While most associate pregnancy with joy and celebration, it can also be a sensitive time for the mother and the unborn child. In some cases, it is not clear who the father of the child might be. To clarify this, a prenatal paternity test can be conducted to determine the paternity of the child. If you are in this situation, then you might want to know the procedure or steps involved to take this test.
Essentially, taking a prenatal paternity test can be summarized in 5 steps:
Convincing Your Partner
Either the potential father or the mother might be the one who wants to get the paternity test. In both cases, it is very important to get the consent of your partner so that they willingly give their DNA sample, except for rare legal scenarios where a court order is involved. Hence, the very first step to getting this test is to convince your partner, as knowing the paternity will answer a lot of important questions.
Research About Different Methods
In essence, paternity tests can be classified as Non-Invasive Prenatal Paternity Test and Invasive Prenatal Paternity Test. In the former, only the mother’s blood sample is required, as it also contains free cell fetal DNA, and a sample from the potential father of course for comparison. It is completely risk-free and takes only a moment to get the samples.
As for the invasive method, it involves either amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling, both quite risky procedures that can lead to miscarriage if not conducted properly. Hence, these methods are used for extreme cases only, primarily to determine genetic disorders or congenital anomalies in the unborn child.
Contact A Credible Prenatal Lab
Professional prenatal labs, such as Prenatal Genetics, are known for their highly accurate and affordable tests. Simply contact a lab you trust and they will send out a sample collection kit to your home, so you can do it yourself from the comfort of your home.
Submit Your Samples
Once the blood sample from the mother and the DNA sample from the potential father has been collected, simply go to a nearby local lab or a pharmacy to submit it. Even if the local labs are not equipped for non-invasive prenatal paternity tests, they can always send it to another lab that is better equipped to conduct the test.
Wait For Results
After submitting the samples, your part is done. Now, you have to wait patiently for 5-8 business days to receive the results of the paternity test. Please note that these tests are very accurate (99.9 percent accuracy rate), hence the results are extremely conclusive. Thus, once the results are in, the potential father can be either confirmed as the biological parent or can be ruled out with absolute certainty.
To conclude, if you follow these 5 steps, then getting a prenatal paternity test can be a hassle-free experience.
A genetic testing laboratory with state-of-the-art equipment, Prenatal Genetics is established by research scientists who are experts in non-invasive human DNA diagnostics. To know more about our tests and pricing, contact us today.
