Safe test (NHS) or Harmony test? Any advice?

[Riri88]

Hello everyone. So I had my initial screening back after my 12 week scan and bloods and I am low risk for the 3 main chromosomal abnormalities. Now the NHS could still offer me the NIPT test (SAFE as they call it) but will have to pay for it myself (£350) or we could go private and do a Harmony test which is likely a bit more but could also include the babies gender. Just wondering if anyone done any of these and if there is any advice on which might be better?

Part of me thinks via the NHS might be better due to after care etc but we would like to know the gender and that is not possible via the SAFE NHS test. But then there are so many clinics, how do you know which ones are trustworthy and using proper labs etc? I am in the Kingston/Sunbury area of that helps in terms of clinics if anyone is local?

Any advice is welcome!

[Fudge1980]

My initial test came back low risk I didn’t do any other test. Then we found out the gender at a private scan at 14wks 💗 It’s personal choice to do more tests x

[Sunflower35]

Hi Riri88! Glad it all came back low risk. If you still want to do the test to get more reassurance and would like to find out the gender, then go ahead! It all depends on what you feel the test will do for you. I did the Harmony test as I had to terminate a previous pregnancy due to foetal abnormalities and didn’t want to go through the same heartbreak, so the harmony test gave us reassurance that everything was ok at 10 weeks already, allowing me to be less anxious. Knowing the gender was a plus too! If you are mainly concerned about gender, then perhaps book an earlier scan (which would be cheaper)? Considering that you would still need to wait about a week for the results of the harmony test, maybe you want to have a scan as Fudge suggested at 14 weeks and try your luck? I booked a private scan at 16 weeks with a great clinic that completed the same checks that the 20 week scan covers (I didn’t think I could face 8 weeks not knowing how the baby was doing!), which reassured me that baby is doing well and they could also tell the gender at that point. You hopefully have some options depending on your concerns 😊.

[Riri88 in reply to Sunflower35]

Thank you and also for you advice Fudge1980

I know it is a personal choice and I think indeed I am low risk with this. Sometimes I wonder if doing more tests gives re assurance yet you can go overboard as well and nothing is ever 100% certain anyway. Perhaps should have another chat with my hubby and definitely would agree that a private scan is much cheaper than the harmony test 🤔

Will have another think 😅🙈

[Pupster83]

I had initial tests done and they came back low risk so I haven’t done anything further. I had bleeds at 14 and 15 weeks so I ended up at the early pregnancy unit who did an extra scan to check everything was ok and we have had an excellent nhs consultant who has scanned me every month since 20 weeks just to keep an eye on bub and make sure everything is ok. I also caught covid at 21 weeks and had some further bleeding as a result of all the coughing. I’m now 32 weeks and had a growth scan on Monday which showed bub is 97th percentile (my friend thinking I’m growing a baby elephant! 🤣) and that heart, umbilical cord etc are all working just as they should so all the extra scans have provided lots of reassurance along the way. I also haven’t wanted to know the gender so that was never an issue. Unless you are concerned that the initial tests may have missed something and you feel you need the extra reassurance of further tests I think I would just book an early scan. That way you can spend the difference on something nice for yourself or the baby. Good luck with whatever you decide. X

[Chiefy]

When we came back low risk for the chromosomal abnormalities we didn't bother with the additional testing as it doesn't cover every eventuality. Everything for the baby costs so much we put the money towards baby instead.

[Fruitandflowers]

We weren't recommended to have any additional screening as the initial results were low risk but on gender, we had a private scan at 16weeks - it was about £60 and the same place I'd been for earlier private scans and I trusted them. It was very obvious what the gender was at that point Then the NHS sonographer offered to tell us the gender at our 20 week scan if we didn't know it already so you may also be offered that but I think it's discretionary.

[Daffodil99]

We had the Harmony test at 10 weeks ....and I'm glad we did as midwife said it's more accurate than NHS test, so they haven't tested us at our NHS 12 week scan. So it's really good for reassurance (which is what we wanted) but as others said it definitely wasn't cheap. We could have found out gender but decided not to. Not sure i'll be able to stick to that for whole pregnancy though!

[Riri88]

Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences! I think we are deciding not to do the extra tests as we are low risk and it is a lot of money plus indeed sex can be found out with the scans. Been reading up on the false positive chances as well and I think it might just give extra stress that might not be needed and even if it comes back high risk, I would not go ahead with further invasive testing as wouldn’t risk a miscarriage and we would go ahead with the pregnancy anyway, therefor we decided the tests are actually not useful in that case.

But your message have definitely helped making up our minds, so thank you all!