The A.F.P test...(triple screen too) did you take it?

[Ryoko!]

Why or why not? I did take it, and I have to admit it was kinda scary (all the possiblities for it being false negitive) but when the midwife called me yesterday to tell me everything came out fine i have t admit, i was glad i did take it.

[chloe dancer]

yes i did. :)

i wouldnt have aborted but i have liked to been able to prepare for any known disability.

[jan]

What is the AFP????

[Vik]

Originally posted by jan
What is the AFP???? That was my question too.... :t

[Ryoko!]

the A.FP. test is short for the alpha fetal protien test. Before this test, the only way to test for things like down syndrome and other gentic defects was through an amnio (the needle in the belly test...which has always been optional but recommended for those with known genitic defects). The AFP test is a simple blood test that works like this...
when you are preggers, a small amount of your babies blood gets into your own blood stream, through the placenta, which is used for getting your baby what it needs...and while it does this, your baby gets rid of some of its waste that it can't handle through a tiny amount of blood. These blood cells are different from yours, and so when they do the AFP test they single out the babies blood cells from your own. Now a baby with a gentic defect will have a certian amount of chromosomes than a normal baby's blood cell. If they count three of a certian type of chromosome then your baby has a high chance of having down syndrome, (an amnio tests or ultrasound can either eliminate or ensure this finding) more than that and your baby can have multiple gentic defects. They usually do the test between 16-20 weeks of your pregnancy and they also need to know when the EDD is (and your weight) so there is no confusion as to how many of your babies cells should be with your cells (that's where all the false postives come from...which can be scary!!!). as the AFP test becomes more and more popular couples who need gentic counceling are getting it sooner, and tests like the amnio (which has a 3% miscarriage rate; the AFP is just blood drawn from your arm) are becomming less and less used unless they are needed. The only problem is with the AFP test there is always a risk of a false positive for down syndrome. In fact only 2 out of 20 positive tests for down syndrome are actually positive.

hope that helped... sorry for any typos i'm in a hurry...

[Vik]

Originally posted by Ryoko!
The only problem is with the AFP test there is always a risk of a false positive for down syndrome. In fact only 2 out of 20 positive tests for down syndrome are actually positive.Oh my gosh!! Sounds like a pretty dangerous test if it's 10% accurate! And (some) people are going to use the results to determine if they're going to have an abortion. Oh man.... Based on 10% accuracy.... Oi.

And they do it btwn 4-5 months? Oh man.... This is scary stuff to me...

[jan]

I don't think they had that when I had my 9 yo....I had that one they do at 12 weeks which they didn't bother doing til 18 weeks. It came back indicating a possibility for Downs (on Dec. 22nd) and they scheduled an amino for the next day...very scary stuff. Naturally no one bothered to tell me that it was done so late that it shoulda come up false positive.

[grumpydawn]

I thought the stats were a little better than 10%. I took it both times since it will show markers for Down syndrome. But, a good OB/GYN would follow up with a level 2 ultrasound before suggesting an amniocentesis.

You have a chance of miscarriage with an amnio, so that was not even going to happen with me. There is also chorionic villi sampling that seems to be somewhat safer.

[jan]

They didn't want to do the c. villi for some reason. The whole ordeal was so scary b/c of their insistance that it <b>had </b>to be done b4 the holidays compounded by the fact that I was in a new town and didn't really know anyone and didn't want to call anyone LD and have them worrying over the holidays. A few days later I called up the March of Dimes and some sweet lady named Joyce put my mind at rest and explained about the false positive increase since it wasn't done at the proper time. She also asks what kinda of insurance coverage, I had (which was excellent) and said that she doubted they would have been so insistant if I had none or one with less coverage

[Ryoko!]

Originally posted by Vik
Oh my gosh!! Sounds like a pretty dangerous test if it's 10% accurate! And (some) people are going to use the results to determine if they're going to have an abortion. Oh man.... Based on 10% accuracy.... Oi.

And they do it btwn 4-5 months? Oh man.... This is scary stuff to me...


umm no the test alone does NOT indicate 100% for down syndrome, which is why they do an amnio or a C.villi, or an ultrasound to make sure it's not a false positive. It would be stupid to abort based on an AFP alone.

As for me, i tend not to judge people on their actions, but for someone who has been trying to have a healthy normal baby for the last three years I was VERY happy with the results. The AFP let me determine this without putting my baby in danger...and if it came out positive then I'd do an amnio.

[Vik]

Originally posted by Ryoko!
umm no the test alone does NOT indicate 100% for down syndrome, which is why they do an amnio or a C.villi, or an ultrasound to make sure it's not a false positive. Sorry. From the initial description, I didnt' realize they did this as an indicator to do more tests...

Though I still think it's scary that they wait so long...

[Ryoko!]

yes and no... say if you have a history in your family of genitic birth defects then you automatically get genitic councelling now. They don't mess around with that stuff anymore. That however is the parents choice of wether or not they want to go through the pain that accompanies having a child with D.S. It's not easy raising a D.S. kid. Ask anyone who has tried to do it. I for one, would consider an abortion, not that I have a history of having gentic defected children, but seriously...it could happen to anyone. We (my husband an I) discussed this possiblilty BEFORE we even tried to get pregnant. We decided that we wanted a child that would have all the same chances that we had. A great quality of life, and a child that would someday "leave the nest" and a child that we wouldn't have to worry about "finding a home for" after we died.
It's very hard...much much harder than you would think, to raise a child with D.S. and it's not something we want to do.
I know that can possibly make me sound like a mean cruel selfish person...but really i'm no more selfish than the woman who decided to have a c-section 4 weeks BEFORE her due date and her baby died becuase of it (lungs weren't fully developed).

It happens all the time.

[Vik]

*resists urge to make this a debate about abortion*


;)

[Ryoko!]

:p

yanno it's weird, how we can gentically alter our babies now. Like if we wanted a baby that was a girl, it could be done. Or even the color of the eyes, they can arrange that too! As long as you have the right genes, your baby can be everything and anything you want it to be. There was even a couple i heard of that had their baby made to be deaf...on purpose! I don't think I'd ever go that far, I want my baby to be what he's made to be, wether he has my eyes or his daddy's...as long as he's healthy and has all the chances that I had growing up:).

[dormilona]

me too. last wednesday. and the damn tech said, "don't worry, no bruises". he was wrong. they always end up diging around in there with the needle because i have deep veins. the inside of my arm is blue black now.

[monstersmom]

Yes, I took it with all of my pregnancies. I would want to know ahead of time if the doctor thought my baby would be born with special needs.

[garoux]

I had the triple-screen done at 15 weeks, along with HIV (mandatory in my area--otherwise baby is tested at birth), and the 1-hour glucose tolerance test. Everyoen but the glucose came back negative. I'm glad I did it, though I did feel woozy after having 7 large vials of blood drawn.

[dormilona]

yuck. i just don't think it's fair that we get poked more during pregnancy than we did getting into this mess ;)