Taking the Scary Part Out of Genetic Counseling

on August 13, 2009 at 7:00 AM

Here we are -- the old folks

There are a lot of strong opinions on what's the best age to have a baby. I think it's fine if another person has a cut off age for themselves, but I don't feel other women should enforce a "rule" on others.

I'm going to be an old mom...according to some stat probably created before women had the right to vote. I'm 36 and will be 37 when my twins are born. Because of this, my husband and I went through genetic counseling, which was scary to think about. But when we went, our fears subsided.

Our genetic counselor went through my blood test results to see if I was a carrier of chromosome abnormalities. I was not.

Next we did family trees for both my husband and I -- revealing races, history of illness, cause of deaths. There were no major red flags.

Then we talked about the statistics. The counselor gave us the same news I read in the book Twins! Pregnancy Birth and the First Year of Life.

A 20-year-old has a one in two thousand chance that her pregnancy would be affected by a a chromosome abnormality.

At 35 the incidence is one is 200. And it goes up from there. But stay with me...what does that really mean?

When looking at the 35-year-old's stats, it means that in 100 women, she has a one-half percent chance of her baby having a chromosome abnormality. The odds are 99.5 percent in her favor that she will have a healthy baby.

Now that's a good stat. Because of my twins, my stat is slightly raised -- she said we had a 99 percent chance of having healthy babies.

When people argue the fact that a woman who is over 35 shouldn't have a baby because of the risk of a chromosome abnormality, this is the stat I will think about. And I hope others do, too. Of course, anything can happen to anyone and any baby, no matter age of the mother or what some statistic says.

Have you gone through genetic counseling?

About the author Michele Zipp

loves vintage and will defend skinny jeans to the death though she is highly superstitious and "death" is probably a bad word choice. She has a touch of the hoarding disease and enjoys sleuthing, the worst reality shows, and wearing high heels, even at the playground. She's an AP mom of twins, slightly crunchy but with a pedicure.

Filed Under: tests & procedures

Comments (6)

Peajewel

on Aug 13, 2009 at 8:12 AM

I agree with you and that is also how my doctor told me when I broke down and cried in her office that I did not want a needled shoved in my belly! The odds of THAT harming the baby were greater than the odds of something actually being wrong with her. She is now 2 1/2 and a pistol and was born fine. I am glad I decided to have another after 35!

By the way, YOU LOOK GREAT! I love that picture of you and your hubby!

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aurorabunny

on Aug 13, 2009 at 10:26 AM

Nope and I don't think I would either. Should I ever have another baby the outcome wouldn't really affect me in anyway so I don't think I would need to do. But I understand that people want to.

Your tattoos are hawt.

littleredpony

on Aug 13, 2009 at 2:28 PM

We did. Testing does not mean an amnio, we did the sequintal screen with the agreement that we would not do an amnio unless there was something that could not be ruled out with ultrasounds.

We had a very good reason for this, my age was the least of it (I will be 36 in Sept). We lost our first child together from a heart defect (he died at 5 days old) and then again our 3rd pregnancy was lost at about 17 weeks from heart defects as well. This was after an early miscarry and a healthy baby. So we need to know. Not that we would have aborted if we found anything wrong, we wanted to make sure if somethig was wrong that we would get the best care for our needs. The hospital I had our first heart baby at did not even keep the drugs on hand to keep him going untill he could be transfered.

Testing is a fine and useful tool. It does not mean you love your ghild any more or less because of testing. And just so you know amnios have become quite safe in the last years, Many studies show that there is only a 1 in 300-900 chance of a miscarry. Yes, it is still a chance but you have more a chance of it happening for no reason in a "normal" pregnancy. Check the March of Dimes website if you don't believe me.

3Deegans

on Aug 17, 2009 at 10:40 AM

While I was pregnant with my 3rd (last) baby, I underwent genetic screening because of my age (36). For me this was a HUGE mistake. After a series of level 2 ultrasounds and blood tests, my doctor called with the news that my baby was at increased risk of Trisomy 18. I completely lost it and became obsessed with researching Trisomy 18 on the internet..... which only made me completely break down.

I was 13 wks pregnant and was unable to undergo a amnio for over a month.... my doctor recommended me waiting until I was 16 wks. These were the worst weeks of my entire life. I knew I would never terminate the pregnancy.... but the worry was overwhelming.

At 16 weeks I had the amnio (which wasn't bad... AT ALL) and found out my darling little boy was 100% healthy! Oh the relief!!!! Now Max is 7 months old and is babbling, crawling and filling our lives with joy!

I thought the more information the better, so I underwent the genetic screening. But after my ordeal, I realized that it would have been better had I never did the screening. I wouldn't have terminated the pregnancy anyway, so why did I need to worry and fret?? If your baby does have a problem, you will find out at your 20 week ultrasound, so you'll still have plenty of time to prepare IF there is a problem. Genetic Screening isn't a perfect science and many, many, many results come back at increased risk even though you're carring a perfectly healthy baby. So why worry, fret and totally freak out?

Kaydenz_Mom

on Aug 17, 2009 at 1:53 PM

I agree with you on that! I am a 22 year old mother and i have had many problems with my pregnancies. 3 miscarriages one due to chromosome abnormality and a baby that i lost at 11months old due to a very rare type of spina bifida. No woman old or young is out of the clear. Good luck with your twins!