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Hi, the first part of the testing usually needs to be done between 11 to 13 weeks 1 day (some will do it a couple days later) and it involves an ultrasounds which is a nuchal translucency scan -- they measure the back of the babies neck. A higher reading tends to suggest there may be a problem with the baby (I think it is over 3 or something like that). Also blood is taken to measure some other things that could be indicators of downs or trisomies. The second part of the screening is between 16-20 weeks (roughly) and it is called the triple screen or quad screen and is just blood works, but a scan is also usually done around this time anyways. It is called an anatomy or morphology scan and measures all the parts of the baby to see how development is. As you will always hear, there can be false positives to the testing, but having 2 chances to do it helps weed that out. Also if you get strongly positive tests then you can choose to do an amniocentesis or CVS testing which can tell for sure (or 99%) if the baby has problems.

thanks for the detailed information. Do you know if too much ultra sound is harmful to the fetus / baby? I heard that somewhere... I had 2 ultra sounds so far -1st at 6w to confirm the pregnancy and 2nd at 11.5w. The 2nd one the doctor said because the fetus maybe too small to detect the heartbeats, so he scanned just to make sure. Based on what he saw and my health, he said I shouldnt be worry about anything at that point. I feel fine, besides feel pregnant, there is no bad symptom, cramp or bleeding... We also want to find out the s_x of the baby, so there will be more than 3 ultra sounds done on me... I love looking at the images but also scared if I am over do it.... I will ask the doctor this concern at my next visit and will let you know the answer if you are interested to know, too. thanks again for your respond.

I'm not sure where you heard that, but it is not true (about the u/s's) I've asked multiple doctors and one even showed me where to see what the ultrasound a__sociation says about it (can't think of their technical name right now). I think I read something on the internet once about too much u/s being bad, but most of the stuff on theinternet isn't reliable info anyways. I had an u/s at 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 15 and 20 weeks so far and my baby is fine :) I also use a doppler almost daily that is also u/s waves. I had the testing done so I wouldn't worry the rest of the pregnancy...Good luck to you!

that's a relief... thanks for sharing...

My test’s result so far (the scan part) looks good. Fluid level is 0.9 mm at the fetus’s neck… yeah… less things to worry about…