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by skt5 3 days ago
I'm in a similar boat too! I found verbalizing it with anyone who will listen helps the anxiety.
1 comments

Bayesian statistics to the rescue! You hear about the things that (can) go wrong a lot more, than the babies that are born without an issue. Basically, the opposite of survivorship bias? Anywho, millions of babies are born each day. Only 3-4% are born with a major birth defect or severe health issue (in the US) [0]. Now, a pregnant woman will undergo a routine screening, such as non-invasive prenatal test (NIPT) or a detailed anatomy ultrasound. With a positive test result, the probability of the baby being born healthy goes up to 99%+. Even with a negative test, the probability of the baby being healthy only drops to 80-50%, and then further testing will dial those probabilities in even more.

All this to say, all will be good – don't let the rare anecdotes get to you.

[0] https://www.cdc.gov/birth-defects/data-research/facts-stats/...