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hello Leah,
I understand completly i'm 31 have 2 boys and they found the focus on my babys heart, I have done the same thing with ultrasond pics, too the point that i cant look at them anymore. my screen came back negative 1 in 1900, and i'm 28 weeks. I go for my next ultrasound last Tues of the month. It has made me so anxious. Every little sign i think there is something wrong. When i went for my ultrasound check up my mid wife is so positive and it just scares me, i cried myself to sleep last night because of the stress of just not knowing. I'm terrefied that at this next U/S they will find something else. I thought it truley be easier to handle after the screening test and the further i go along but it seems my state of mind is getting worse and this is all i can think about. It is just scarey of the unknown. anyway i just want ed to say i understand completly how you are feeling and my thoughts are with you.

hi ladies..I hear ya! I go for another appt on Tues and a scan. I have the blood results of 1/46 and no markers but am paranoid a marker will pop up and my odds even worse. It is nerveracking...we just have to hold on and ride it out. many hugs, xxo

Hello to everybody. My name is Patricia, i'm 28 years old, and i live in Germany. As this forum gave me hope throughout my pregnancy i want to share my story with you.
In week 16 (End of April 2007) my Gyn did the Triple Blood Screening. It came back with a higher risk for Down Syndrome as the AFP was not in "range". Due to this result i had an appointment with an Ultra Sound specialist (Level 2) in week 18. Unfortunately he saw a White Spot on my liitle girl's heart. But he also recommended me to do NOT an amino, as this marker has become more irrelevant over the last years- so i didn't do the amino. But from this day on i was scared that my little one will have DS. I did a lot of research on the Internet, in Germany as well as in the US, and found out that this WS is really the most doubtful marker for DS. Well, to cut a long story short: on Nov. 10 i gave birth to a healthy little girl.
On my mind, this WS should not be mentioned to pregnant women as long as the baby shows no other markers.
I thank all of you who shared their stories here.
All my best wishes for the ladies who still have to wait, Patricia

Thanks Patricia for sharing that with us. What were your blood scores for ds? Mine are 1/46 with no markers. thanks for coming back with the update. xo

lovemy3- i did not get any precise scores for DS. may be the test are slightly different over here. i did the so called "triple test" which is usually done to see whether there is a higher risk for spina bifida or not. so, and one marker out of the 3 is the AFP which was not in range. when went for the level 2 US, the doc told me, that i had a risk 1:900 with the AFP and after detecting the WS he said that the risk is 1:400.

Just wanted to thank you ladies for all your support. We found the spots on our first sono. I had two markers the spots and my advanced maternal age. In addition, we have never had any testing done as we decided no matter what we would love our baby. We decided against amnio after finding this site and being encouraged by the level 2 Sono Dr. that the spots were as common as having blue or brown eyes. We gave birth to a HEALTHY GIRL on November 12th. What an answer to many prayers! I did deliver via c-section and layed on that table wondering and praying she would be healthy! Thanks again to all for your support. Wishing you a healthy and happy birth day!!

Hello Novemberbabygirl. I'm so happy for you,
Congraturlations!!!!! Igo for my next U/S next week and i'm so nervous. thank you for telling your wonderful news!!

Thats wonderful Novembergirl.!! I had another appt yesterday and they still haven't come across any markers at all, just my crazy blood results. So we are thrilled and continue to pray they are false postive blood screen. I'll keep you all posted.

hey all, just posting to let you know that the amnio showed everything was fine. She called last night. I will keep you all in my thoughts and keep checking in. Happy Thanksgiving.

Congrats Liddlemama - that's great news. Congrats Novemberbabygirl - I recently switched OB's, and my new OB compared the spot to a baby having a freckle! Downunder - Good luck with your upcoming u/s. lovemy3 - glad your appt went well. I am sure EVERYTHING is fine. Good luck to everyone else awaiting the birth of their babies. I have 8.5 weeks until my C-section. :)

