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they saw it on my 10 week u/s

Hi Venus, Firstly, The Nuchal Scan should be done at between 11-13 weeks. Do you know what the NT (Nuchal Translucency) measurement was? Anything over 2.5mm is considered high. But a women over 35 could have a 3.0mm and that is also considered fine. This measurement (NT) measures the amount of fluid at the back of the neck of the fetus this is a soft marker or soft indicator of potential problems. Bare in mind that many if not most babies with high NT's still go on to be healthy babies. The NT measuremment coupled with your age will give you a ratio or percentage that puts you at high risk or screen positive. So if you are a healthy young women of age 20 your odds for chromosonal problems are very low to start..but after tyour ultrasound if your NT was high say 5.0..this may give you a 1:80 chance of your baby being born with a chromosonal defect. Again, remember these are only INDICATORS..so you have an additional blood test to be done at 16-18 weeks. Also, you have other options befor you decide what to do. You can have CVS which is chronic villus sampling where they sc___pe a small amount of tissue ..which will indicate to a higher likelihood chromosonal problems such a down sydrome, trysomy, and edwards syndrome. Another option is amnio which is slightly less invasive carries a small percentage less of miscarriage and takes a sample of amniotic fluid to determine again chromosonal irregularities. So just because you could have a high NT..everything could still be just fine as these are only indicators or possiblilties of. Try not to worry until you get all your results. Kristin :) P.S. I go next Thursday for my screening tests...I am also very nervous as this is where I found out last time in Dec/05 that my baby had a high NT 4.0mm...When I went in for CVS..the heart had stopped beating. Truly..these things are out of our hands..if the babies are chromosonally ok then they will "stick"..and if not they were not meant to be. So sad but true..BEST OF LUCK with your little bean!! XO Kristin

thanks kristin... the measurement was 2.8 mm.... but theyre not positivethat part of it was not just this other skin that looks like it. this is all my own research my own doctor didnt tell me anything. this was the first time i saw her she was a young doctor no more than 35... i like the old man doctors there that have been practicing since the 1960's because they have seen more and offer me more information rather than scaring the living c___p out of me... well thanks i hope every thing is okand iapprecialte your support... my father is dying of cancer now and i thought the baby would be something to be happy about.... not something else to stress about

Try not to stress Venus, the 2.8 is actually not really too high at all..like you said they even had a hard time desifering between the skin and the fluid..so ther could be some leeway with that number. There are many mistakes made with that type of meaurement..the tech must be very skilled..often women will have two tests by two different people and they can carry different results. That said..again try not to worry...I have read of other women on other sites who have had NT readings as high as 7.0 and they have gone on to have healthy children. There are still other tests to do so you can feel better about this initial indicator reading. Did they say anything else about the ultrasound itself? When they had done my test they also told me my baby had a collection of fluid around the abdomen..This is a bodies way of protecting itself. Something so small as a fetus in it's early stages will develop excessive fluid in a similar way when we as children or adults get a cut and fluid develops around the cut ..it is our bodies way of protecting itself against infection and helps in the healing process. Even the excessive fluid behind the neck can mean something chromosonally is just not right...on the other hand it can mean absolutely nothing at all..that is why they are called "soft" markers. Best of luck to you and I am sure your father will be so proud of the mother you will soon be. Take CAre Kristin

thank you... i feel a little better after doing some reading but this doctor didnt tell us ANYTHING all I heard was "high risk" and downs syndrome and OMG what a bomb to drop on somebody,,,

Just curious how you are doing venus_in_scorpio? Hope you are well.. Kristin

hi- it turns out, the NT is normal - I was told after the whole ordeal by my cousin who went to the same practice as me to watch out for this one doctor - the one that sent me to high risk. i just got my first trimester screening bloodwork even though i didnt really want to because of all of the false positive horror stories ive heard... so those results will be back friday but so far so good :)