Results

My triple test screening came back abnormal. The doctor called with the news yesterday. It is never good to hear a doctor’s voice on the phone - the nurse originally told me “no news is good news” and instructed me to call in a week to get my results. Based on the test our baby has a 1 and 19 chance of having Downs Syndrome. I understand that there are a lot of false positives – my doctor even stressed that fact several times on the phone. I also understand that while a 1 and 19 chance sounds high (the “abnormal” range begins at 1 and 270) the actual math tells me that the chance is only 5%, and that is IF the test is not a false positive to begin with.

All that being said, hearing the news was very scary for me. I am waiting for the specialist’s office to call to schedule the Level II ultrasound and consult. My parents are going to come up from Florida to be with me so at least I won’t be alone. B is having a hard time being so far away and not being able to physically be here with me while we wait. We are not as scared about having a Downs diagnosis, we just want to hear that everything is okay with the baby (in our eyes “okay” includes receiving a Downs diagnosis).

I told B that I decided to look at this as having another peek at our baby – maybe finding the sex out earlier than planned and seeing if the baby has 5 or 6 fingers / toes on each hand / foot (B’s family has at least one child in each generation born with an extra digit!). He agreed that we need to stay positive – now I need to focus on putting this into action!

I know that I will have a Level II ultrasound at the appointment and that they will discuss the results and most likely recommend an amniosintesis. Can anyone give me advice on what to expect at the appointment?