Something New to Worry About

The lab result for Jessie’s blood test has finally come back. It’s called the “triple screen” test because it measures levels of hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin), estriol, and AFP (alpha-fetoprotein). If you stumbled a few times trying to read those words, don’t worry. The only thing you need to know is that the test can help screen for Down syndrome, neural tube defects, and other birth defects.

The number that Jessie and I are focused on is that of AFP. When a pregnant woman has high levels of AFP, there is a strong risk that the baby could have spina bifida or another neural tube defect. Thankfully, her numbers do not fall into the high-risk group. However, we can’t exactly breathe a sigh of relief yet. 

The triple screen test detects 85% of babies that could have neural tube defects and 70 to 80% of babies that could have Down syndrome. Notice the emphasis on ‘could.’ This test doesn’t confirm whether your baby has spina bifida or Down syndrome, it just means the results are suspicious enough to warrant a closer look at the fetus. 

This presents a huge problem for me. I know I can’t expect every test to be 100% accurate, but at least I’d feel better if they were closer. That’s why Jessie and I are debating whether or not to have an amniocentesis. 

This is a procedure where a needle is inserted through the mother’s stomach, the uterus wall, and into the amino sac, where the doctor draws a small amount of amniotic fluid. I’m pretty sure it’s as scary as it sounds.

The result from this test is nearly 100%. We can know for definite whether our baby has any problems or not. Of course, as with anything, there’s always a drawback – risk of pregnancy loss. 

While the risk of amniocentesis-related pregnancy loss is small, around 0.25% or 1 in 400, it’s more than enough to make me think twice about doing this. I’d be more secure knowing the risk was 1 in 1,000,000,000. 

Am I being a bit too unreasonable? I mean, if you look at it another way, the success rate is 99.75%. That’s much more pleasing to the eye. Logically, this test should be more than safe enough. It’s definitely safer than getting into my car and driving to work every day. 

I can picture myself being the kind of father who ties pillows all over my kid’s body just to lower the risk of injury. I’m definitely going to need load up on pillows and string.