Amniocentisis

[Pinkcasi]

Hi everyone, I'm new to this particular part of the site.

I am 14 weeks today and I had my scan on tuesday, I was so worried as I had some bleeding early on and despite having a scan at 6 weeks and baby being ok I was I think understandably concerned. The sonographer said everything was perfect and she was happy with everything.
I opted to have all the tests for downs Edwards and the other one and as I'm 37 I knew my risks are higher.
After the scan we announced to everyone and were totally over the moon.
I went to work on the Wed and told all my colleauges.
I then got a phone call from the hospital and my numbers are 1:105 I'm booked in for an amniocentisis on 30th aug but I'm the meantime I can't stop crying.
I just don't know what to do with myself, my partner says to not think about it until we know one way or another but I'm now freaking out about the test and the miscarriage risk. My head is just buzzing with everything and I have a 2.5 year old who looks at me all sad when I burst into tears.
I don't know what the point of this post is, I just have no one to talk to as my partner just worries about me and I don't want to tell too many people as I can't handle the pity on their faces, my mother in law insinuated that I wouldn't be able to cope and that it would t be fair on our daughter to have to take 22nd place if she had a poorly sibling, so we know where she stands. Terminating the pregnancy is not an option. That's not why I'm having the test, I'm having it because I can't cope with the anxiety, I'll need to plan.

 

[Septie]

For your age, 1:105 is actually not that far from normal (I didn't look at the stats, but I am also an older mom and unfortunately know the facts). So I don't think your tests were all that bad. Indeed, I think for 35 year olds without further tests, the chances are around 1:250 which is why they recommend amnio from that age onward; so with your being older, you'd expect things to be even worse. So your bloods or nuchal transclucency could have just been slightly off to give you a 1:105 reading (for a 20 year old, with a much better baseline risk, bloods/nuchal would have to be much worse to get a 1:105 risk). So getting pregnant at your age, you must have known that our risk is quite high to begin with. Please don't worry too much about this phone call and decide if you want the amnio based on that risk. You can also chat with the doctor and ask what was off in your testing, and by how much it was off!

 

[cnote]

1/105 is really not that bad, and I think you should feel very optimistic. That's a less than 1% chance that anything is wrong. And truly, that's probably about the average for the whole population.

My baby had a 1/5 chance, which has now decreased to about a 1/10 chance. But think about it - that's still a 90% chance that everything is probably okay. Point being - there are far worse odds you can have, and even those odds aren't all that bad! Try to relax and not let your imagination take you to the dark side for no reason.

 

[MoBaby]

Why not do non invasive fetal DNA test first? Your risk isn't that bad. Less than1% chance. I was 1:18 and baby is fine. The risk of amnio is 2% for miscarriage- higher than your current risk ratio. I would do non invasive first then if issue go to amnio. Just because your risk is lower than mc risk from amnio. These screening test are awful. They make so many women worry.

 

[BunnyN]

With DS I had something like a 1:8 chance of something being wrong based on the NT measurement alone. Personally I didn't feel an amnio was an option for me because of the risk so we decided to do the harmony test. Its a bit pricey but it gave us peace of mind without any risk( it came back negative ). It isnt as accurate as an amnio but was close enough to put my mind at rest. We also found out we were having a boy .

 

[Pinkcasi]

Thank you ladies that's all very reassuring and my mum said I'd you're not planning to end the pregnancy then is it worth having the test'.
My partner is adamant on having the test as although termination is not an option he feels we need to plan, I suffer terribly with anxiety and depression and don't think I could cope with not knowing.
The harmony test isn't an option unfortunately we just can't afford it.
At the scan the sonographer said she was very happy with the fluid so I don't think it was that.
I'm at peace with it now if it's positive then we'll cope it'll be fine. Now I just have anxiety about the mc risk and how I'm going to manage to rest afterwards with a 2.5 year old.

 

[twinkletots]

Thank you ladies that's all very reassuring and my mum said I'd you're not planning to end the pregnancy then is it worth having the test'.
My partner is adamant on having the test as although termination is not an option he feels we need to plan, I suffer terribly with anxiety and depression and don't think I could cope with not knowing.
The harmony test isn't an option unfortunately we just can't afford it.
At the scan the sonographer said she was very happy with the fluid so I don't think it was that.
I'm at peace with it now if it's positive then we'll cope it'll be fine. Now I just have anxiety about the mc risk and how I'm going to manage to rest afterwards with a 2.5 year old.

The screening test has a high rate of false positives so I would say the chances are that everything is absolutely fine.

I had an amniocentesis in my last pregnancy and although I had cramping for a couple of days, I was back at work the day after plus I had a six month old to look after and recovered no problem.

If you do get a positive result, which is still unlikely, you will have the rest of the pregnancy to prepare so by the time your little one arrives, you will be ready to celebrate them in to the world
Good luck X X

 

[Moom7900]

I agree that if you would continue the pregnancy, it's not worth having a procedure that carries a 1% risk of miscarriage. It doesn't make sense - the procedure is a higher risk than the odds that you have been given, you have a LESS than one percent chance of something being wrong, and that is only a statistic given from tests that DO have a high false positive rate. If you can have non-invasive testing, I'd definitely suggest that route instead, and while I understand your partner wanting to know, he cannot force you to have a procedure that presents a small risk to your baby. Try not to worry too much, as another poster has said, your age is taken into account when giving you these odds, so it seems unlikely that there is anything drastically wrong with your measurements and bloods etc xxxxxx

 

[Mrs W 11]

I had a 1 in 110 risk and I didn't have the amnio for the reasons stated above. The miscarriage rate is higher than the chance of having a baby with downs. Also, you only have 6 weeks until your 20 week scan, why don't you wait for that or book a private scan a bit sooner as if baby does have downs they are highly likely to see some markers at the anomaly scan. That's what I did, no markers were seen and baby was born healthy and doesn't have downs. Did they tell you why your risk is increased? Mine was age (35) and a very low Papp a. It won't just be your age, it will also be linked to high hcg, low papp a or increased nuchal fold or a combo of those.

Of course the decision is yours and only you know what is right for you but I know I couldn't have lived with myself if I'd miscarried because of the test. Good luck x

 

[Pinkcasi]

I had the amnio last week, i know what you're all saying but we felt that we needed to know one way or the other so we could be prepared, i suffer terribly with anxiety and i don't think i could go the whole pregnancy not knowing, just one week was bad enough.

as it turns out everything is totally fine and baby is a boy.

we've very relieved.

 

[BunnyN]

Thats great news.

 

[MoBaby]

Great news! Congrats.

 

[bcos21]

Wonderful news, I hope this relieves your anxiety 😊

 

[mizzyb]

Good news about the result. I am pregnant with twins and one had a 5.5 nuchal and 1 in 5 chance of downs and same for edwards and patau. I had the private NIPT test and all as come back clear! however the nipt only tests for downs, edwards and patau and now the midwife has asked whether I want the amnio to rule out more of the rarer conditions. I am now totally unsure what to do! should I just trust there is no other chromosone issue? when you get the amnio results do they mention what exactly they test for that is different from a Nipt test? I am leaning towards not having the amnio and wait for the detailed heart scans (another reason babies can have high nuchal) thanks for any advice from anyone who has had an amnio.