Prenatal Testing & Stress

I had genetic testing done during both of my pregnancies. On the second pregnancy, I found out I am a carrier of Fragile X so I was praying my child was not a boy. I can now educate my girls and they can be tested if they ever decide to have kids. I am very greatful for the testing and feel that everyone should do it prior to becoming pregnant. For example, I think its very important for you and your partner to know if you're carriers for cystic fibrosis.

For my first I had the blood/hormone test done. It came back with a much higher than normal chance of Downs Syndrome. I did have another ultrasound, but I opted not to have the amnio. I felt it was a risk and it wasn't goign to change my course of action. I was keeping my baby and wasn't going to risk any harm, no matter how small. I appreciated the heads-up and educated myself just in case. He didn't have Downs, but I was o.k. with the idea of it and felt prepared. Mind you - alot of people said things like, "They never know They are always wrong about those things" But the doctors/tests never said for sure he would have it. Just gave me the odds.

For my second (7 1/2 years later) I didn't even have the blood test. By then I was technically at an "advanced maternal age" of 36, but I didn't feel the need. She came out fine. But, again, I was o.k. with knowing there was always a possibility.

I just pray and trust. I felt like I will have the child I was meant to have. Now, if it were something that could have been medically fixed either right away or in utero, like a heart defect for example, I may have gone ahead with other tests. My main concern was always for the baby's safety and I considered whether a test would make a difference in my course of action. In my case, it was unnecessary.

I don't want to say it isn't stressful. No parent wants their child to have extra challenges. You just have to trust that whatever happens you were meant to be that child's mom. No matter what.

What type of testing are you doing?

I have had a variety of testing done. For my current pregnancy, I did the Maternity21 test. It was great because they just took my blood and a week later I knew I was in the clear and that I was having a girl!

With my other kids, I did the other tests that took weeks to process.

What I just tell myself is that there is no point in worrying about something until you have a reason to worry. I was allow myself a few minutes a day to think about it, and then I would keep myself busy with my kids.

I had genetic testing done with my last. Since I am a carrier for a disorder and the issue was possible downs, I had to find out. If it came back positive, I would have had to make a very hard decision. Downs and a bleeding disorder do not do well together and the child would have a very high chance of not surviving or living in a hospital. First, I did not even know I was pregnant until it was almost too late to test. And I was not really thrilled in the first place. So, that added to my stress level. I had to push it out of my mind--hard. I really had to keep myself thinking of other things. And then the first time they tried the test, they couldn't do it so we had to wait 4 days. So I stressed about doing the test and then waiting for the results. I am happy to say my son is very healthy and will be a yr old soon. He does have a bleeding disorder but it is managable.

Shortly after our third child was born we found out that my nephew has EB. It is a very serious condition that is passed through recessive genes. We debated about getting tested to see at the very least if my husband had the gene. The nephew is from his side. We decided not to. We went on to have 3 more children. Our fourth child had downs. She passed away in the 31 week of pregnancy. We were asked if we wanted to test with our fifth child and decided once again not to. That little fella passed away in the 14 week. Our six child was conceived and we still decided not to test. We did look into the deaths of our other children and there really wasn't anything we could have tested for to save their lives, or at least it wasn't a problem that would have come up on the usual tests done. I had some health issues that weren't being diagnosed. In the end we felt that unless the test could save there lives we really didn't want it. There was no chance that we would ever abort a child. We know they are gifts and it really doesn't matter to use that they are different from others. We love them all the same. Our youngest was born healthy with some help from a wonderful doctor at the Pope Paul the VI Institute. I wouldn't worry. Do what you can to stay healthy and put the rest in God's hands.