Should we go for an amnio?

[Onlyconnect]

I am 45 and unexpectedly pregnant. I have had the 12 week scan and blood tests and have been given odds of Down's of 332:1.
I have been told that we could still go for an amnio despitethese low odds. This has placed me in a dilemma. Although these are low odds (in fact until I was told I could still have an amneo I thought it wouldn't be made available to me with those odds), there is astill a chance I could have a Down's baby. My partner and I had decided we would treminate a pregnancy if the baby was Down's.
The main reason I am thinking I don't want the amnio is because the whole thing will drag on yet further when in fact I alreday have a pretty good answer. I have found the last few weeks very difficult. I have been extreemly worried and becuase we haven't told anyone about the pregnancy I haven't had anyone aprt from my partner to talk to. I have found it a real strain keeping it sectret, partly because I've been feeling pretty ill too.
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

42, and 16 weeks into a very very unexpected pregnancy,
NOT having Amnio as would not terminate so don't see the point in taking the risk.
I Felt very different at 12 weeks though. I was still coming to terms with the pregnancy. It sounds to me like your still in shock. Now i'm loving being pregnant and really looking forward to being a mum again (my DD are 22 &25)
take your time and take care of yourself, do whats right for you. xx

You might be interested in the following from this NHS leaflet

"Rapid Results
The rapid testing (called PCR or FISH) can be performed in addition to the karyotype test. Rapid testing will be done if there is very high suspicion of a problem, or as a private test. This test is limited to examining for three chromosome abnormalities:
? Down?s syndrome (trisomy 21) ? Edward?s syndrome (trisomy 18) ? Patau?s syndrome (trisomy13)
The results take about 3-4 working days."

Not to say that you shouldn't have an Amnio (I had a CVS a couple of months ago and can completely understand the need to be sure) but your risk level is really pretty good considering that your age would have put you at a starting risk of something like 1 in 35.

I found Ante natal results and choices brilliant they can provide counselling and advice over the phone and their website is probably the best I read.

www.arc-uk.org

Good luck whatever you decide xx

the miscarriage risk is NOT 1:100 from amnio. Even in the rural areas the risk is much lower but in a big city in a clinic where they do a lot of such procedures, the risk is like 1:1000. I plan to do amnio even though I am still waiting for the non-invasive test results