Trisomy 13 Baby - Odds of carrying to term

I am 23 weeks along with our Trisomy 13 baby girl, confirmed by an amnio. The genetic counselor showed us some odds from a book that was older and suggested looking on the internet for more current statistics. As we understood her, the odds of a Trisomy baby making it to 20 weeks (date of amnio) was 1/12,000 and the odds of making it to full term are 1/24,000. I thought it was strange that the odds get worse the further along you are but she restated the yes, the odds do get worse and the chance of miscarriage or premature labor increases everyday. Is this right? Can you provide any statistics? Thanks!

[Jordanna Joaquina, MS, CGC]

First of all, we hope that you are finding the support and resources you need. We are wishing your family the best.

With a trisomy 13 pregnancy, the overall risk of pregnancy loss from amniocentesis to livebirth is about 64%.

In general, as a pregnancy gets closer to term, the risk of miscarriage decreases as the risk to have a stillborn child or early term delivery increases. This is because as a pregnancy gets further along the chance for the baby to survive (primarily due to lung maturity) increases. Infants with trisomy 13 have a high mortality rate, especially within their first year of life.

It is important to have a plan set-up with the delivering physician and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in the case of an upcoming birth of a baby with trisomy 13.