Decisions, Decisions - Prenatal Testing
November 26, 2008 3:41 PM | My Pregnancy | Comments (0)
 | When I discovered I was pregnant, I learned there were many decisions to be made. Do I want an OB or midwife at delivery? If given the choice, would I choose a vaginal birth or C-section? Do I want an epidural or natural birth? Will I breastfeed or bottle feed? Most of these decisions are pretty straightforward to me. If I’m not immediately sure, I just do research, ask questions, choose what I think will be best for the baby, and move on. I also know to remain flexible because things don’t always go as planned. Prenatal testing is a different story. |
I know that screening for birth defects is usually offered to women who will be age 35 or over by the time the baby is born, or are otherwise considered high risk for birth defects.
Since I don’t fall into that category, I originally didn’t give it a second thought. But at my doctor’s office, every patient is given the option to take these prenatal tests. So during the course of some of my visits, I was offered one test or another. And I had to sign a form if I wanted to decline the testing. The testing itself was relatively simple – most are done by blood test or ultrasound, so it wasn’t the method of testing that bothered me. I was unnerved by the possibility of finding out something was wrong.
In order to make my decision, I needed to ask myself (or the doctors) a few questions:
- Are the tests accurate? Not really. Most of the tests don’t prove anything for certain. There are often false positives. And a positive result only means high risk. It doesn’t mean your baby has a problem, and a negative result doesn’t mean your baby is problem free. So in all honesty, you’re back to square one. The only way to know for sure is to do a more accurate test, like an amniocentesis (amnio) or chorionic villus sampling (CVS), which both carry a small risk of miscarriage. Even though the risk is small, I don’t want to put myself or my baby through that unnecessarily.
- If they discover a problem, can they fix it? Not these types of problems. If a problem is confirmed, there’s nothing they can do.
- Will a baby with a problem affect my decision to carry the baby to term? No.
So I determined that the only thing the tests would do for me is freak me out. And I figured as often as I have to get ultrasounds, if they see anything curious, they’ll tell me anyway. That turned out to be true, as one of the procedures offered was a test measuring the nuchal translucency (a measurement of the skin fold along the back of the baby’s neck). During one of my ultrasounds with the specialist, as she was checking all the babies’ organs, she checked the nuchal translucency and it was normal.
I realize that knowing about a problem in advance will equip me with more knowledge, but I also know that I will love and take care of my baby regardless, and that pregnancy has enough ups and downs without me adding to my worries. So, my final decision was to pass on the prenatal testing and take things as they come.
Copyright © 2009 by A.M. Birmingham, ISSA CFT
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