So only cause the recommended it I went and got that done and they told me they probably wouldnt find anything and they didn't so I felt better that I went but I prob wouldnt of if the doc didn't mention it.. If they are saying no further testing needs to be done I would trust their judgement.. Good luck and Im sure all will turn out great!

MaterniT21 Blood Test- 1 soft Marker

I would take the MaterniT21 test. The max cost if your insurance doesn't cover it is $235 to my understanding. It's non- evasive and really, your peace of mind is worth something. JMHO.

Message edited 1/9/2013 11:46:31 AM.

Re: MaterniT21 Blood Test- 1 soft Marker

Thanks ladies. The issue is even if the cysts go away the risk associated with them is still there. My husband thinks I am being silly and it's unnecessary as do the doctors. I just don't know what to do. Ugh! I really appreciate you letting me talk through this!

Re: MaterniT21 Blood Test- 1 soft Marker

Hi again :) first, there is nothing silly about wanting peace of mind. My husband and I looked into the same testing when we found out about the cysts. After looking at all the stats and talking to dr sampino, we both felt that it was virtually impossible for the baby to have trisomy 18 with only that one marker...babies who are suffering from that would have (statistically speaking) many other indications of being unhealthy. That being said, you're the mommy so whatever you need to do to feel better, you should do :)

Re: MaterniT21 Blood Test- 1 soft Marker

MaterniT21 Blood Test- 1 soft Marker

Since it's non invasive and some offices have caps on the cost I chose to do it. Was it a waste.......since it came back negative I guess you could look at it like that.......but that was the result I was looking for so I was prepared and hoping it was a "waste". After IVF, my peace of mind was priceless.

Re: MaterniT21 Blood Test- 1 soft Marker

I also have 1 soft marker. We met with the genetic counselor. She told us it would be no more than $200 to do the test even if insurance denies us. My chances of downs is 1 in 23,000 according to all other testing and I still did it. I want the peace of mind. It's such a personal decision though. For me, we would love her no matter what, but I want to know so that I can speak to other moms of kids with DS if the result is positive. I also want to know what would happen at delivery. Those are some of my reasons.