Amniocentesis

[LittleTreasures987]

I am booked to have a Amniocentesis on Monday and I am so anxious and wondered if anyone has and words of advice xx

@LittleTreasures987 hi! I have had one (well technically CVS but same process) and I won’t lie it was scary and unpleasant but all over very quickly and the midwife with me was lovely. I’m not sure how normal my experience was as I have some issues with local anaesthetic not working well so might be much better for you. I cried and they still said I was brave! They also got the results to me within days. For me they were worried about a really rare condition called Triploidy and it was after a really long wait from the blood tests so I was really surprised as thought everything was OK and suddenly it was very dramatic and they were talking about termination. In the end everything was absolutely fine, I have a very boisterous almost 18 month old now and it is ancient history.
Feel free to send me a PM if you need to. You’ll be OK.

If you can bring someone with you I’d really recommend you do, it helps a lot, but maybe warn them - I almost broke my husbands hand!

Hey, I had an amnio about 6 weeks ago and I was allowed to take my partner as it's an invasive test. We had an amnio done to check if our baby had SMA. You will have a sonographer, midwife and consultant with you in the room and they talk you through everything. We got to see the baby first and my partner watched the baby and where the needle entered throughout the whole procedure. It did hurt but once it's over with you forget. I would say that you should have some time off afterwards ( I had 2 days) just to relax and try and do something nice for yourself. Our results took 10 days because they were doing a full work of our babys DBA but if you are having the procedure to check for any trisomies I believe the results take less time.
Hope all goes well for you :)

I have asked the hospital and they have said that my husband can attend for the procedure which I am pleased about.
They have told me that my results should be back within 3-4 days they offered me to have one due to my NT being at 4.7 when I had my 12 week scan.
I work in an office so have explained to work that I may need the day after off but will see how I feel after.
Thank you all for your advice xx

@Shawla92
Sorry I completely forgot to say. I hope everything went okay for you xx

Everything turned out okay, thank you!

Good luck & I hope your pregnancy is smooth sailing afterwards xx

Hi,

I had one a couple of weeks ago to check for an inherited translocation (all came back clear). I was absolutely terrified beforehand and spent a lot of time deciding if we wanted to go through with the procedure due to risk. Didn’t make our minds up until we were in the room talking to the consultant. He was very reassuring and said he could stop at any time if I changed my mind.
I think all consultants have their own techniques, but mine didn’t use any anaesthetic. It didn’t really hurt, was just a little uncomfortable and weird feeling. I had to close my eyes all the way through as I was terrified of moving if I didn’t like what I saw! My husband was allowed in for the whole procedure and was able to watch it all, which was great as I could talk to him about it afterwards.
The whole process was nowhere near as bad as I’d played it out to be in head beforehand and the immense relief we both felt when the results came back was completely worth it. The first set of results for the trisomies came back the next day and then the full DNA check came back in 2 weeks.
I hope that’s a little helpful for you. I hope everything goes well for you on Monday!

Lou

I keep going over it in my mind. I am eager to find out the results but I'm driving myself crazy with the pros and cons of it all.
My consultant has been very reassuring which is nice and she's explained she does it all the time which is helpful but then I'm so anxious about what if I am that that 1 that goes wrong. But then on the other hand, I would not be able to enjoy my pregnancy properly and would stress if I did not know the answers. Its such a strange feeling.
I'm so glad all came back clear for you xx

Hi everyone, just an update following my appointment yesterday.
I did not have my amnio in the end. The consultant scanned me and was able to check all the measurements better this week which all look ok. There may be a slight issue with baby's heart so I have been referred to Birmingham for them to scan me and review everything and go from there. But they are thinking that the high NT is now due to the heart rather than a chromosome issue.

@LittleTreasures987 fingers crossed for you xxx