amnio at 14 weeks?

[RingEir]

Hello,

I have just come across mumsnet recently, and it has been a godsend, this thread in particular has opened my eyes to so many things.

I live in Spain and last week (it feels like much longer) I received disappointing results from my combined test.

NT 1.31
PAPPA - A 0.45
HCG - 3.78

The nuchal result is ok (as far as I understand) but the bloods are bad, and in combination with my age (38) comes out at a 1:50 chance of Down's. I have read the stories of several women here who have/had much worse odds and everything turned out ok, but I can't stop thinking, what if I am the unlucky one?

Anyway, the Dr just made me an apt for the amnio, and told me that I could just cancel if I changed my mind. I was in such shock, I just dumbly went along with everything.

DH and I talked about it and we agreed that despite the risks we would go ahead with the amnio because we just need to know either way. Since I have heard the news I have been avoiding family and friends (which is fairly easy as I live abroad) and I just feel like our lives are on hold until we know one way or the other.

However, I notice that in the UK this procedure is usually done at 16 weeks, whereas I will be having it at 14. I want to get it over and done with asap, but this is making me feel even more worried. Everyone here seems to be having a CVS at this stage - this was never mentioned as an option to us.

Sorry, didn't mean to go on for quite so long, but I haven't told anyone so it's good to get it off my chest.

Thanks for reading.

I don't really want to worry you but since you asked - I have heard there are increased risks with amnios before 16 weeks. It's something to do with the separation of the sacs or something I don't fully understand/haven't looked into but there is a physical reason why it's riskier earlier on. As far as I'm aware in the US it's a similar policy too - 16 weeks.

Fewer places do CVS as it requires more skill and is more risky as well which may be why it wasn't offered to you.

Can you get a detailed ultrasound to tide you over until 16 weeks? It may reassure you if no soft markers are found.

Thanks for your feedback Sparklies. It seems that this is the normal procedure in Spain, so it never occurred to me to question it until I read some of the posts on MN.

You might be right about the CVS. It's just frustrating that we haven't been given all the information about this, and certainly no counselling or anything.

I will check out the ultrasound possibility, sounds like a good option.

I have just had an amnio in the Netherlands. I was told they do them here from 14.5 weeks, but they prefer to wait to 15 weeks as their stats show it is safer from that time.

To be honest, I personally think the key thing is to find out about the person who will actually do the procedure. How much experience do they have? What are their own personal statistics as to adverse outcomes from the procedure.

For what it's worth, I had mine done at 15 weeks exactly as I was comfortable with the experience level of the doctor who did mine.

Well, I went as planned and told the doctor my worries. He said I was absolutely right, and that there had been mistake with my dates. They only do the testing from 15 weeks, but he said that was not for safety, but that they couldn't grow the cultures from liquid extracted before that. He gave me another appointment, but in the meantime I decided that I just wasn't comfortable with the whole thing and cancelled.

Glad to hear you had a good experience expat.