Forum : Pregnancy

it used to be that you just had the dating scan at 12 weeks and then a blood test at 16 weeks, but it has changed in that now you have a dating and downs screening scan at the same time and then a blood test done at the same time as the scan. having the downs screening scan combined with the blood test (rather than the old way of just a single blood test at 16 weeks) is reducing the need for amnios to be done as the combined results of the scan and blood test is much more accurate than just the old way of 16 week blood test. it is well worth having the downs scan done - it is just done at the same time as the dating scan. the only time they wont be able to do the downs scan at the same time as the dating scan is if it turns out you arent as far as long as you thought and then you have the choice to go back to do the downs scan later. that is what happened to me with my second baby (with my first baby they only did the dating scan and then the blood test at 16 weeks). when i went for my 12 week scan i was only 10 weeks and at that point the baby is too small for them to be able to do the downs scan as well so i had to go back at 12 weeks to have the downs scan done separately - not a problem, just meant i got to see my baby twice!

oh, i've rambled! i hope that still makes sense!

Thank you that has made things clearer.

Hi, you say she is booking you for the downs scan but you don't have to have it done. After consideration, baring in mind my age (40) and that I'm overweight etc, I know I am going to be a high risk, so I decided not to have it done.
My baby will be how God wants him to be, but that's my own personal choice.
Don't be forced into having it done as there is also a risk of mis-carriage (albeit only small).
Good Luck with everything x

Hi, there is no risk to the baby when having the downs screening - it's just a normal scan but they take particular measurements (nuchal fold and look for nasal bone etc) and taking lots of factors into account they then give you a statistic. The only tests that carry a risk of miscarriage are the amniocentesis and the cvs tests, one of these might be offered to you if they found a problem at the scan or if you were very high risk, but the statistics are only that - a lady with a very low risk of having a downs baby could go on to give birth to a baby with downs and a lady with high risk could give birth to a baby without downs.
I had the cvs test 3.5 years ago but we had already been told that our baby wasn't going to make it and we wanted to know the cause of the heart problem and the sex of the baby so we could name her. We then fell pregnant again and didn't have any of the invasive tests with my son and despite being high risk because of my age and having carried a downs syndrome baby previously my son was born completely healthy.
But the scan is harmless to the baby so no worries there Imb3cats, but like I said the statistics they give you from the screening still can't give you a definite answer anyway so its personal choice if you go for it or not. Fingers crossed everything works out for you like it did for us in the end! :-))xx

I was told that it was the screening holds no risk its the cv tests, thank you for confirming that buffy13 as I was starting to worry then x

i was thinking the same as u but i desided not to go for the downs scan because if my baby got a illness or not i will love him or her no matter what, no one else can deside weaher u have it done or not go with what ur heart&& ur head tells you 2 dont think to much about it just go with it and see what u ends up doing, goodluck with that ever u deside, either way u will be seeing ur baby on screen for the first time soon i bet u will forget about the worry and confusedness when u see that little one.

sorry, didn't meant to worry anyone, I obviously got them muddled up! Hope everything goes well for you :-)