• Week by Week
  • Sex and Pregnancy
  • Weight Gain
  • Exercise and Nutrition

New to the forum? Sign Up Here!

Already a member? Please login below.

Forgot your password? Need Help?  
Learn and Discuss About...

First Pregnancy At 37 And I Have Some Questions!

3 posts on this thread and the last post was on December 11th, 2008 10:20 AM
There are currently 4866 members logged in.
susieq1212 - December 9th, 2008 12:45 PM
 [Original Post]

Hi everyone- I'm 37 and 21 weeks along in my first pregnancy. My husband is in the Army, we live in Germany, and I have a German ob/gyn. Everything has been great so far with the exception of the usual sickness, tiredness, etc.

I have never been offered any sort of screening or testing for Downs or anything other than the usual bloodwork. I knew this and decided that it didn't matter, since from what I read many of the tests produce false positives and cause undue stress for the parents. I haven't changed my opinion on that, but after reading posts about everyone in our age group having these tests I'm wondering if I'm wrong. Am I receiving poor prenatal care or is it just not something that is done in other countries? One good thing about the German system is that they do an ultrasound at every appt. so I've gotten to see my baby every month. The doctor tells me all measurements and such are normal, but could he tell from just an ultrasound if anything was wrong?

We are due in April. My husband is retiring from the Army then, and I am actually headed back to the U.S. in January while I can still fly and will have the baby in America - thank God! (I was in the delivery room with my friend here in May and we'll just say that things are done differently in a country with socialized medicine.) When I get back to the U.S., should I request these tests or not? Will my American ob/gyn freak out that I never had them done?

Thanks, girls, for any advice you can offer! I'm not overly worried about anything, don't have a feeling that something is wrong, etc., I guess I'm just looking for a little guidance.

CaliTrish - December 9th, 2008 10:30 PM

Hi Susie - I had my first baby at 37. He's now a precocious 2 year old. At 21 weeks, you're pretty much passed the window for most genetic tests - you missed the first trimester screening & nuchal transluceny scan, from 15-20 weeks there's the alpha-fetoprotein screening (AFP) and an amniocentisis. With the exception of the amnio, the others are just screenings that look for genetic markers. An in depth ultrasound would accomplish pretty much the same thing especially at 21 weeks. I would recommend speaking to your ob/gyn about your concerns. I'm sure if he had seen any indicators for down syndrome or any other chromosonal defects, he would have told you by now. Try not to worry. Just enjoy your pregnancy.

susieq1212 - December 11th, 2008 12:01 AM

Thanks CaliTrish - I just read an article online about how in Europe they rely more on ultrasound techniques rather than the genetic screeing done in the U.S. The doc himself does the ultrasound and measures everything every month. I don't know why this started bothering me now - we had decided not to ask for testing because it didn't matter to us anyway. 18 more weeks as of tomorrow!

K - December 11th, 2008 10:20 AM

I was 38 with my 1st pregnancy. My very good United States OB/GYN specifically recommended I have none of that testing (AFP/ Triple Screen/Amnio etc.) because at my age the blood tests would not come back normal and would cause likely unneccessary worry. She said people our age have perfectly healthy babies all the time. She said that amnios are way overdone in our age range and she feels sometimes doctors do them to get the money and even though the risk of harm is minimal, it is still there and she does not think they should be done based on age alone. Her recommendation for testing was a level 2 ultrasound with a specialist (in other words she didn't even get the money from that). If that showed any potential issues, then we would discuss an amnio. I had 2 spaced out level 2s which were both fine, in addition to the regular ultrasounds at her office. I did not have ultrasounds every appointment, but she probably did do one or two more than some doctors do. I have a perfectly healthy dd. I don't think you are getting poor prenatal care.