1 in 9 chance of downs syndrome. Do I have an amniocentesis?

[lolliehp]

Hello, I am currently 17 weeks pregnant and have just been given the results of my quad blood test and they have said my chance of a downs syndrome baby is very high at 1:9. I wouldn?t have a termination as the baby is wanted whatever the result but I am struggling to work out whether I should have an amniocentesis so that we can prepare ourselves for what to expect over the next few months.

I suffer with depression and am scared that I would not be able to cope as I already have a 5 year old. My partner and myself realise it is not the end of the world to have a downs child but its all come as such a shock. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

If you are going to continue the pregnancy then you do not need the amnio, we have been advised against it as miscarrage rate is 2% due to test but they are looking for other markers to see where on the scale baby is. They look for nasal bone, thigh length, fluid on brain, heart valves etc and these should give you some indication as to where your baby will be on the spectrum. Positive thoughts coming your way x

I had the blood tests and scan at the London Fetal Centre which were non evasive and gave me enough comfort to go ahead with dc3.... it wasn't conclusive, but enough for me and dh

have it. where i come from almost everyone has it (in fact its considered careless to not have it), even young mothers without any obvious risk factors. i mean, without any relation to if you want to keep it or not, do you really want to spend the next few months oscillating between best and worst scenario? go find an expensive specialist with a really really good risk rate (shop around for the doctor with the best statistics) and find out - the pressure of not knowing what to expect will ruin your whole pregnancy and probably affect your baby as well. i have a little bit of experience as i was classified as a high risk pregnancy from the beginning because my doctor thought i had CMV, and until the amnio in week 20 we didnt even know whether we would keep the baby. in the end it turned out that i had a bad doctor and that it physically i couldnt even have contracted cmv and that the baby was completely fine, but it really started the pregnancy off the wrong foot, and even months after that we found it difficult to relax.
please dont put yourself under all this stress, when you can make an informed decision to go to a specialist with great statistics and get some peace of mind...