A New Meaning to Being Old

Now that baby #2 is entering the second trimester, we've entered the timeframe for prenatal genetic tests. Unlike our parents generation, there are various screening tests and diagnostic (more invasive) tests available now to detect birth defects or genetic disorders before the baby is born so that an informed decision can be made about whether a couple wants to bear the "burden" of having a child with genetic disorders or birth defects. I just had a prenatal genetic test done this morning called nuchal translucency ultrasound. Its main advantages are that it predicts the baby's odds of having Down's Syndrome or trisomy 18 or spina bifida. We did a similar one for Scarlett before she was born but it seemed less "scary" back then just because I was younger and definitely felt healthier. Well, now that I'm 35 years old, I've fallen into the bracket of "advanced maternal age", as indicated by the checkbox on my appointment form. I never thought of myself that way but it just makes me sound REALLY old. I still remember thinking that 30 years old was old and I definitely started feeling "old" (both physically and mentally) after having Scarlett but this brings a new dimension to my feeling of "oldness".
During our genetic counseling session, I was looking at the chart this morning of the odds of having a child with Down's syndrome or trisomy 18 based on age and it was rather depressing. Of course this chart doesn't factor in personal information (such as family history of genetic disorders or blood test results of protein/hormone levels) but the odds based strictly on age was not uplifting. The odds for Down Syndrome given my age now, compared to when I was pregnant with Scarlett, doubled! I also looked at the odds for mothers in their early 40's (I have a couple of mommy friends who are in this age bracket and are expecting another one this year) and it's rather scary! I'm a little rusty with my math sometimes but those odds are 1 in 34. Even though that's only ~3%, "1 in every 34 children" still sounds scary.
Well, after that depressing genetic counseling session, I had my ultrasound and the measurements and my blood test changed my overall odds for a Down's Syndrome baby to 1 in 3400. That definitely sounded much better, compared to 1 in 134 for people my age.