I'm not sure if it's related, but I received a triple-screen blood test as well as an ultrasound to check for down's. I was 24 throughout 80% of my pregnancy and was not considered high risk. What additional testing do they do for women above 35 that they don't routinely do for women under 35?

I was 24 when I was pregnant and I was offered the same as AyaMiyaki; I am in .England though

i was 20 and took the test

Thanks for your responses. I was thinking more about the 90% of women who have a down's syndrome diagnosis choosing abortion. What kind of societal impact does this have? Is it good or bad, and what will it mean in the long run?

this tests for down syndrome at early pregnancy are no accurate. My coworker was 35 and took test and it was diagnosed down syndrome but the baby had no down syndrome whatsoever. I think it is awful they do this test that give wrong diagnosis, imagine women aborting babies with a false diagnose. I am already prepared that if the tell me down to not be alarmed because it happens very often.

Well, that's the tricky part. They don't tell you with 100% accuracy that your child has .down's .syndrome from the blood test. They tell you that your result was abnormal and refer you for a detailed ultrasound and/or an amniocentesis. They don't diagnose your child as having .down's. They give you a percentage or ratio of your child's chances of having the disorder.

But you're right when you say that a large number of positive results end up with perfectly healthy babies.

Because of that, .i'm hesitant about aborting these fetuses. There's a fairly good chance that they are perfectly healthy. But as I am pro-choice, I would leave it up to the parents to make the decision as to whether they will go forward with the pregnancy or not.

I don't know what I'd do if faced with the suspicion that my baby had .Down's. When I was pregnant, my obsetrician asked me if I'd abort if the foetus showed signs of .Down's and when I said I would not, he said it was pointless having the tests then. Looking back, I think it would not have been 'pointless' at all because at least I would have been forearmed with the knowledge and could prepare. However, in the future I hope to have another child and I think this time I will have the tests.

I have been offered the tests in every pregnancy and refused in all it really would make no difference to me so it would be a waste of money and the dr,s time to have it .

when i accepted the test i didn't even think about what i would of done if the baby had downs syndrome. i remember being so thankful that they didn't though.

before i had kids i was always dead against having an abortion even if the child had health problems or severe deformities. now that i have two children to look after, i think i would have to really consider if i could manage to look after a child like that.

since we are speaking about disabilities my fiance told me this story to tell on this board and I thought it was pretty interesting so here it is. He was telling me there was a guy he knew in town who was known to be a pedophile. Well this man had a child with disabilities and thing was he loved this child to death. Well taking care of child with disabilities takes more time but this man since he loved so much this child spent all the time taking care of him. So this man never go to attack any children because of the time spent taking care of his child. So you can say the child with disabilties saved his father life from prison from pedophilia. Isn't that interesting?

I don't know guys but i compare how much my mom suffered with my brother with no disabilties and compare to other moms I know who have children with disabilties and i can say that my mom suffered more. I actually never heard of these mothers complaining of the work and all seem to only see love from this children. From my highschool class there is two classmates who are disabled today. I believe we should not think that our lives would be ruined if we face disabilities. It's part of life.

That is an interesting story. It kind of made me squirm, though; how did they know he was a pedophile, and if he was, what was he doing taking care of a child? Yeeee.

I agree that disabilities do not mean that your (or anyone else's) life is over. Heck, look at Steven Hawking, Teddy Roosevelt, Beethoven...etc. But if I had a test that said my child was definately going to have down's, I'd probably be one of the 90% of women who choose abortion.

I had my baby screened for downs syndrome at my 12 week scan, if the results had of come back positve it wouldn't have affected my descision to keep her i just wanted the chance to know so that i could reasearch it more and get in touch with organisations that could have helped me if i had of found out my baby was going to have downs syndrome

One time i was with my fiance eating ice cream and we saw a family with a child with downs. The kid was pretty much grown i would say about 12 or 13 years and they all looked so happy. I looked at them and told my fiance this is how i picture us if we ever have a child with down's. To be honest birch for having a problem child 'non disabled' I take a kid with downs any day of the week much better! I much rather have love at home(down's kids are very loving) rather than anger, drunkies, drug addicts, rebels etc etc..

A public 'face' does not tell the whole story. The mother may have been at her wit's end and struggling but putting a brave face on it so people would not look down on her.



That is a cringeworthy generalisation and insulting to people with .Down's. That's like saying 'blacks are good workers'.

what i said is actually a compliment to kids with downs! Seems like you misunterstood me

I agree with you. Saying that kids with Down's are very loving is a common misinterpretation. Children with disabilities such as these are known to have agressive outbursts, inappropriate behaviors, other related health problems, as well as the obvious learning disabilities and physical limitations. Parenting children with disabilities is impossibly difficult, and knowing that you will have to care for a child for the rest of your life is daunting...not to mention who will care for that child into their own old age. The costs, both financially and emotionally of caring for these children is astronomical.

I didn't have the tests because I did not want to continue with my pregnancy with a feeling of dread about how messed up the child would be. I wanted to be free to love the child regardless of the outcome. I was prepared to parent a child with disabilities because I had worked in a group home for children with developmental disabilities. But I understand it is not for the weak of heart, and if somebody wished to abort on the basis of this I would support and understand their decision. I think anyone who is contemplating this should speak with other families who have raised children with disabilities.

No I understood that you were generalising as well as being patronising to those people with .Down's.

I had a professor in collegue who had an authistic child. Years after she got pregnant again and they told her this one was going to be downs. She said the only that came to her mind was that down's kid are trainable so that would be a lot easier. Well it happened that girl wasn't born with down's at all (false positive). It is not impossibly difficult to parent a child with disabilities. That is a big lie. It's just more work but you don't feel that if you are the parent. I have known many families with children with disabilities and no they don't live unhappy lives at all. God forbid you don't ever have to face disability (from you or family member) because i don't imagine how would be your reaction..I am ready here to face disabilities if that it is in my destiny.

Somebody said "Love is the answer to the imposible". I believe this is just so thruth. All take a look at this very interesting video of a parent with a disabled child. What happened to the child he was cut off from oxygen at birth and doctors suggested to put him away as he was going to be vegetable. I really was about to cry when I saw this video. This father has being called father of the century.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gm7XwtIJdM

sillyak you would aborted this kid wouldn't you?