My friend's troubling U/S

 I'm trying to make my friend (who is 39 yrs old, 11 wks pg with her first baby) feel better... she recently was told that her baby's nuchal fold (neck) was thicker than average on her recent u/s (this can be an indicator of downs syndrome) and she is freaking out.
I know this nuchal fold scan produces a LOT of false positives and I want to reassure her that her baby is very likely normal and healthy.
Neither of my children had an enlarged nuchal fold on their u/s's, but I know it happens a lot...
Did anyone here have an enlarged nuchal fold or other Downs indicators on u/s and go on to have a normal, healthy baby??   Thanks!

I can help...my 1st pregnancy I had an US at 18 weeks and the doctor called me AT WORK to say that the nucal fold was thick and one of the tibeas was shorter in the arm..TWO markers for downs.  I was told on the phone that I could ignore it, do a medical abortion or an amnio..we opted for the amnio to know what was going on....during the amnio my husband said to the doctor..what do you think the chances are?  His answer, "She has a greater risk of having a mjiscarriage during this amnio than to have a downs baby" At which point my husband almost strangled the doctr.  We changed doctors right after...it was a 2 week wait for the amnio...tell her to relax and get the amnio if she really is anxious to know and then that will relieve her!  Good luck!

Glad you found another dr.  Your dr sounds like an ass.

I've no idea re the nuchal fold...but pray your friend's baby is OK.  If it would make a difference to her re the course of action for the pregnancy, I'd suggest an amnio...that'd confirm anything one way or the other...but that's a decision she'd have to make.  I do believe there are a lot of false negatives re the nuchal test...but can't give any specific stats on it.

My mother was TOLD I had down syndrome.  They offered to have her abort me that same day.  Obviously she did not and I did not have DS. 

One of my girlfriends was pregnant at the same time as me. She had the AFP test show as positive for Down's, the Dr. then confirmed this with an u/s. The midwife tried mercilessly to convince my friend to abort. the midwife would tell her that she was too young to deal with a down's baby (my friend was 21 & married). My firnd refused to abort and spent the rest of her pregnancy terrified for what was in store for her. She had a completely NORMAL, healthy little boy. Two tests were wrong. I hope that your friend will be okay. I know it is scary, but things could be so much worse. Down's babies are wonderful loving spirits!

 Thank you so much, ladies! I will share these responses with her... the more I research this topic, it seems that the neck measurement thing CAN mean Downs, but like 90% of the time, it just means nothing (false positive)... I feel bad for her b/c she was so excited and now she's just mega-nervous:(

On a personal note, I'm about to enter the fertile part of my 1st month of TTC baby #3... fingers crossed!
If I am blessed with a 3rd baby, it will be the 1st one I've had as a skinny lady so I'm interested to see how this pregnancy will feel to me (hopefully more comfortable than the first 2!)...ok, I'm getting ahead of myself here! :) 
Keep the encouraging stories coming, I'll be sharing these with my friend! Thanks!

-V

I agree with the previous posters. Just wanted to add my 2-cents...

If your friend is really wanting to know - Instead of the amnio, which can itself cause a miscarriage, your friend should be offered (if not, she should request) a quad screen. They do this around 15-16 weeks. It's just a blood draw test that checks for several genetic abnormalities. Granted, there can be false positives with any tests, so she should keep that in mind too.

I'm 37, so I can understand her situation.....Just my 2-cents...

Good luck to you with #3, and best wishes for your friend and her little one.

Kina

A friend of mine is an OB and she told me that these tests (the nuchal translucency and the blood test combined) have a 70% accuracy rating. This means out of every 100 people who are told YES .... 30 are actually NO!

It's why I refused these tests.... which for anyone wondering you can do, they are not mandatory.

I hope your friend can relax some.