Gynae Follow-ups

newbiemom55

New Member
Hi,

I would like to find out from fellow mummies....is it normal to meet your gynae only once a month in the first trimester?

As I had previous miscarriage before, I was pretty surprised that the next appointment with my gynae will only be in my 4th month. 3rd month will be only going for down syndrome test, no routine checkup?

Is this considered normal, or should I be expecting more gynae visits in my first trimester?
 

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I don't think is normal. My friends who have miscarriage before their gynae will meet them more often. If you are normal then they will still meet u once every 4 weeks. For me, I am only meeting my gynae once during my first trimester cos i had normal pregnancy for my past two babies! so for this third one i am trying to save money so i will meet my gynae again when my package starts in the second trimester.

Maybe you want to consider changing your gynae?
 
hi mummy,

i also had a miscarriage before this preg. for the first trimester, my gynae made me go back for visits every 2 weeks until she was more confident that my baby is "stable" and then the appointment changed to monthly. if you dont feel so comfortable with monthly visits yet, i suggest maybe you might want to consider changing a gynae?
 
Hi all,

Thank you for all the advice, I ended up visiting a second gynae while I'm still waiting for the first gynae's appointment. I guess I will visit the second gynae in the meantime (because his appointment is more frequent) while I wait for the second trimester to arrive....and that is when all the appointment with the first gynae will then become a monthly affair.

Second gynae ask me to consider doing non-invasive prenatal testing (errr...)

I seldom hear people talking about non-invasive prenatal testing...wonder if it is worth the money. o_O
 
Is it to test for down syndrome? I took the oscars test because i'm still quite young. But if you are super worried, you can go for the harmony test. Can get to know baby's gender earlier too! :)
 
I had my 1st gynae check at 6 weeks 2 days ago and doctor asked me if I like to come back every week or every 2 weeks and I told him every week so that we can see how the baby progress each week. thought it'll be interesting to follow through :)
 
Hi all,

Thank you for all the advice, I ended up visiting a second gynae while I'm still waiting for the first gynae's appointment. I guess I will visit the second gynae in the meantime (because his appointment is more frequent) while I wait for the second trimester to arrive....and that is when all the appointment with the first gynae will then become a monthly affair.

Second gynae ask me to consider doing non-invasive prenatal testing (errr...)

I seldom hear people talking about non-invasive prenatal testing...wonder if it is worth the money. o_O

I did Oscar for my first child when I was 2-3 years younger. Didnt consider much as the non invasive test wasnt the mainstream and many went with Oscar.

Then I did Harmony for this pregnancy. My considerations: my age, accuracy and also the cost of bringing up a child is really getting higher. The price difference is in hundreds and sounds affordable now. I did NT scan for both Oscar and harmony options.

If either gives unfavourable result, usually the next course of action is still the amniocentesis test before a final decision is made.
 
It's not seldom.
DS testing is routine and all responsible OB should mention it to patients. Those that don't are not doing their jobs. All first round of DS tests are non invasive. Only if results are bad, would amniocentesis be recommended. Oscar is the cheap test that has a higher false positive rate. Expensive tests are Harmony, Panorama, Maternit21.
It should be done around week 15-17.

I'm surprised you haven't heard of it.

Hi all,

Thank you for all the advice, I ended up visiting a second gynae while I'm still waiting for the first gynae's appointment. I guess I will visit the second gynae in the meantime (because his appointment is more frequent) while I wait for the second trimester to arrive....and that is when all the appointment with the first gynae will then become a monthly affair.

Second gynae ask me to consider doing non-invasive prenatal testing (errr...)

I seldom hear people talking about non-invasive prenatal testing...wonder if it is worth the money. o_O
 
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Isn't OSCAR also non invasive? It's cheaper and less accurate than Panorama, Harmony, etc,how can it be invasive? Only Amnio is invasive and only amnio is diagnostic. All these non invasive tests are only "assessments". Older patients above 35 are directed to the expensive tests immediately.

I did Oscar for my first child when I was 2-3 years younger. Didnt consider much as the non invasive test wasnt the mainstream and many went with Oscar.

Then I did Harmony for this pregnancy. My considerations: my age, accuracy and also the cost of bringing up a child is really getting higher. The price difference is in hundreds and sounds affordable now. I did NT scan for both Oscar and harmony options.

If either gives unfavourable result, usually the next course of action is still the amniocentesis test before a final decision is made.
 
Isn't OSCAR also non invasive? It's cheaper and less accurate than Panorama, Harmony, etc,how can it be invasive? Only Amnio is invasive and only amnio is diagnostic. All these non invasive tests are only "assessments". Older patients above 35 are directed to the expensive tests immediately.

Yes Oscar is non invasive as well. when my gynae mentioned about non invasive prenatal testing NIPT, he is referring to the genetic testing by taking mummy's blood like harmony and panorama.
 
I am seeing KKH. They just informed me to go for Down Syndrome test (which comprises of blood test and scan) and if the results aren't favourable, then I have the option to go for Amniocentesis.

Unless you are saying the first test that I'm going for, actually refers to the OSCAR test that everyone here is talking about.. otherwise, KKH really didn't mention anything about OSCAR test and Harmony test.

The NIPT was suggested by the second private gynae, KKH didn't mention this also.

