HI inlovewithjose,
I might have missed the boat on this one (just got back from my forst antenatal class - so you know mine has a good outcome so far!) but I thought I'd add my two-penn'th...
We has a very scary 12 week scan - similar to Patsy they diagnosed an exompahlos (wrongly, as it happened) and significant nucal thickening which they said gave us a 50% chance of a baby with Edwards (which has a 'not compatible with life' prognosis) and offered us a termination on the spot.
We asked for a second opinion and/or further tests and were refered to another hospital with a specialist fetal medicine unit, (the Homerton in Hackney, who I can't praise highly enough for they way the handed the whole situation).
They firstly did a further scan, and while they couldn't see the exomphalos (although they said they couldn't be 100% that it WASN"T there) the nucal fold reading was significantly higher than average and gave us a 1:50 chance of a baby with Edwards, Downs or other chromosomal problems.
The consultant then offered us a CVS. He said that it did carry a risk of miscarriage and that the official figure was 1:100, but that in his opinion it was likley to be much lower - and that babies who did miscarry following the procedure, he felt, were more likley to have had a problem which would ahve resulted in miscarriage anyway. He stressed that this wasn't the 'official line' but his opinion as a fetal medicine consultant of 20 years experience.
He said we needed to consider both what we would do with a positive result for a chromosomal disorder, but also whether we felt we could relax and enjoy the rest of the pregnancy not knowing for sure whether there was a problem.
We had, by this point, had 3 days of living hell, thinking that our baby was probably not going to live and I, personally, couldn't imagine going another 6 months not knowing - so for us it was a no-brainer: frankly I was in bits and needed to know one way or the other.
It was a slightly easier decision, maybe, because we had been looking at Edwards, and that was our primary concern and we knew that such a baby couldn't survive for long in any case. I don't know if it had "just" (I know one can't say 'just' but I hope you understand what i'm trying to say) been downs whether that would have made a difference.
We decided to go for it - and the procedure itself was absolutley fine. The most pain I felt was when the local anaesthetic needle hit my perineum and I jumped a mile (conultant just very calmly and poiltely asked if I could TRY not to move) but after that I felt nothing at all. The CVS needle is very long and scary-looking - so I chose to look the other way - just seeing DH's face as it went in was enough to convince me I didn't want to see! The whole procedure took a matter of minutes.
I was told I should take it easy for the rest of the day - but more because of the emotional strain I'd been through, rather than anything else, and otherwise to carry on as usual- and not to take bedrest as this would acually be counter-productive. I had no cramping or any other side effects at all.
We were told to expect the first results (for the 3 'main' trisomies - Down's, Edward's & Patau's) within a week and the rest after a coupe of weeks (they have to culture the sample and wait for it to 'grow' before being able to test for some things.
In actual fact we got the first all clear after 3 days (without paying a penny, BTW) and the rest after 2 weeks. It WAS the longest 3 days of my life, mind you, but very quick in the scheme of things.
You do have to think through the consequences, but also take into account how you're feeling, and how you'd be likley to handle the uncertainty for another 6 months if you chose not to go ahead with the test.
I wouldn't recommend waiting for an amnio, as the risks are similar, and I don't see the point in waiting until you're 20 weeks pregnant, by which time you're already feeling movements and also possibly LOOK quite pregnant. You have to make the same decisions, but I think they would be a lot harder to make at this point, and the ramifications more extreme.
I would recommend you speak at length with the consultant before having the test - get him/her to do a further detailed scan first and give you their opinion - and then take it from there. Bear in mind that just because you have the appointment, doesn't mean you HAVE to have the test... you CAN change your mind at any point.
I'm now 33 weeks with an apparently healthy baby girl who kicks the hell out of me all day and keeps me awake most of the night - and, (sleep deprivation aside) couldn't be happier. The odds are very much in your favour that you'll be similarly fine - so keep that in mind too. Pointless to say not to worry - but try of you can to look at the odds you have, and the fact that you'd probably stake hard cash on them quite happilky if they were offered at the grand national...
Sorry this is such a long post - I just know how desperate I was for any information when I was in your position, so I hope this helps.
Let us know how you get on?
Big hug,
DB
xx
p.s. Bonus is you get to know for definite what favour of baby - pink or blue - you're going to have... if you want to know, that is!