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I believe it is said that something like 1 in 37 positives is a true positive. I have a couple of friends who got positives and then went for their 20 week u/s and the doctor told them that everything looked great and they had a 99.9% chance of having a completely healthy child...so don't stress yet. I have also been told that once the heart looks good (all 4 chambers) that the chances of any problems diminishes greatly. Hope this helps. I am of to my 18 week u/s...I am biting my nails off...

thanks.... good luck with your AFP test.... i hope everything is normal for you...

Shraboni- I am sorry you have to deal with this stress. A good friend of mine actually had her AFP test come back positive for Downs and with extremely high chances. She was talking to the doc about the fact it could still be a false pos and the doc said the odds are 1/1000that it will actually be negative that signs are very high because of SOMETHING in the test that the babe would have downs. Well she did a level 4 U/S and they found out immediately that the babe was just fine. She is now 6 mo and doing great!!! Good luck!

do they always do a level 4 u/s or you have to ask for it specifically. can i trust the docs to let me know if i require anything over a level 2 u/s

Shraboni- just trust your docs. If mine had come back positive I would be 100% reliant (?) on my doc because I trust him totally and think he would lead me in the best possible direction. I also think she may have chose to do the Level 4 on her own. I know before I got my test done those my doc said that 3-4 D u/s was my option down at Mayo in Rochester MN.

This is why these test are almost too much info and you almost feel like 'ignorance is bliss'. They stress you out., They're numbers that are so hard to even comprehend really. However, I have heard the same from my doctor as to what 'homeworkwithheather' said. That if the heart looks good, the chances diminish greatly. I had my first just this past November just before I turned 31. The odds came out perfect 1 out of 10,000...the best you could get. Just went for my test for this baby a few months later and they came back 1 in 6,500. Went for the level 2 u/s last week or so and they said they saw something, like what 'ejmeskan' said, that was in the heart or something like that that decreased the odds to 1 in 3,000 something. Still great odds, but freaked me out that they saw something. Well, the doctor said it's CONTROVERSIAL if that even is an actual factor for Down's or not and that it shows up in MANY women's pregnancies and often goes away. He said the heart looked perfect as well as everything else, that that is a little blip that they see but that they're not concerned, so I shouldn't be concerned. I felt like saying, 'so why do I even have to try to comprehend this'. He agreed that because it's an emotional thing to hear about, it worries you but not to worry at all. I think they just have so much technology and info now all of which they're not even 100% certain about, that they pa__s TOO much info on. I certainly can't promise it'll be 100% fine, but it way more than likely will. You're young, healthy have no history and could have a lot to do with the test. Does your doctor recommend an amnio?? I think they're pretty bad tests to have in terms of them being very invasive to the you and the baby so I would get it only if your doctor strongly recommends it. 1/29 is still an only 3.5% chance, IF the test is even totally accurate.

Hello! I really don't understand why they even bother doing the afp triple marker blood tests since there is such a high false positive rate.The smallest thing can throw off the results. In my case the test came back with an increased risk of downs as well as an increased risk for the other trisomy condition.So I was sent to a perinatologist who did the level 2 ultrasound. Which showed the baby to be perfect with no soft markers. He did find that my due date was incorrect by 2 weeks so he called the lab and had them recalculate my risk factor with my new due date.Guess what? With the new due date my results came back perfectly fine. It's amazing that a 2 week due date difference can make that much of a difference in that test. I was very peeved actually since I had worried needlessly for 3 weeks thinking that there was somwething wrong with my baby. Plus I had also been initially advised to get an amnio which I am against personally since while the chance is small... there is a chance of miscarriage. This test seems to only cause a lot of needless worry and needless amnios.

My Doc advised me not to do the tests becasue of all the false positives.. I did it anyways, and all is well but if a DOC advises againsted it then the test must not perfected yet.