Abnormal U/S finding...

[GetThisThingOuttaMe]

Me again...I had an U/S yesterday and they found an abnormal measurement. The back of the head, around the neck is measuring larger than normal. The radiologist said it could be an indication of Down's Syndrome. I'm worried to death now. They said everything else looks normal, like the heart and brain. But I do have an amnio scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

My AFP test came back normal and I'm 25 years old. I also heard this measurement is not very accurate after 13 or 14 weeks and I am now 21. But after hearing the news, I can't help but worry.

Anybody heard of this kind of thing turning out to be normal or vice versa?

[alsteve]

They usually do that ultrasound around 12 weeks, it is called a nuchal fold ultrasound. So you may have heard right about it not being correct after 13/14 wks. Try not to worry yourself to much especially since you did have the afp and it came back normal....

[Jeni]

I would love to hear how your amnio went. My triple screen came back positive for down's. I'm going in Wednesday for a level 2 ultrasound and maybe (i'm still unsure) an amnio.

I'm not as worried as when I first found out because my mother is a nurse practitioner in the navy and works with a lot of docs with varied backgrounds. I was the topic of their entire day last Friday and many of them believe that the test is very unreliable. Plus she asked me if I was less than 16 weeks or more. When I counted forward from my last u/s which showed I was between 11 and 12 weeks, I came out with 14-15 weeks at the time the triple screen was taken. The test reads inaccurately when taken before the 16-18 week period.

Anyway, my principal was telling me about his daughter-in-law's similar experience to you. Her baby's measurement was abnormal too. To make a long story short; the baby came out to be very healthy and normal.

[elizwill]

It could just be that your baby is going to have a large head. Do you or your husband have a large head? ALl the people in Dh's family have big heads and so babies in their family get that report on ultrasound and they hav eall been fine. Head size is like height or foot size, it just varies. Good luck to you though.

[GetThisThingOuttaMe]

Alright, I had the amnio yesterday - pretty unpleasant, but it's over. First of all, they measured the nuchal fold or thickness of the neck to be 6.5 to 7 mm. For how many weeks along I am (21-22), they would expect 6mm. Has anyone ever gotten this measurement? My DF and I also decided to get the FISH test done, which can give you preliminary chromosome results in 24 hrs. The results came back normal BUT (why is there always a "but") there was a tiny amount of my blood found in the sample which could contaminate the results. So basically, I don't feel any better and will have to wait 10-14 days to find out for sure. Plus, if results are normal, the doctor will want to perform an echocardiogram on the heart to rule out heart abnormalities. Does it ever end? When can I be relieved and actually start to enjoy my pregnancy? Please reply if you have anything to add.

[MEnMEnME]

***Lurking***

I am a member of the BB J-A-S board, and I just wanted to let you know that my daughter, who was born in July 2002, had an "abnormal" nuchal fold thickness. We had an ultrasound done at around 20 weeks, and I believe that her measurement was around 6.3 or so. They told me all about the possibility of Down's Syndrome, and of course we mentally prepared ourselves for the possibility of that. I forgot to say that they did the other measurements for other possible Down's indicators, and those measurements were all within the normal range. My bf and I made a decision from that point on that no matter what happened, we were going to keep our little girl. Well, July came very quickly and the next thing we knew we had a beautiful healthy baby girl with a big head, and that's it. I would try to just relax; I know it's easier said than done. Sorry if this isn't more helpful. Take care.

[GetThisThingOuttaMe]

Just got the results back of the amnio -- NORMAL! I know the doctors were just trying to make sure everything was okay, and I appreciate that, but they sure did worry me. I thank everyone who responded, the comments made me feel better.