amniocentesis

[jbob]

I am 18 weeks pregnant and I have had an amniocentesis because my blood test came back at 1/50 chance of my baby having Downs. I had a scan and it showed no soft markers (they could not see the heart valves because the baby was to small). They said that I could get some results in a week but they have been unable to do them!! I am 34 years old. I think it means that my baby has Downs and they are just waiting until they have the full set of results. The Dr at the clinic said that it was nothing to worry about because maybe my blood was mixed up in the fluid from the amnio and they would have to separete the DNAs. But she said she did not know for difinate why the one week set of results had not come back. I am very scared, I swing between not wanting the baby to thinking having a Downs child would not be the end of the world. I love my husband and our 3 year old son very much. They are my world. My husband says he is not keen to have a Downs baby. I am just so scared. I am off work because of it all. I can feel this baby kicking.

{{{jbob}}} what an awful time for you. Please don't read anything into the delayed results, these things happen all the time. Remember the 1/50 risk means that there's a 49/50 chance your baby is fine and the absence of soft markers is very encouraging. There have been some great support threads around this subject previously, if you search using downs syndrome I'm sure you'll find lots of info and encouragment
Stay strong xxx

They won';t be waiting for confirmation because of a 'bad' result because the karyotype (the second test) confirms a negative result (i.e. an in the clear result) iyswim- a positive first test is a positive test and they don't wait for the second test to tell you.

Hospital labs lose/mix up tests all the time. Is it possible for your GP to ring the lab and talk to them directly?

Agree that if you do a search you will find lots of posts.

Jbob - you are being very brave in a horrible situation. As others have said, if the hospital knows something is wrong, they tell you as soon as they know - they want you to make a decision one way or another if this is the case. But they can't say they know for sure all is well until they have all the facts. Hang in there, I know it seems ages but you will get your second set of results very soon.

I had a 1:50 screening result in Oct. That means 98% chance that everything is fine. I am sure they have just got a bit lost at the lab no ulterior motive

Jbob - what an awful time for you. I sympathise. As everyone else has said, they really won't be deliberately keeping something back from you. Sometimes it's really busy in the labs where they do the tests and so it may take an extra day or so to get the results back.

(On a tangent: tomorrow I'm having a cvs test at 11 weeks. After that we have to wait "about a week" for the results. The waiting will be agonising, I can so sympathise. The only thing to do is to try and keep busy and not sit by the phone. Easier said than done )

As for the decision you may -or may not, I hope- have to take, there are lots of helpful MN'ers on here who've been there, so keep posting. In the meantime hang onto that thought that 1/50 is really a very small chance! (Without wanting to belittle your situation in any way at all, the chance that we get a bad result back is 50%. I hope that helps put the chances into perspective a little!)

Fingers crossed.

Thank you all so much for responding to my posting. My husband and son are both in bed asleep so it is very heart warming to know that you are all out there thinking positive thoughts. Thank you.

Dear JaneHH - I have just seen your posting. All my thoughts and prayers are with you for tomorrow and your CVS test. I will be thinking of you. (Take it easy afterwards and put your feet up and rest). All the best and thank you for your uplifting response to my posting.

Thanks jbob - let's hope we both get our results pretty darn quickly