silver it's a really tough choice. It really depends on what choices you'd make.
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If you would NEVER EVER terminate for Downs, there's almost no point having an amnio with its risk of MC other than that you can be prepared. However you may wish to have the nuchal scan which gives you a decent risk % with more than just your age to take into account. It's been reassuring for all of us - from the same sort of age risk as you have to 1 in much larger hundreds or even thousands.
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You can go through scan and test and still not have a healthy baby - or - you can be reassured by tests and still not be guaranteed a healthy baby. Because Downs is the single highest risk of mental retardation it's why most (many?) people test (at least by scan) for it, but of course there are squillions of other things which can go wrong which may or may not be picked up on in utero. Then life happens. For instance, my friend has 7 kids (2 called the same name, long story), one of whom has cerebral palsy (very seriously) and another who broke his neck aged 20 and is in a wheelchair. So in the end at some point each of us has to make the decision that "that's enough". Where you draw the line is up to you.
It's a horrible set of decisions and I don't envy you. I've got week 20 scan next week and I'm a bit nervous because of family genetics problems, although our worst testing was week 12 scans because not only did we have the nuchal to get through, but we were also trying to see if the baby has all its limbs as its daddy is missing bits and pieces (nothing necessary, obviously ) and his cousins are also missing limbs/ears/stuff. It looked like they were all there at 12 weeks but we will see more detail this time.
The question there is, a missing arm is ok, a missing leg is ok - but what about all arms and legs missing? We just didn't have the answers and fortunately it doesn't seem that we need to.
I also want the 20 week scan because my brother was born with a severe bowel problem which he nearly died from and now in his 30s, thanks to major emergency surgery at 2 weeks old, still has problems with. Had he been scanned at 20 weeks (which obv wasn't available then) it would have been picked up on and fixed immediately after birth with much better outcome.
Our final (screwed up) family history is that my Gran gave birth to a stillborn baby girl in her 40s, with spina bifida and hydrocephalus. When LC was born there was some concern as he has a brown mark over his spine at the bottom, but it turned out to be a dark birthmark which has migrated slightly to the side now, and wasn't an indication of SB. Gran's diet was always rubbish anyway so that's probably what happened to her baby.
It's a stressful time where you are, but there will get to a point where you can sit back and relax and enjoy it, I promise! How many weeks are you now?