Four years ago, I had abnormal results from my AFP test. I was 26 then and very scared. I decided to have an amnion without adequate counselling. After alot of prayers and a nervous breakdown I got normal results after two weeks. My 4 year old is very such a delight now. I ultrasound tech made such an impression on me that I enrolled in college to study ultrasound while I was still pregnant.
Today, I am an ultrasound tech, registered in OB/GYN and currently working in a hospital. I am also 22 weeks pregnant with twin girls. I had alot of scans in my first trim but gave a rest after that. . At 20 weeks my ob referred me to perinatologist for a level II ultrasound since I had refused the AFP test and other blood tests due to my past experience. Anyway, I went in with my family members and the doc knowing my background allowed to explain to family what they were looking at. Everthing looked fine until he focused on the heart of baby A and I saw the echogenic focus in the left ventricle. I was dumbfounded. I knew the odds were in my favr but till I could no longer talk. Baby B also had the same echogenic focus in the heart . My family were scared. The fact that I see this all time in my line of work did not help me. I could easily reassure patients but could not reassure myself now. What are my chances since both babies had this? I had to have an amnion again against my better judgement at 21 weeks. Since babies were fraternal and in separate sacs I was poked at least 3 times increasing my risk for miscarriage. I had to wait through thanksgiving for my preliminary result s which just came back normal for both babies. Thank God
I think if you have the heart to get through your preg without an amnioncentesis you should because the blood tests have a high false positive rate. All sonographic soft makers are not 100% diagnostic. Infact most babies are born normal and up to 1/3 of down syndrome babies look normal on ultrasound showing no markers.

I think it will always come down to how well you deal with stress. If you can relax again and enjoy your pregnancy then please do and waive the amnion because I am sure your baby is

As I was saying, your baby is most probably fine. And you should not worry. Some doctors do not even mention this to patients because they see this as a normal variant in the absence of any other "abnormalities". Hopefully , you are not a pessimist like me and can get put this behind you and wait patiently for your beautiful baby to be born
I will be praying for you and everyone else who is going through this

Hi,
It is me again. I just wanted to clarify that the it is the AFP tests that have a high false positive rate and not the amnioncentesis which is very accurate

Twingirls...thanks for the info. I got a 1/46 in the IPS testing screen here in canada. I am already having a scan every 2 weeks by my fetal med dr due to past preeclampsia issues. I am 38 years old. So far they see no markers. Heart, femours, head nasal bone etc all have measureed fine. My dr said that 50% of babies with ds do look fine on u/s. I like your 1/3 stat better..LOL. When they said 50% are not picked up does that include scan offices everywhere or speciality level 2 scans done by fetal med drs for instance. I guess I am grasping at straws in hopes that they would see "something" at least with more indication of ds. So far I have no markers at 29 weeks, just bad blood results. This is my 4th baby. I got these blood rsults at 20 weeks and now 9 weeks of waiting have passed. I declined the amnio and am waiting it out. Some days are easier than others, thats for sure. What do you think?

P.S Congrats on the amnio results! thats great!

Hi Lovemy 3,
I understand how feel. I also admire you for not having an amnion.
Well, with the dramatic improvement of the ultrasound machines we pregnant women can no longer enjoy our pregnancies. They say ignorance is bliss and I agree. On the down side, ultrasound cannot detect all genetic anomalies in fetuses especially if the marker is borderline normal or very subtle. For example, some babies with down syndrome have an absent nasal bone, some have an underdeveloped nasal bone and some have a normal nasal bone.That means that if you have a "normal ultrasound" it does not mean that your baby does not have any defects. Also when one or two soft markers are seen it does mean your baby has a defect. The difference between both cases is in the numbers. We can only tell you what your odds are and that is what drives us crazy.
In your case, having your level II ultrasound done by a perinatologist or a registered ultrasound tech who is working with a perinatologist may be better since it may give you the peace of mind that you deserve. Again bear in mind that the majority of babies are born normal. Secondly, an echogenic focus seen in the fetal is considered a controversial and non specific finding by a lot of doctors and they refuse to stress their patients out with that piece info. For example, I was recently admitted in the ER and the ER doctor ordered an ultrasound. I mentioned to the sonographer that I am also a sonographer and she asked me if I knew that my babies had some calcifications in their hearts and I said yes. She took alot of pictures of their hearts for the radiologists on duty. When the ER doctor came to me with the final report the was no mention of echogenic foci seen. He said I had a normal ultrasound. The radiologist had decided not to report it and I am sure there are a lot of pregnant women who are enjoying their pregnancies now because they were spared that piece of troublesome information.
I am sure your baby is fine. I know it is easy for me to say but try not to worry . The odds are in definately in your favor