As I sit here waiting for Dr. Roly-Poly to call me back, I thought I'd share today's drama... Last Tuesday, at my appointment, I elected to have blood drawn for the AFP test. AFP (alpha fetoprotein) is a protein produced by the fetus and placenta that is also present in my bloodstream. By measuring the amount of AFP in my blood, doctors can determine my odds of having a child with various abnormalities, such as Down Syndrome or neural tube defects (spina bifida). Well, the doctor left me a message with my test results earlier. He said that my AFP numbers were low, putting me at a slightly higher risk of having a baby with Down Syndrome. Basically, my chances are 1 in 130 (0.8%), and the cutoff for "normal" is 1 in 190 (0.5%).
Normally, I think I'd be freaking out right about now... Luckily, I have a good friend who went through this same exact thing a few months ago. She's 32 weeks pregnant now, and her baby boy is just fine. So I was sort of prepared for the results, and I think I have a much better understanding of how to interpret them than I did before. I still have a 99.2% chance of having a perfectly healthy baby, and there is really no reason to get hung up on that teeny-tiny .8%.
The good news (and yes, there is some) is that I now qualify for expanded screening services! Like I mentioned above, I still need to talk to my doctor... But based on my conversations with my friend and my research on the internet, my doctor will either have me re-do the test (which I doubt), or he will refer me to a special clinic to get a Level II (detailed) ultrasound. At the ultrasound, the tech will look for any of the physical markers that indicate Down Syndrome. If everything appears normal, then my odds of having a baby with Downs will pretty much drop to 1 in 260, or .4%. No matter what the ultrasound shows, I will probably be given the option of having an amnio... and while amniocentesis is 99% accurate in identifying kids with Down Syndrome, it also comes with a 1% chance of spontaneous miscarriage. So, I don't know if I'd agree to that test, but we'll see (probably not). And no matter what the results, I will probably get a lot more ultrasounds than usual so that they can keep an eye on the baby. And any chance to see the baby is awesome, right??
At any rate, it's been a long afternoon, and I really do need to talk to my doctor. Kori (my pregnant friend) thinks they'll try to schedule my Level II ultrasound ASAP, which means we could be finding out the sex sooner than May 25th! That, at least, is exciting news!
More info on the AFP Screening Test: UCSD, About.com, Epinions.com, iVillage
1 comment:
I'm so sorry about the scary test result...but like you said, everything is almost certainly fine. It seems like those tests just end up scaring people most of the time. Still, we're thinking you good thoughts and hoping everything does indeed turn out to be ok.
And, more ultrasounds is definitely cool! We had a little scare around 26 weeks where they thought our guy had a heart arrhythmia (he didn't) and we had to go to another ultrasound. It was such a relief to find out that he was okay and also to get to see him again. I hope the same thing for you!
Post a Comment