They gave me info about these at my appt Wed and I was just curious who has done them or hasn't done them and your reasons and were you glad you made that decision when all was said and done? My initial thinking is not to do them because while it would allow us time to prepare ourselves emotionally and in other ways, it also would be a huge stressor throughout the rest of the pregnancy. Just curious how others have viewed these and if you made different decisions for different pregnancies?

TIA.

I did the blood test screenings during my pregnancies. My reasoning was this: I had a close friend at the time whose daughter has spina bifida. Because she did the screening ahead of time she was able to have surgery on her little daughter at like 20 weeks (or close to that!). They put her back in the womb after the surgery and she was born around 40 weeks as per usual. Because she had the surgery before she was born, she is now able to walk! Most spinia bifida babies either die or can't walk or something similar. Just my experience...

We had some bloods , but none to point out any defects or anything like that , for us we had, had some fertility issues and at that point it didn't matter to us if ther had been anything wrong. saying that i did have the routine 20wk scan and that is more detailed , so it would have picked up certain things. I don't think there is a right or wrong , it's up to you and how you feel.

I don't. (Well, except the 20 week ultrasound. That one is fun!) Knowing things in advance (and often some of those things are *maybes*, not guarantees) won't change anything for us. (Although I had never heard of the kind of surgery Kate mentioned.) All knowing would do is let me stress out excessively over something I can't do anything about, can't completely understand until baby is born, or over something that won't be confirmed until baby is born. JMO

I chose not to do the invasive tests such as the amnio that is usually recommended. I did routine lab work, urine screenings, glucose testing and ultrasounds as needed for normal checkup on babies growth, etc.

My main reason both times for not doing more invasive testing was cost. I just couldn't afford with either pregnancy to have "optional" tests done.

No specific reason or feeling for or against them.

I do know that our friend Amber here had testing & found out at just 13 weeks with Noah about his defects. And although I know it was harder on her throughout her pregnancy knowing he wouldn't make it, I truly feel that God's hand was on her because it helped them to have time to prepare and be able to enjoy the few hours they did have with him rather than be in such grief & shock during that time.

Thank you all again for the feedback. It has given me some things to talk with DH about for us to consider that we would not have thought about.