I had a little girl 7.5 months ago. My wife and I were both 37 so that puts us in the high risk category for a first child. We went through the counseling about all the testing available - did our research and made our decision. The odds of us having a baby born with Downs was extremely high. We decided to do the CVS test which is invasive and could result in a miscarriage - my wife had a miscarriage during our first pregnancy. Even with the risk of another miscarriage, it was important to us to have a healthy child.
A friend of mine had her first child at age 38 - no testing - unfortunately her daughter was born with Downs.
One side of the testing debate is that it is selfish not to bring a child into this world if you know ahead of time about a birth defect - the other side wonders if it is fair to the child to be knowingly brought into the world with defects. That is why we all get to make our own decisions.
Here is the result of our delimna.