=/
 
I am seeing KKH. They just informed me to go for Down Syndrome test (which comprises of blood test and scan) and if the results aren't favourable, then I have the option to go for Amniocentesis.

Unless you are saying the first test that I'm going for, actually refers to the OSCAR test that everyone here is talking about.. otherwise, KKH really didn't mention anything about OSCAR test and Harmony test.

The NIPT was suggested by the second private gynae, KKH didn't mention this also.

=/
I think KKH offers the basic serum blood test or something no idea as I am not a kkh patient. Oscar already has such a high error rate. I can't imagine the competency of any test cheaper and below Oscar being good enough.

But Oscar test is really common among private patients and people are now increasingly going for more expensive and accurate tests than Oscar already due to increase in maternal age. Or could it be non invasive testing your gynae told you about is Oscar/Harmony/etc DS testing? I had never heard of anybody calling it non invasive testing, it sounds more like a description than an actual name. Your OB was probably informing you about the range of DS testing many women do nowadays. Seems like KKH is behind the curve.
 
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Yes Oscar is non invasive as well. when my gynae mentioned about non invasive prenatal testing NIPT, he is referring to the genetic testing by taking mummy's blood like harmony and panorama.
I see. As I'm going straight to Panorama, I don't know how Oscar is done. I thought it takes mommy'a blood too. It doesn't? So how does it screen?
 
Yes Oscar is non invasive as well. when my gynae mentioned about non invasive prenatal testing NIPT, he is referring to the genetic testing by taking mummy's blood like harmony and panorama.
I have my doubts about these assessment tests. Oscar (with high error rate)/Harmony all these are considered just assessment tests. They are not diagnostic in nature, which means depends on your heng suay. I know a woman who did an assessment test at Thomson, was given an all clear, and after the baby was born, she has DS. Not sure if she did Oscar or the better ones. I am asking her again when we meet. Now she's pregnant again, this lady has done Amnio after getting burnt the previous time. Oscar has a high error rate, but even the expensive test like Harmony, Panorama, Materniti21 only give a ratio. Like one in 50,000. When something bad happens, the doc will say oh you happen to be the "one". I'm not doing Oscar at all, but even though I'm doing Panorama, I'm not totally convinced. I asked my OB about just doing amnio and he advised me not to. We all know the risks la.
 
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I just asked the lady which test she did that gave her the all clear, and later her child had DS. She said Oscar.
As she was young at the time (20 something) her doctor thought Oscar was okay and she thought so too.
This shows that Oscar is so inaccurate and lousy, all the other younger mothers who did Oscar, had favorable result and later gave birth to normal babies, were just lucky. It's not that Oscar did its job or is a good test. The failure rate is just so high. It's a numbers games and because most babies don't have DS, millions of women just do Oscar, gave birth, and went away thinking it was a competent test. It isn't competent in its job of screening at all.
 
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I just asked the lady which test she did that gave her the all clear, and later her child had DS. She said Oscar.
As she was young at the time (20 something) her doctor thought Oscar was okay and she thought so too.
This shows that Oscar is so inaccurate and lousy, all the other younger mothers who did Oscar, had favorable result and later gave birth to normal babies, were just lucky. It's not that Oscar did its job or is a good test. The failure rate is just so high. It's a numbers games and because most babies don't have DS, millions of women just do Oscar, gave birth, and went away thinking it was a competent test. It isn't competent in its job of screening at all.

Yes i think the blood test are not diagnostics. Though they are more accurate, there's still a very small percentage of error. That's why these tests never promise 100% accuracy. Oscar in comparison has higher error.

From the story you shared, maybe even young mums should consider the more accurate tests.
 
no problem at all @singingotter =)

I think panorama is much more comprehensive than the down syndrome test because it checks for other anomalies other than down syndrome. I cannot compare Oscar test and Harmony test because I am not introduced to both.

you might want to refer to this https://www.natera.com/panorama-test/what-it-screens for the list of items screened under panorama:

I personally opt for both, because (1) I want a more comprehensive non-invasive screening for baby which KKH doesn't seem to offer (2) I am not sure how accurate the Down Syndrome test at KKH can be. I can use the panorama's down syndrome's screening component to compare the result with that of KKH's. In the event both Down Syndrome test and Panorama test give us bad/good/conflicting news, my husband and I believe that the results can ensure that we make a more well-informed decision moving forward.

just my 2 cents worth, hope this helps :)
 
I did Panorama (I was charged $1200) and results were good!!
Panorama also told me I'm expecting a baby boy.

By the way just to clear things up.
Panorama and harmony are DNA tests (non invasive testing). Although they are not diagnostic the way amnio is, they have a 99 percent screening rate (the answers are given as probability in ratio form). A diagnostic test means something you do to know if you have tio a certain illness. There is only an answer either YES or NO. For e.g. A biopsy is a diagnostic test for cancer. So is amnio. But it carries with it a 0.1 or 0.01% chance of miscarriage.

Between Harmony and Panorama, panorama is more accurate. The published accuracy rates are somewhere online in their websites of the companies that offer the test. Panorama is offered by Natera. Panorama is also more accurate for the telling of the baby'a gender so I feel it's overall better than Harmony. My husband and I felt a major sense of relief after that. Worth the money.
 
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