Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Genetic screening test

Now that I'm over 35 for the entirely of my pregnancy, and thus deemed AMA, I knew that my OB would want me to do an amniocentesis. However I learned that there is a brand new test which is blood draw that takes the place of the amnio or CVS tests. I wasn't excited about having to take either of those since both are invasive enough to cause a miscarriage risk. Certainly all these screening tests can be declined, but Mr. W has opted to take them for both our previous pregnancies. So when my OB suggested scheduling the amnio I asked if the MaterniT21 was available in Portland. He wasn't too sure about the name of it, but said he would have this other clinic contact me to set up an appointment.
We had to meet with a councilor first before I was able to do the blood draw. I kinda thought that was a waste of time since we wouldn't terminate a pregnancy unless there was a guaranteed risk to me. It included a health history for both our families. This new test has like a 99% accuracy rate since it tests the DNA so there aren't false positives, the chromosomes are either there or they aren't. They can test for Downs, Trisomy 21, 18, and 13, and for the presence of the Y chromosome, so if we wanted to find out the sex we could rather than waiting until the mid way point for the anatomy scan. I told them to go ahead to test for that too but not to tell us. I want the sex to be a surprise again, but who knows if Mr. W will cave and change his mind again.
 This test also eliminates the need for us to go in for the Nuchal translucency screening test so no 12 week ultrasound for us. I'm okay with that though, we've had 3 so far and I'm sure 18 weeks will arrive before I know it. Because this test hasn't been approved by the FDA yet the counselor told us that while they'll bill the insurance, many insurance companies won't pay for it. AS a result the lab only charges about $200, even though the test costs much more than that, in the hopes that more people will be willing to pay for it out of pocket and take the test, thus increasing their testing circle which will improve their odds of getting approved. We'll see what happens with out insurance. 
The blood draw was pretty simple, I feel I've given a lot of blood recently! We'll get a call with the results in about 10 business days.

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