I am almost 19 wks along in my second pregnancy. Recently I was informed that my quad screen results showed a slightly higher level of down syndrome for my age group ( 23-24).
Anyway, I have been referred to the high risk doctors to get further screening. My appointment is Tuesday and I will be meeting with an MS and a MD. I don't know if it will be Tuesday or another day but a higher quaility ultrasound will be ordered to see if the baby is developing okay. My question is what exactly are they going to be looking for to confirm it is DS?? I know some indications are the heart, what what is it exactly they'll be focusing on during the ultrasound?
I have strong opinions on this subject, I'm absolutely not worried about my baby having DS. My wishes for this pregnancy are that I can remain at my old doctors, have this baby in a peaceful environment and to enjoy my pregnancy. I am refusing an amino and any other treatment for the DS dignose. The only way I will continue to see the high risk doctors is if there are organ troubles, that is the only reason I see a concern to be on watch.
From your experiences, if the baby does have DS; do you think they will allow me to just go back to my regular OBGYN and have a normal pregnancy?? Do you also think they will respect my wishes???
I've been around DS for over 6 yrs. There is a 12 yr old girl in our family that has it and she is an angel, plus my husband worked in the field for a long time. I know the medical problems DS children can have, but we firmly believe our child deserves a wonderful life despite. Our families are 100% supportive of me having this baby even if he or she does have DS. I feel I have a right not to be pressured into unnessary procedures and I feel they'll treat this pregnancy like a disease instead of a blessing. With Tuesday near, I am really looking for hope that everything will go smoothly.
In the ultrasound they will be looking for 15 physical markers for ds. Some of them are leg length, the bridge of the nose, and the fold in the back of the neck. Others are more to do with the organs and their development. I went to a high risk dr. for one appointment. They didn't see anything that merited me staying with them. I know a lot of kids with ds that do not have a prenatal dx. They are born without any complications. Sadie had the best Apgar test of all my 4 kids. She didn't need any special care when she was born. They did do a heart ultrasound, extra hearing test and a blood test (to confirm the ds- because we did not know for sure until she was born that she would have ds).
I think it has to do with your dr. and your insurance. Everyone is so scared about being sued. If your dr. feels comfortable that there are no medical issues that need to be dealt with right away- they will probably let you stay with your current dr. Insurance- we had Sadie at an insurance own hospital. They always have a high risk ped. on staff for any child with a complications.
As far as the environment. If you are talking about a home birth or birthing center- I would probably stick with a hospital because a lot of our kids' heart issues are not seen until after birth. There are some holes there that don't close until birth (with any child) that may not close with our kids. Also, I've known a few moms who thought their kids were clear- to find out later that their kids hearts needed to be repaired.
Hi There,
I did not know my son was going to be Downs until he was born, He came 5 weeks early and he did have allot of complications at birth,They knew something was wrong when I was in labor, they put these wires up me which attached to his head so they could get a better reading on blood pressure and heart rate, they told me the babies heart is getting slower and is at risk, if you don't have the baby in 15 minutes, we will have to do a C-section, well needless to say I delivered the baby naturally. The first two days they gave hin a 40% chance of living.Frist we had a problem with his blood, it was thck like maple sryup, I an A- blood type and my husband is A+, during the pregency from blood work they had done, they knew the two were clashing against each other, they kept giving me these shots to try to balance it out but they were not working, so baby had to have a blood transfusion, he had problems breathing -so he was on oxygen, they put tubs down his nose which went to his stomach, that is how he was feed for 8 days, He was in issolation, away from the other babies because they knew with his low immune system, outside germs from other people would not be good. Once he had the blood transfusion, each day on, he made improvemnts, I must say, When it was time to come home, I was a little scared but i did okay,
I would talk to your regular OBGYN and ask him if he is comfortable handling your prenany even if the baby could be Downs, I would not recommend a birth at home type of thing from the expierence I had.
Good Luck to Youi
Karen
I hope everyone cooperates with you so that you can have your baby in the way that is most comfortable to you. My DS baby had no complications at birth. DS babies are sooo cute. You just want to give them hugs and smoochies all the time. I never thought I was unlucky having a DS child. You have to put a little more effort into some things, but so what's the big deal about that
