[sue72]

Hi Everyone

I'm debating on whether to have an amnio done. My first trimester screening results came back with low odds of having a child with chromosomal abnormalities. I was initially having twins but lost one early in the pregnancy. Therefore a blood test couldn't be done along with the ultrasound so the results are only 60% accurate. If anyone can please share their amnio experience and thoughts, it would really help. Thanks for listening.

Sue

[futuremom2b]

Sue,
I assume your topic has a HUGE range of thoughts and opinions....
I think what I would do is decide if I would terminate the pregancy if some thing was wrong ~ and if the response was "NO WAY", I would not have an amnio done. If my response was different I would have to explore that a bit further with a genetic counselor.

I would work with a Perinate (specialist) and get regular screenings with a good ultra sound and after watching the measurements you should be able to know more as the baby grows should you decide that you don't want an amnio, but still want to be prepared.
With our twins I tested higher for downs due to advanced maternal age (I'm 34), we decided not to do the amnio because we would keep and love the babies the same no matter what and both DH and I were on the same page about it. However, we did want to be prepared if we could, so at all of our measurement screenings (I think I have had 5 so far), every thing looks great and they USUALLY see signs ~ my Perinate said there has only been once in her 10 years that the screenings didn't show the baby had an issue.
I assume people didn't respond to your post because it's such a personal decision.

[pgcarrie]

I'm with futuremom2B on this one. It is a huge personal decision.

We had an elevated risk for Downs after doing our quad screen. I'd been thinking I wouldn't do the quad screen and for some reason at the last minute decided to do it... then regretted it when we got that result, because our risk level is now 1 in 93, which is still incredibly low, and yet it created all of these questions. We ultimately decided not to do an amnio. It was a tough decision because my SO felt he might consider terminating if we had a positive amnio and I completely respected his perspective, but at that point in the pregnancy where I was showing and could feel the baby, I just didn't think I could terminate unless something incompatible with life showed up. We then went on to have a great ultrasound where everything looked perfect. I think if something iffy had shown up, I might have thought about doing an amnio just to confirm it. We are going to have another ultrasound in two weeks (at 28 weeks) to check his measurements again. Our ob/gyn offered this up as an alternative and I feel really good about this... if anything was amiss we would hopefully see it on the ultrasound and then at least we would be prepared. So we don't have 100% security, but you really never do... really, you'll probably be worried about something for the rest of your life with your child so might as well get used to a little uncertainty!

Hope that helps.