Amnio or not?

[Anglaise]

I'm 40 and 15 weeks pregnant. My nuchal scan result came in at 1:550, which is a lot better than the normal 1:87 for my age. My dilemma is that I don't know whether to have an amnio or not now! I live in France and here it is usually strongly advised for results of 1:250 or less, but is up to me to decide. Any advice or experience would be appreciated!

My triple test came back at 1:179 and classed as high risk. I was offered the amnio but because we decided that if it came back positive we wouldn't do anything so there was not point. I guess it depends on what you would do? We still wanted more information and ended up having a nuchal fold test and a fourth hormone test, risk came back as 1 in thousands, not a difinitive diagnosis but made for a less stressful pregnancy. Tough decision, good luck

If it was me
I wouldn't with the risk having gone down so much for you

Anglaise,
Its a really difficult decision. I am 27 and I had the triple test and results came back as 1 in 110. We had the amnio and had no problems. The amnio itself didn't hurt and there were no side effects. I was worried about the risk of miscarriage but we had a very confident doctor do it and afterwards I juiced up lemons and ginger and apples and drank this for a few days as it is supposed to help fight infection. (Not sure if it helped but it made me feel like I was doing something constructive) 1 in 550 are really good odds so it really may not be necessary unless you are going to spend the rest of the pregnancy worrying about it. I also have a friend who is 46 and on third pregnancy and she had the CVS and everything was fine.

Hi there,
not been in your situation, but in general I would think that if you feel you would keep the Baby anyway, then it might not be worth the risk, but if you have strong feelings about having a possibly disabled child and would like all the info possible to make a decision, then you probably would want an Amnio!
Friend of mine had an amnio with her ds,they found out that he would possibly have a learning disability, but they could not tell her to what extent...well, he is now 3 and has been diagnosed with Autism.
My friend says, that if she does fall pg again (they are ttc) she would decide against an amnio, as all it did was make her worried more and spoiled the pg and that they would keep the child anyway, so, an amnio seems pointless!

I should have given more info - I'm moreorless a single mother (DP works away a lot) with my ownn businees and DD of 5, so bringing up a disabled child would be very difficult. That is why I've been considering an amnio. My dilemma is that the risk of miscarriage following and amnio is greater than that of having a disabled child. All your replies are very helpful to me, many thanks!

Hi, Im 23yrs old and am currently 33weeks pregnant. As i am young and have no health problems i naively assumed my test results would be fine so i was shocked when it came back 1:150. I was offered amnio as nothing else was available by this stage and my personal decision was not to go ahead as i would not of done anything if the results had come back as there being a problem and i could not have lived with myself if i had miscarried, thats not to say i didnt want to know, if there was a totally safe way of finding out i would have done it. It is very much a personal choice i think and one you have to decide yourself but since i found out i have spoken to people on this site who have had babies with special needs and it does help. Hope everything goes well (sorry for the long post) x

Hi. I'm 34 and my results came back 1:50. After much talking through with dh, decided to have amnio. Everything proved to be OK and now I have a new bundle of joy to keep me up at nights. I think you have to ask yourself if you had a downs child, could you cope? If not, then I would have an amnio. If you feel that it wouldn't make a difference if the child was 'special' then what's the point of putting yourself through an amnio? For me and dh and our existing ds, we felt that we needed to know and were prepared to make that difficult decision to terminate should the result not be as we had hoped. Everyone is different and everyone has different views on the subject. I think you need to ask yourself if you could terminate if something was shown to be wrong. TBH, your results aren't that high risk. Don't forget, it takes into account a lot of other factors such as your height, weight, exercise level, blood group, etc. Good luck whatever you decide.

Hi Anglaise, I'm in France too, and as well as a nuchal scan I had the possibility of doing a tri-test (bloods) which refined the odds before having to decide on an amnio. I would do that before, as it could make your odds even better and is risk-free.

Given that the odds also include your age, do you know how low it is actually possible for your odds to go? I ask as yours sound really good.

if you don't intend to keep the baby then by all means go ahead and have an amnio although your risk of miscarriage is greater than your risk of having a child with down syndrome.

