Week 14

I won't steal Melanie's thunder and reveal the fruit size of our baby this week. I'm sure she'll post that soon.

But today is the official start of the 2nd trimester, so that is exciting. Still 2 more weeks before Melanie goes back in for her next appointment. They are supposed to Quad Marker Screen during that visit. Which is a test for things like down syndrome. It doesn't seem to me that there is a lot of reason to do this test, but maybe I am missing something. But when I read this from page two of the above article:

"Out of 1000 pregnant women, approximately 50 will have quad marker screen results that indicate an increased risk for having a baby with a birth defect. Of those 50 women, only one or two will actually have a baby with an open neural tube defect. About 40 women will have quad marker screen results that show an increased risk for having a baby with Down syndrome and one or two will actually have a baby with Down syndrome."

Seems to me that the most likely thing to happen by taking the test is increased stress. Only about 3% of the positive results even indicate an actual issue, and for Downs it is only about 4%. That just seems like you are opening yourself up to a lot of stress.

While it could possibly be a benefit to know and prepare for having a baby with special needs, it certainly doesn't seem worth the test.

Anyone else have thoughts on the test and why to have it or not have it?