prenatal testing

What neurological diseases to they test for in the routine prenatal tests. My nanny's friend had a high number for a neurological disorder on her baby and my nanny didn't understand what she called it and didn't want to ask.  I never had tests done when I was pregnant and know you ladies would be able to give me some info.

[tiredbuthappy]

could she have meant neuro-tube defect? i believe they do test for that with most pregnancies. i think spina bifida is one of those conditions. (don't quote me on this though... it's just what i think i read, and may give you more info to start researching.) the preliminary tests don't tell you for sure if there's a problem... it just provides you with a statistical probability that there could be something wrong, and in most cases the baby is ok. the next step would be more tests.  

[nalla]

Yes, the previous poster is right. One of the tests that they do is for Spina Bifida. That test is usualy done about 4 months into the pregnancy. It's a simple blood test. If the test comes back positive, then she should get a 3D ultrasound to see what is going on. My son (19 months now) was born with Open Spina Bifida. The ultrasound showed that he has it along with hydrocephalus. (water on the brain). If you have anymore questions. please just let me know. I will answer as much as I can.

[1twinmom]

thank you, she is going for an u/s on Tues.

[nalla]

Hi, yes, ask me anything you want.
My Dr. and I talked about doing the surgery before Nathan was born, but we decided not to. There hasn't been a case of women doing the surgery where the baby wasn't born early. And in most cases the baby needs surgery right after they are born, and if they are born early they might not have been able to do the surgery safetly, plus there would be all sorts of other problems with a premature baby. And insurence doens't pay for the surgery. It's still pretty new and Dr.s don't know yet if it's worth it.
And yes, for me at least, it was definatly better to know before hand. We had the time to prepare. Like getting all the Dr.s, therapists, social worker, SSI, etc in order. That in itself was a lot of work. We had the time to prepare ourselves, kids, family and friends emotionaly. We had the time to join a support group.
And we had the time to mourn the "perfect" baby that we imagianed. (even though my little man is perfect!! :) he is helping me type as we speak! LOL! And one very important thing is if we didn't know he had S.B he probably would have been born vaginaly and not by C-section. And that would have caused a lot of damage to him physicaly. Infection probably would have set in and he could have become paralized. They had to cut me extra big during the C-section to deliver him safetly. Taking care of everything before hand made everything so much easier. That way we were able to concentrate on just taking care of him. He was in the hospital for 5 weeks after he was born and that was stressful enough. I couldn't imagian going through that and having just found out that he had Spina bifida.
As of now, he is doing pretty good. He can crawl and has started to stand holding onto the couch, coffee table etc. He has normal bladder and bowel function for now. We know that he has some loss of feeling in his right leg, but are not sure how much just yet. There is a lot that goes along with S.B and there isn't enough room on here to say it all. LOL but overall, he is doing SO much better than expected!! :)
Are you testing just to be sure, or did a test come back saying that your baby might have it? Just let me know if there are any other questions. I'm happy to tell!

[tiredbuthappy]

thank you for sharing your experience here. if you don't mind, i'd like to ask a question or two. i am testing for spina bifida because as far as i understand, there are things they can do to help the baby. was this the case for you? did it help to know in advance? how's your little guy doing?

[tiredbuthappy]

i haven't had any tests yet... having the blood drawn thursday. your story gives me the confidence that i made the right decision in doing the test. i had turned down the nuchal translucency, because i decided that i would not want to know about downs in advance. i would not have terminated the baby, as i have seen so many people with downs function very well. all of the tests available these days are overwhelming, and i often wondered if they're excessive, especially because of the anxiety that can be caused by the high occurance of screen positives. i decided a few weeks back to do the AFP screen for the exact reasons you listed. knowing in advance about spina bifida, you can make decisions that may save your baby's life.  

i am so happy to hear that your little boy is doing so well. your story and your attitude inspires me. i know that most likely, my baby will be healthy and not have complications. i try not to be over paraniod, and dwell on everything that can go wrong. (this is my first baby, so i guess it's a natural reaction. that's why i opted out of some other tests). but now i know that if there's another plan, and he or she does have problems, i can handle it if i'm prepared, and help my baby overcome them.

[nalla]

I'm glad that I have been able to help you some. I agree with you about the testing, they might be excessive and a lot of women worry for no reason, but with this one at least, in my opinion, it's so important and I thank God everyday that I had the test. Nathan is my 4th child and I decided not to get the tests with the first 3. And for some reason I decided to with him. I want to warn you though, if the blood test comes back positve, it doens't mean that your baby has it. It just means that something came up in your blood work that shows the possibility.There are a lot of false positivs. so try not to worry if the blood work comes back positve. An amnio and/or ultrasound is the only thing that can give you the definate answers. I decided not to get the amnio because the ultrasound showed he had it. I didn't want to riak anything with the amnio.
And if you started taking folic acid/prenatal vitamins before you were pregnant then that reduces the chance by %70. Also spina bifida is not common. Only 7 out of 10,000 births result in spina bifida. chances are your little one is perfectly healthy. Good luck with the little one and let me know if you need any more info.