Statistics

The chance of having a bird poo on you is 5%

The chance of being struck by lightening is 1 in 3,000

The chance of having a baby with a heart defect is 1 in 125. Ish

The problem with statistics is that: statistics are just statistics until you become the 1. Then it doesn’t matter how many people have or haven’t gone before you. All that matters is that you are the 1… and in that moment you are the only 1 that has been or ever will be given that news. The chance of our baby having the specific type of heart defect is about 1 in 30,000. So with around 80,000 babies born in the UK per year, that’s less than 3 babies a year!

Me or my husband had no risk factors which would make it more likely for us to have a baby with a heart defect. It doesn’t run in either of our families, I took folic acid for the three month previous to getting pregnant, I don’t take any medication, and didn’t drink while pregnant and neither of us smoked. We were just really unlucky. Which doesn’t help any… but it the truth. The truth we have to make our own.

I decided not to have the 12 week screenings, not because I was afraid that something would be found, but more that it wouldn’t have made a difference it had.

I’m 32, which means even just by my age my risk factor is slightly higher than that of a younger women. Add in and takeaway other findings. I would have been given a risk factor depending on what had been thrown in to the calculations. But that’s all it is a risk factor. It wouldn’t have actually told me anything about the baby that I was carrying. It certainly wouldn’t have told me that I was at risk of having a baby with a serious heart defect.

I’ve seen mums been given relatively bad odds and have had a perfectly healthy baby. I’ve also seen mums be given great odds and ended up having a baby that has a chromosomal abnormality.

In my opinion screening, does one of two things: lures you into what could be a false sense of security, or can worry you senseless for the rest of your pregnancy for no reason. I didn’t want to be either side of the coin, so decided against it, but that is my choice and understand that people want to know and want to be prepared either way or make informed choices about their lives. But like I said statistics are just statistics.

The only thing that I can take from being the 1 to have such a special little baby is… carry on doing the lottery, cause you just might be the 1!