amnio test...how safe is it? better to wait for scan?

[angel07]

I declined the screening test as i was not willing to have the amnio. I am told they are not conclusive and the 20wk u/s is a better indicater? (which is in 4 wks) I can't remember if i had it done with any of my 3 previous children?

Would you agree that the u/s is a better indicator than the screening test?

[lynne1276]

I declined the screening test too for the same reason and also that I wouldn't abort my baby either way so there was no point in worrying.  Now, I'm wondering if I should have gotten it.  I am 24 weeks and at my 20 week they told me my u/s looked great.  I went to a specialist last week for somthing else and they took pictures and told me I had alot of fluid which means I may be diabetic.  When I went back to my regular doctor and told them that they said it could be that or there could be somthing wrong with the baby.  I'm glad you asked this question because I'm wondering the same thing.  I'm worried now.  I'm sorry I couldn't answer it for you but thanks for asking it!

[RAWINA]

I had amnio test with my first pregnancy at 15 wks. Everything was fine. At 20 wks u/s they told me I have alot of fluid which could mean either I will have a big baby or something wrong with the baby ( scared th s#@t out of me. We were almost sure the baby will be ok bcz of the amnio test, so, we were ready for a big baby. Surprisingly, the baby was normal of course,but, he was only 6 lb 15 ounces!!!so, I would go again for amnio test on 6/5, but, wouldn't trust the u/s. Good luck to both of you

[nalla]

In some cases during an ultrasound, for spina bifida at least, the ultrasound might not pick up that your baby has it if they are not looking for it. My son was born with spina bifida and my regular Dr. didn't see the problem during most of my ultrasounds. I would get one every appointment. The only way we found out that he had it is because I had the AFP screening done, then went in for a 3D ultrasound and had a specialist that knew what they were looking for. So no, the big 20 week ultrasound may not show everything.

I have been seeing more and more women that have declined the testing. There is a lot that I can say on this subject, but I will try and keep it short.

It is SO dangerous for a baby to be born vaginaly when he/she has spina bifida.
The screeing is so importnant. Yes, if you get a false positive it's stressful for you, but think about the stress you will feel if you didn't know your baby had spina bifida and died because the Dr's were not prepared. Unfortunatly that does happen.I have heard of that happening on more than one ocassion. Or think of the stress you will feel when you believe you are having a healthy baby, but ened up having a very sick baby that is rushed into a life threatning surgery right after birth.
If I wouldn't have known my son had this, there is a good chance he would have died. Good chance he would have gotten an infection, been paralized, there are SO many things that could have gone wrong!. I know 100% that we didn't know about it, my son would not be doing as well as he is now!!
And where I live there is no hospital and/or Dr.s that could have taken care of him. He would have been flown an hour away. Not every hospital has a pediatric neurologist, and ALL the other Dr's that were there after my son was born that literaly saved his life and his legs.

I understand the stress you feel when you get back a positive screen, I was there 2 years ago,  but it could literaly save a babys life!

I try and encourage women to get the testing done, not just for them, but for the baby. I hear all the time that they won't test because no matter what they won't abort etc. But in this case, with spina bifida, the testing is for the baby, to make sure he/she is born safetly and has evrything he needs after he is born.
Now I don't know about Downs and some of the other things, but spina bifida can kill a baby if the Dr.s are not prepared.
And some women argue that their Dr. will be able to see if there is something wrong with the babies spine during an ultrasound, but that isn't always the case. Even after we knew my son had spina bifida my Dr. had a very hard time seeing the defect. and the defect wasn't  small. It was 2 in. by 2 1/2 in. If you think about it, that is huge on a little baby.

There is a woman on here that decided to get tested just for spina bifida, and not all the other things. I think that is the perfect way to go.

[angel07]

Thanks for your advise. nalla,thanks for your input, i go to the midwife next week, i will be 17 and half wks then. I will have a chat to her and maybe do the screening test and go from there.

Thanks.

[pertykitty]

nalla thanks for sharing that. i had no idea that it would make a difference in delivery ect. i guess its just such a scary test, and then hearing that the possiblity of mc is there. but you have made me stop and think about what i will do now.

