37 Year Old Mom to Be

Laura - posted on 01/11/2011

I am 20 years old and I got pregnant with my first child when i was 18. The Nucualtransluceny, Quad Screen & CVS were all offered to me and i had them all. (The amnio is only offered if there is a problem detected in one of the other tests) I would not consider Termination either way but thought it was best to have them done so i could prepare myself just in case. With my second i accepted the Nucualtransluceny but declined the rest as it didnt make a difference to me either way. I am now pregnant with my 3rd and due a few months after my 21st and i will again only be having the NT. I would have the tests done, just so that you can prepare yourself IF anything appears to be wrong. Set up a support network for when the baby is born. I would have never had the Amnio, even if the other tests did indicate I needed to though (personal preference). Hope this helps :)

Carla - posted on 01/10/2011

i will be 37 as well when i have my baby. the only reason i did my testing is because my 3rd child had genetic issues, otherwise i would not have gotten the tests done. if you have any history of genetic problems in the family, it is good to know if the baby has any of those problems, to prepare yourself for what you need to do

Tabitha - posted on 01/29/2009

No, I sure don't!  I had the same experience pretty much.  I was age 34 with child #1 and just turned 37 and am due May 22.  The doctors act like I'm a fossil. ha!  My dr. has not been able to come up with anything other than "it might prepare you ahead of time if there were problems", which wasn't good enough reason for me.  I've had several friends have false results and normal babies (worried themselves sick for nothing), so I don't see any reason to stress myself out.  What will be, will be.  Good luck!!

Heidi - posted on 01/29/2009

Well I had some of that done last month. I'm 36 right now, had my first child when I was 23 and might be 37 when I have my 2nd baby, he's due on my birthday! The quad screen is just blood work and they run tests on it. We went in and talked to a geneticist first and she went over what they look for when doing all these tests. We went across the hall to get my quad results and she said they looked great. Went in for my ultrasound and the nurse said that everything looked great and what the look for, especially for down syndrome, our baby didn't have. She measured his bones and was telling us if he had down syndrome what she would see, like in the fingers, normal people have 3 bones but a person/baby with down syndrome only has 2. So after all the ultrasound photos they took and after the Dr came in and looked everything over we opted not to have the amnio done. It's more of a piece of mind thing like some have said. I don't think we would have terminated the pregnancy if there would have been something wrong, but at least it would have given us an idea of what we would be up against and to be able to learn about whatever he might have had to prepare for when he arrives. The main worry with having the amnio done is the spot where they put the needle in doesn't heal right.

Julie - posted on 11/24/2008

I too am very glad that I found this group. I am a first time mom who is 35, a former behavioral statistics professor and recently graduated chiropractor. My husband is a biology professor who teaches genetics. As such, we are statistical and research geeks that read a lot of medical information and yearn to see numbers.

We came into this pregnancy with lots of knowledge and decided we would get the first trimester screen (Nuchal translucency, and maternal blood tests for beta-HCG, and pregnancy associated plasma protien-A).

As it was explained to us, the risk of miscarriage with CVS is about 3x smaller than the risk of having a Down's Syndrome child at 35 (1 out of 260). However, the results of CVS are definitive; there is or there is not a chromosomal abnormalities (specific gene abnormalities are not scanned). In contrast, the FTC (that has no miscarriage risk) provides only an updated Down's syndrome risk estimate.

We were happy to find out that the risk of Down's for this pregnancy went to 1 out of 5,000. Because of that, we will not do the amnio at 18 weeks. The only other test that we will get is the alpha feto protein to check for neural tube defects.

As for amnio, you can request the miscarriage rate of the specific doctor who will be doing it. The risk given to the doctor that we would have seen was estimated at 1 in 8,000.

I'd love to ask first time pregnancy questions of you moms in the future. I am well aware of the fact that worlds of academic knowledge mean virtually nothing when you are actually in the middle of it. On the flip side, I've treated many moms-to-be with chiropractic care and would be happy to answer any questions that you might have.

Thanks!

Stacy - posted on 11/24/2008

i am so thankful i found this group....although, last week would have been better. i am an american living in germany and am having my second baby in May. my doctor relocated to switzerland, so my last visit with him was the discussion of amnio. as he presented it, the risk at 37 for abnormalities is such a low factor that the risks of losing the baby during amnio is about the same.....ultimately, the reason to do the amnio is to make yourself feel better on knowing if there are any problems. he asked us, "what would you do if there were problems? would you terminate the pregnancy?" as we would not, there is no point, for us, to do the testing.



my new doctor pushed very hard for the amnio when i first met her last week, contrary to what my original (and preferred) doctor had discussed with us. she totally freaked me out and had me convinced that i was not only OLD, but stupid for not considering having the testing done. i emailed my first doctor to tell him this and he reassured me that the choice was ours.



he also said that in this day and age, there are many "High End" utlrasound machines that are just as effective in monitoring the health of the baby and providing enough information on its development to inform doctor and mother if there are any problems detected.



speaking with friends of mine who had babies at the same age, they all said the same thing - the risk is too great with amnio, and as the results would not change our minds about completing the pregnancy, why chance it?

Danielle - posted on 11/08/2008

I had my first child at 35 and am having my 2nd at 37. I have schedualed to take the nucaltranslucnecy test and will go from there. I may have an amnio if any prob may be indicated , but only to be prepared as I would not terminate anyway. The only reason for having the screening tests are to give you piece of mind, or to prepare you if anything were wrong. I had screning test swith my first child and a likely hood of a problem was found though I would not risk the amnio, and he was perfectly fine.

Gina - posted on 11/08/2008

I am 37 and I just had the tests done. I am expecting my 2nd on April 25. I have a 3 yr. old little girl and we did the screen with her (n/t, triple screen) and everything was fine. This past week we were given the news that there was a much higher likelihood of down's, so I went in for an amnio. I would have said the same thing as you (not terminating, etc), but, in educating myself (even reading medical journals), there is a lot to think about. For me, it is comforting that I will find out 100% next week and can be completely prepared for a special needs baby, should I need to be. I actually would recommend skipping the quad screen and go straight for the amnio---it is much safer than most stats indicate, especially if you go to a hospital that does them on a routine, everyday basis. Good luck!

Tabitha - posted on 11/06/2008

I am in a similar situation. I had my first child at 34 and will have our second at 37. My first appt is next week, so I'll be interested to hear if my dr. offers me the same tests. I'm with you, I will have this baby no matter what, so I am doubting that I will have tests either.