Blood Test Tomorrow

I'm currently in my 15th week and traditionally women are encouraged to get the "Quad Screen" done between 15 and 18 weeks of pregnancy. This is a blood test that screens for a few chromosomal disorders like downs syndrome and also for neural tube defects. Its only a screening test and I am pretty familiar with it because of PA school. All my patients at Parkland all had it done and we were taught in school that its very routine and should really be done on everyone. Well, now that its my time to have it done, I'm finding myself a bit nervous.

I know there is about a 5% chance of a false positive screen (meaning the screen is abnormal but the baby is really just fine) which worries me a bit.....which I'm sure is no surprise to any of you given that I often worry about a lot of things.

Well, my doctor recommends doing the test because it could possibly change the rest of the pregnancy care or delivery...like I might need to be followed by a high-risk doctor or I might need to have a c-section, etc. She knows this test will not change anything for us other than just knowing if something is wrong ahead of time. My doctor is great and I trust her totally and I would be saying the same thing to my patients if I were in her place. But...I'm just REALLY ready for it to be done with and get the results back. It will take about a week, so please pray all is well and baby Long is a healthy baby!!!!! And...pray that I won't worry about it in the meantime.