And to be honest - having a child with down syndrome is not the worst thing in the world. People with down syndrome live very fulfilling and independent lives. TBH unless the baby has a number of serious ongoing health issues - there should be no reason why having a child with down syndrome would impact on your life as much as you are imagining it would. Sure there would be a few more medical appts and therapy appts but running your own business means you have the flexibility to work around that.

If you don't think you can handle it or the child would cause too much interrruption to your life then you need to decide what to do next.

I know plenty of single parents bringing up children with special needs and doing a great job.

i would have the amino tbh. at 36 i was 1 in 700 with ds2 with ds1 i came back as 1 in 3000 two year previous. with the vast difference i was concerned by gp talked me out of itthough was never particularly comfortable with the pregancy. if dh and i were to have another one there would be no doubt that we would make sure we knew

I wish my gynae would talk me into a decision, but unless the odds are less than 1:250 they won't offer an opinion! I asked him about doing the tri test, but he seemed to think it wouldn't change much. Unfortunately I don't think I'm the sort of person who could bring up a special needs child, which may be a terrible thing to say and of course you don't know until you are in that situation, but I really don't. Also, there are other chromosomal abnormalities as well as Down Syndrome to consider, so I've made an appointment next week to see the gynae for the preliminaries required before the amnio. I'm not 100% decided yet, but it seems the best thing to do in my case.

I have decided to go for the amnio, but I'm not sure what I'll do if there was a problem. My last discussion with my DH about it ended with me in tears as I would keep the baby, but he wouldn't want to. I utterly understand where he's coming from, and that's why I said 'yes' to the amnio when the midwife asked, but I am dreading the day we have to make the decision.

Did you see a nose bone at the appointment? This means a dramatically lower risk of Downs Syndrome.

I had an amnio (1:87) and would definetely have one again regardless of the results of the nuchal.

I decided I didn't want an amnio as would have kept the baby anyway. Lotussister, not sure how low they can go but I'm 39 and got 1:840 back from the triple test. Anglaise, if you don't feel able to raise a special needs child maybe the test is for you. With the nuchal and bloods, even a low risk is still a risk. Also the risk of miscarriage from amnio can decrease considerably with an experienced practitioner, so maybe ask your gynae for more information this. All the best, whatever you decide.

Just wanted to say thankyou for all your messages - I've decided to have the amnio, despite not being very high risk, I would prefer to know if there are any problems sooner rather than later. Good luck to anyone else having to make the same choice in the future!

Anglais good luck with the amnio. I had one with DD and everything was fine.

Good luck Anglaise.
Dogmum, I dont know who gave you your information but it was a lot different to the info I got and I even got a second opinion.

I think it depends on what you would do with the results tbh, i.e terminate or continue with your pregnancy. Some people are 'need to know' types and some are content with a risk assessment, which is basically what the triple/quadruple or integrated test is.

My bloods came back at 1 in 1200 - and I still elected for an amnio, because we both realised that the test was just a 'risk assessment' and therefore not conclusive. We had also decided that if the amnio showed that downs syndrome was present, or indeed any other serious trisomies, we would terminate the pregnancy. Sounds harsh, but having had experience of downs syndrome in the family we both knew it was not a path we wanted to tread. We knew the risks involved in having an amnio and talked long and hard about it, and thoroughly questioned the consultant we chose to do it. We had the amnio, I cannot pretend it was pleasant, but the results (which were fine) arrived quickly and for us it meant we could relax and enjoy the rest of my pregnancy.

It's a tough call to make, and I can totally sympathise with your post. The only advice I would give is to talk long and hard and get all the advice you can before you decide what to do. I found it hard to separate emotion and reason when I received my results (my previous risk at 35 had been 1 in 50,000) and a very helpful and informative clinician at Bart's hospital took the time to help answer my questions. Best of luck.

I know a lot of people say they would not terminate a the pregnancy if they were having baby with an abnormality so there is no point having an amnio but it is also useful, if the baby does have an abnormality, to prepare for the birth and arrange any necessary care the baby might need immediately after birth.

Sorry LieselvonTrapp, but which information?