There is going to be a Baby Tall!! (Future and current Dad's thread)

[Mano]

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On a serious note, does anyone have any thoughts on testing the baby for Genetic/Birth Defects and the whatnot. I have heard it was possible, but I don't really have any more info that that. Can anyone shed some light on that sort of thing? Never thought I would be posting in a thread like this. This board is now like the 8th person to know. LOL, I need more friends...

C-Dog

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I am not a doctor, but went through a [censored] of testing when my wife was pregnant.

If your wife is over 35, they've probably recommend she have an amnio, which involves actually drawing some amniotic fluid out of her and testing it. The results from amnios are pretty definitive, but there is SOME risk involved with the procedure. I think over the age of 35 the risk of birth defects, etc, exceeds the risk from the amnio so they go ahead with it.

My wife and I both have lots of funky health issues so we met with a geneticist and were tested for a bunch of stuff. If you and your wife are from the same ethnic background/area of the world originally, especially Jews from Eastern Europe, I think there's some higher risk.

Talk to her OB. If she's under 35 and you both have no history of genetic disorders I think there are some simple blood tests they can do that will reduce the likelihood of birth defects to a really small number.

And congratulations!

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They have some blood tests for Down's syndrome, and can pick up stuff on the ultra-sound (especially the second one). If they need to be sure of something they do an Amnio or a fetal biopsy, but there is always a small chance (about .5%) of these procedures triggering a miscarriage, so usually only done if there are some other strong indicators that something may be wrong.