Amniocentesis is it necessary?

[realitychrissie]

Hi, after a couple of years trying to conceive I am pregnant. I became pregnant one month after my 35th birthday. I am healthy, my husband had a translocation on one of his chromosomes which narrowed are chances of conceiving to 9% every month instead of 18%. Nothing serious DNA wise.
I also just found out I was having twins. It's scary writing this down because I'm 6 weeks and one could disappear by the 12th week. I'm a wreck.
Has anyone my age or older opted to not receive an amnio?  I've looked at other alternatives and I will not do CVS.

Thank you in advance

[realitychrissie]

This is my first  pregnancy and I am scared as anything. The vanishing twin is just stuff I have read and I automatically start to worry.
Neither is lagging at this moment, buth seemed fine at 6 weeks but it is only 6 weeks. I have been reading of problems with twins and I start to freak.
Meanwhile my husbands grandmother had 14 daughters and stopped at the age of 47 with no problems, ultrasounds or pre-natal vitamins. Life is scary and this is a scary time.

[myenzoorka]

I turned 36 during my second trimester - so only slightly older than you are now.  When the nurse practitioner asked if I wanted an amnio, I quickly and emphatically said no.  I figured I would get a lecture about how it's good to know about genetic/chromosomal problems and such.  Quite the opposite.  I thought the NP was going to pull out some pom-poms and start cheering!  I knew that any physical or mental issue with my child would not change whether I was going to have her and that I would love her however she came out.  I definitely did not want the risk of losing her because of an amnio.  

Some things to consider:
35 is not a magic age where bad things start happening - it's an average.
Amniocentesis can be very risky - not so much in percentage, but in what it can do
Do you need to know the status of your baby/babies before the birth?  Will it help you cope?  Will you chose termination if there is a problem?
Will you stress over not knowing?  How much?
Give it thought, research and more thought.  Figure out what you want.  Don't take anyone's opinion as your own.  And don't let anyone bully you into deciding one way or the other.

Congratulations and good luck!

[msteri]

Hi.  I'm not your age or older but I just wanted to add that I totally agree with the previous poster.  It depends on what you will do with the information.  If you don't wish to terminate no matter what the results are then there's really no reason to risk the pregnancies by having the amnio performed.  I chose to have screening done through ultrasound and blood tests during the first and second trimesters.  Age increases risk for birth defects, but defects do occur in younger women as well, the risks are just lower.  You could have a perfectly healthy baby with a high risk, many women do.  You could also have a low risk and have a baby with defects.  There's no way to know for sure unless you do invasive testing or wait until the baby is born.

Is there any reason why you're concerned about having a vanishing twin?  Was one of the babies lagging behind the other?

[happynifer]

i chose not to (i'm 36)
we screened higher risk for downs on our first trimester screening test.
an amnio is the only way to know if the baby is chromosomally normal.
major defects can be picked up on ultrasound, as can many minor ones.
since termination of the pregnancy was not an option for us, we opted to follow her on ultrasound instead.  
she was perfect on her 18 week scan and i have another at 26 weeks on tuesday.
it's a personal choice and really depends on what you would do with the information you would find on an amnio.