[nalla]

Just so there is no missunderstanding, I'm not talking about an amnio. Just the tripple screen, quad test, AFP, (not every Dr. offers the same one, but they are practicaly the same)
I didn't get them with my other kids. I thought the same thing that so many other women think, that I will not abort, so why go through the stress of knowing? But something told me to get the testing with my son. A week later my Dr. called me and said that the test showed pos. and that I needed to test again. Again it was pos.again. So then he sent me in to get a 3D ultrasound. That is when it was confermend. There was SO much that needed to be done before the baby was born, We had so much to prepare to make sure everything was ready for him to be born. He was in the hospital for 4 weeks an hour away from where we live. We had to figure out what we were going to do with our kids, dh job, finding Dr.s and therapists. etc etc.

Last month Nathan had another surgery, and while we were up there we went in to see all the nurses in the NICU. We send them cards, pictures of Nathan, and while we were there one of the nurses that we had gotten close to told us that earlier (I don';t know when) that there was a little boy that was born vaginaly and the parents didn't know. The Dr.s were not prepared and the baby got a really bad infection. They had to hold off the surgery to close the defect and it got even more infected and the little boy lost complete loss of his legs and 8 days later died from the infection. They said the baby could have had a chance if he would have been born in a controled inviroment, if they would have known there was a problem, then the proper steps could have been taken.
I dont know if you all know anything about spina bifida, but it's not jsut a hole in the spine, it's a hole all the way through the spine and the back. That is the most common type of SB. ( mylomeningicile) And the most severe. Sometimes there is a membrane covering it, someitmes not, In a lot of cases the spine is actually sticking out up through the back. If a baby is born vaginaly then the spine gets more damaged and higher risk for infection because it's not as steril
When I think of that story of that little baby it just makes me want to grab ahold of Nathan and never let him go. I almost didn't get the quad test. If I hadn't then my son may not be with us right now.
My Dr. now explains to his patients how important the spina bifida test is for the baby. Nathan is his first case of SB and just didn't think much about it before.
I just wish there was a way that I could reach every pregnant woman and tell them my story, tell them about that little baby that died.
That isn't the only story I have heard about a baby dying or getting worse because the parents didn't know before hand, but this one really hit me hard. Maybe because he was born in the same hospital as my son, I don't know, it jsut really affected me.
I just hope that I can reach and explain to some of the women on here how important it is to get the test. I promise that the stress and heartache is nothing compared to what you will be feeling after the baby is born.....especially if you didn't know. In my book, a few weeks of worry is worth saving a childs life.

[angel07]

Thank you again for sharing your story. Like the above poster said, i also had no idea, that it could all go so wrong. My friend has also declined the test as she also said she would not go through the amnio. I will forward this post onto her as it may also change her mind.

[nalla]

I'm glad that I have been able to help some. It just makes me so sad  thinking some of these things could be prevented you know?!!
I have been told to mind my own business and to just let others do what they want. But if I have info that I can share that could possably save a childs life then I'm going to share. Of course I can't make anybody do anything they don't want to do, but I would feel so bad if I didn't share what I know and a baby ended up dying because of it. I tell them what I know, and then let them make the decission.

Thankfully SB is not all that common and most people don't have to be in that situation, but still I feel I have a responsibility to at least tell people what I know.
Hope everyhting goes well for you!!

[Pearl99]

A lot of people that don't want amnio do the other new and improved u/s test between 12 and 13 weeks which is a Nuchal Translucency (NT) screening. It is completely non-invasive and they just measure one area on baby's neck.  They then do a blood test and combine results to estimate odds for certain things. False positives are not as common at all as the AFP or quad test. At the 20 wk u/s they then do another u/s that looks for specific things too. All in all it has 0% chance of causing m/c.  This is  relatively new test that you might actually have to bring up to your doctor if you live in the sticks like I do .   I don't know if 15 weeks is too late for that yet or not.

[nalla]

I just wanted to add though that the Nuchal Translucency doesn't detect neural tube defects such as spina bifida.