The Odds

At our last ultrasound, the doctor pointed out an abnoral collection of fluid at the back of our baby's neck that can indicate a few different chromosomal problems, including Down's Syndrome, Trisomy 18, and Turner's Syndrome. It can also indicate heart defects, but this will be easier to rule out at later ultrasounds when the heart is bigger. All of this was very scary to hear about our tiny, perfect baby, waving around on the screen! None of it proves there is definitely a problem, but it does mean the risk is higher for these issues.

In conjunction with the ultrasound, they did a first round of blood testing, which would further clarify our risks. This blood test can only help identify Down's Syndrome and Trisomy 18. We got our results last night, and the good news is that our risk of Trisomy 18 is very low. Since this genetic issue is usually fatal to the baby, this is a big relief! The scary news is that our odds of Down's Syndrome are 1 in 70. For comparison, the "standard" odds just based on my age are 1 in 600. So I am about 8-9 times more likely to have a baby with Down's than a "normal" 28-year-old.

Now, the odds are still strongly in our favor!! If someone told you there was a 69 out of 70 chance you'd win the lottery, you'd sure buy a lot of tickets! I get another blood test in 3 weeks and an ultrasound in four, so hopefully that will give us some more information. We could rule out a lot of the potential problems by getting amniocentesis, but that would be taking a 1-2% risk of miscarriage to rule out a 1-2% chance of a genetic problem. The numbers just don't make sense to us.

I'm not posting this to worry anyone. I just want to share the facts, and get more people praying we're in the 69 out of 70! And if we're the 1 out of 70, what a family to born into. You will give us all so much love and support, no matter who our little one turns out to be. That is definitely a big comfort through this!