One of the biggest questions we’ve gotten at every single doctor’s appointment is whether we want to have genetic screening done. I have had to sign several times to confirm my decision.
Genetic screening includes several different tests throughout your pregnancy. The first trimester screen is a non-invasive evaluation that includes a blood sample and an ultrasound. The doctors are trying to identify the risk for chromosomal abnormalities such as Down Syndrome and Trisomy-21.
These tests do not diagnose the baby, but rather evaluate the risk and determine if further testing should be done. From what I understand, for some women these tests are important because they may be high risk. But they are always optional.
My husband and I chose not to have any genetic screening done during my pregnancy.
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Why We Chose Not to Have Genetic Screening
According to AmericanPregnancy.org, the combined accuracy rate for the screen to detect these problems is around 85%. The false positive rate is 5%. Those numbers aren’t very good in my opinion.
After the screening, you are not given a diagnosis or a positive or negative result. Instead, you are told if your results are “normal or abnormal” and are given a risk level. Those levels could be 1/250 or 1/1000. If you receive abnormal test results, you can receive further testing called CVS or amniocentesis. I’ll talk about those tests in a minute.
Here are the reasons I could see why you would want to get the screening:
- To begin planning for a child with some type of special needs
- To find support groups early and research more on the condition
However, we did not find those reasons outweighed the reasons not to do the genetic screening. For one, I didn’t like the fact that you don’t know for certain if your child will have any of these abnormalities. You could test fine and still have a baby with some type of health problem. You could also test abnormal and have a perfectly healthy baby. Why would I want to take the chance of receiving a high risk result and make myself worried and stressed when it’s not even certain?
For us, terminating the pregnancy is not an option. Some choose to terminate after receiving abnormal results. We could never terminate our pregnancy no matter what the test results told us. We believe life begins at conception, and we believe whether wanted or not, we do not have the right to end a life. And by the way, we very much want this life.
Now, real quick — let’s talk about amniocentesis. You can look up what it’s for and how it’s done, but let me tell you why I chose not to have it done. This is an invasive diagnostic test that does have risks. Miscarriage is the primary risk ranging from 1 in 400 to 1 in 200. Miscarriages can occur because of infection in the uterus, water breaking, or labor induced prematurely, according to AmericanPregnancy.org. This procedure has side effects such as cramping, leakage of fluid, and irritation around the puncture site. This was a huge factor to me. Anything that can cause a risk of miscarriage, especially what I consider to be a high risk, I will not do. I’ve experienced miscarriage, and I hope I never have to experience it again.
Every woman is different, and every pregnancy is different. You must choose for yourself what is the best option for you — whether that means doing the genetic screening or not. I hope you will do your own research as I did and take my thoughts and reasons into consideration.
Did you choose to get the screening? Why or why not?
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I probably wouldn’t have genetic screening done unless I had other symptoms of something being wrong. Like you, I believe only God can end a life, so nothing a genetic test would reveal would change my decision. However, I have a friend who had some symptoms of something being wrong, so they did genetic testing and determined her baby wouldn’t survive long after birth. Her sweet girl made it to 20 weeks in-utereo.
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That would be devastating. I’m so sorry for your friend.
We chose not to do the genetic screening with our first either. Like you, we also believe that life begins at conception, and we would accept our baby even if he had Down Syndrome or any other health issues. We also wanted to avoid undue stress and anxiety during the pregnancy and labor/delivery. We had enough stress when, during the 3rd trimester ultrasound, they told us he was unusually small. The last two weeks before he was born, we were under careful observation and monitoring to ensure nothing was “wrong”. Then he came rather suddenly two weeks before his due date.
Praise the Lord, our baby boy was born healthy… super tiny for a full term baby but quite mighty! We had a few challenges with him in the beginning when it came to breastfeeding and latching due to his small size and a severe tongue-tie. The tongue-tie was taken care of within two weeks and now at six weeks, he is about 8 pounds and eating up a storm! Unfortunately, he still cannot latch, and I had to come to terms with the fact that he may never be able to breastfeed or he may just need more time to grow before he can. Either way, I pump for him and sometimes, when necessary, supplement with formula.
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Jacquelyn, congrats on your baby boy! I’m so glad to hear he is healthy and eating and gaining weight! I’m sure it is so difficult to come to terms with not being able to breastfeed if that is something you wanted to do. I hope that I can, but all-in-all I think we all just want healthy children!
I guess we are the odd man out. We chose to have the testing. We are both older, 37&40 so odds are already higher of a problem. The way it was presented to us by our doctor was that it allowed her and us to make sure the right medical care was arranged if there was a problem. It was never presented as a tool to determine if a pregnancy should be ended based on the results.
I am a slow processor and like to have time to think through things so I wanted the time to process if there was a possibility of something wrong.
We have had a several friends with severe complications in pregnancy and having time to prepare and think through different medical treatments and options is important to me.
I respect everyone’s decision to not take the test but I never regretted taking the test an added bonus you can find out the sex of the baby!!!
Thank you for sharing why you chose to get the testing. I’m so glad your doctor never presented in a way to see if the pregnancy should be ended. I have heard stories of doctors who do, so I’m glad that wasn’t your case. I can definitely understand the desire to have time to process and come up with a parenting plan. I respect your decision as well. I hope that your baby is fully healthy! And yes, the idea of finding out the gender early is SUPER TEMPTING! 🙂
We will not be having any testing done with our baby. The way we look at it is it will do nothing for us except stress me out if something does show up. Also what difference does it make to us if our child is at risk for abnormalities, we will still love our child unconditionally no matter what. My husband had no idea all the stuff that they would suggest doing during a pregnancy and I think I’ve terrified him by telling him everything they would want to do. We’re just in this to have an easy pregnancy and a happy baby in the end, to us simple is better.
That’s how we feel too Kelsey!