positive Quad

[Nurse Amy Jolie]

Hi to all nurses ,

As Im writing now, I just got a bad news today. My nurse practitioner called today with a positive quad test. She did not tell me the percentage. She only said my baby had a chance of down syndrome. I am only 27. I have been a mess all day. I am scheduled for level 2 ultrasound next week. I just feel that my nurse practitioner should have emphasized the chances that my baby could be down syndrome. She just told me the news on the phone and had her nurse called me to give another Ob number so I can schedule an appointment. For now I dont know what to think. First of all they added 2 weeks to gestational age and twice their ultrasound measurement was weird, more date on Gestational age at each US test. What should I do now/

[Mom2boysRN]

I had a positive result on that test 10 years ago and I remember how horrible it was. I now have a healthy 9 year old boy sitting next to me right now. Hang in there momma! :). Read about how accurate that test is... Odds are in your favor.

[stephparm]

Coming from a MOM and not an RN - I too had a positive Quad test, along with a very positive nuchal test, and then when they did the ultrasound - 4 spots on the heart which are indicative of Downs - By the time I delivered, I had a 1 in 16 chance of my baby having Downs . The most nerve-wracking 7 months of my life - and she is fine! Beautiful and healthy. My pediatrician says the test s are usually more unrelialbe than anything - of course, he didnt say this until AFTER she was here LOL

Take a deep breath.........no promises, but remember these test have a huge margin of error!

[RNMom2010]

I highly suggest you research the accuracy of these tests. I was lucky that my midwife was very upfront about the accuracy so I declined the test. Was quite interesting to learn about. I hope all is well with your lil peanut and wish you a happy and healthy pregnancy for the both of you!

I hope this will help (do some googling at web md too and they will verify) it is the best test we have, but:

"The controversy in these tests lies in many places. One of which is the accuracy of the screenings. While some claim that they have only a 5% "false positive" rate, most research finds that there are 80+% rate of positive tests while the baby is unaffected. The false positive rates depend on many factors, including appropriate gestational age, maternal age, weight and the presence of diabetes."

Do not stress one bit until you have the US and they look at nuchal folds.

This is not medical advice, but mental health advice......:smokin:

[tokmom, BSN, RN]

That's not very helpful. Having a child with Down Syndrome could mean major changes in a family, even though the child may be loved. Pregnancy is an anxious time for a woman. Chastising someone for worrying about a potential abnormality does nothing to reduce her anxiety.

No kidding! My daughter costs me a lot of money in therapy, medical and dental.

Obviously the person who posted the above comment has no clue on special needs children, or being pg and worrying about the health of their unborn child.

[applewhitern, BSN, RN]

@OCNRN and tokmom: Sorry! My daughter is in the process of adopting a newborn, which is due in January. I guess I am still shocked that the biological mother wants to give this baby up. I didn't mean to sound un-caring. I guess my mind was focusing on this upcoming adoption, and wondering why the mother doesn't want to keep the baby. Actually, I worked in pediatric critical care for many years, so I am used to "special needs children."