NT screening

[hotchpot]

I have the nuchal translucency test tomorrow and I'm really getting super nervous. For those of you who have had this test, what can I expect? Will they let me know right there if they see any signs of chromosomal defect, or will I not get the results for a few days? And vice versa: they will tell me if everything's OK? Or do I need to talk to my

Comments

[ias]

They are unlikely to tell you anything there and then, as in give you percentage chances. However I've always found that sonographers will tell you that everything looks normal informally.

If something is dreadfully wrong they will tell you something is up and may get a second opinion there and then or you may have to come back the next day. One of my pregnancies turned out to be anencelphalic (a fatal condition where half the brain and skull are missing) and it was very, very obvious from the ultrasound but they wouldn't say what it was immediately. I had to come back the next day for an ultrasound with the top specialist who confirmed it was anencelphaly. However that sort of thing is very rare (about 1 in every 150,000 pregnancies). ETA: Don't worry about anencelphaly - I hadn't been taking my folic acid regularly (sleep deprivaion from ds not sleeping through at almost 2 meant I only remembered them about half the time) and that can be a cause of anencelphaly so it was probably my own fault :(

Good luck for tomorrow!

[hotchpot]

Thank you for the luck.

And I refuse to believe that you not taking folic acid had anything to do with what happened to your baby. In college I worked with girls who smoked and drank and did drugs while pregnant and never heard of folic acid or prenatals at all. And none of these girls had babies with ancephaly.

I'm so sorry about what happened. I just don't think you should blame yourself!

[jennifer0246]

i totally agree. anencephaly is such a rare and profound condition, there had to be a 'perfect storm' of terrible occurrences that led to it forming. please don't blame yourself.

[tchemgrrl]

The practice I go to sets it up so that you have a doctor or midwife's appointment directly after the ultrasound to go over the results. The tech is not allowed to diagnose, only image, so you probably won't get information instantly, but you should be able to get it as soon as they look at the results. If you don't have an appointment right after and you're nervous, you may want to make one

[tchemgrrl]

Oh, and I should add that I was TERRIFIED before my early ultrasounds--like, having-nightmares terrified. I told my midwife about this and for one of the ultrasounds she actually came into the room with me so that she could tell me right that second whether or not things were normal (and they were).

[anne_t_social]

I was the same! I was terrified of OB appointments, too, before I felt baby moving and had to rely on the doctor finding a heartbeat to confirm that it was, in fact, still in there any alive. I'm sure my husband could tell you all about the epic crying fits I had the nights before my appointments.

[aylah]

This is pretty much exactly what happened at mine, too. My OB came into the exam room after my ultrasound with a sheet of paper in his hand that was a copy of the printout the tech gave him with all the results, and he pointed out to me what the measurements were and that "That's a good number" (in reference to the exact measurement that was taken) but I had to wait until after the 2nd round of bloodwork was done to know the full results from my sequential screening

[perfectinpart]

I get nervous before every one of my ultrasounds. Thinking maybe something horrible has happened. I've had 4 ultrasounds, now, and all of them have been like that. It's probably normal to worry. At every ultrasound they show you the baby, and seeing him there has always been reassuring.

The u/s tech can't give you any information as far as what they are seeing (the measurements and results have to be analyzed by a doctor, I think). I've never had an u/s tech tell me anything beyond "this is a leg, this is an arm, there's the heart..." etc.

[nahemaraxe]

We don't have techs here, we have docs doing ultrasounds, and they told me right away that everything was ok. It's different with the blood test that goes with NT, as they drew blood twice (it's routine) on different days and we had to wait for the results. Obviously these are the Italian rules, I don't know where you live. :)

Despite having had countless scans so far - literally, I have no idea of how many I had, they've been closely monitoring me since I had betas done - I'm still awfully nervous. I guess I will be until I have my baby safe in my arms. Anyway, I'm trying to think positive and not lose faith. Plus the never ending movements/kicks/punches/womb rock'n'roll help a lot.

[relevancedenied]

i'm not in italy, but my OB does the ultrasounds too. i'm actually surprised that no one else seems to have an OB like this, i didn't think it was unusual!

[jatrina]

When I had it done, I asked the tech and she said it all looked normal. My hospital also has doctors that come in to talk to you after your ultrasounds and tell you what's going on. Not sure if that's normal or not, but my hospital has a portion of it just for maternity, and that's where everything is done, so it's pretty specific for prenatal ultrasounds.