Aa
Aa
A
A
A
Close
359142 tn?1321120923

amnio

How many of you considered amnio?  Did you do it or not?  Are you happy with your decision?  I'd love to here your opinions.  Thanks, Jennifer
23 Responses
Sort by: Helpful Oldest Newest
Avatar universal
Omg just wanna say pregnancy is so rough for us women too many things to worry bout instead of just enjoying being pregnant.. First off good luck to all and best wishes for healthy babies!!!!! I just turned 41 and was concerned bout doing the amino but when I did the nuchal all came back good nasal bone was shown good so I didn't need it. But I know myself that if I needed it I would of taken it bcuz I as well as others mentioned would of aborted bcuz I know I'm not mentally prepared to take care of a special needs child... I know for my age im already high risk and did mc last June at 9w so I was really worried this time! But like others I put it in gods hands!!!! I just turned 24w yesterday and he is doin great. This will be my last pregnancy I'm Gettn my tubes tied after!!! Just don't wanna do this again bcuz the older u get the more stressful all these test get n more chances of something goin wrong!!! I just can't take the stress anymore!!!! Plus in my opinion I think I'm Gettn too old!!!!! (Even though I know I'm not!)  SO AGAIN GOOD LUCK TO WHATEVER CHOICES EVERYONE MAKES DO WHATS BEST FOR YOU!!!  Only u know what u can handle!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Hello,
I am reading all of these posts and wondering what the result were for some of the moms who went and got amnio' done?
I have recently recieved a 1:60 chance of downs and am carrying twins, I'm 35 years old and am 19 weeks. We also did an NIPT test which I am told by my doctors is incredibly accurate, and the result came back with a very high positive rate. I know this is not a positive for DS just a high possibility but I'm absolutly heartbroken for what my babies life might be like, or not be like.
I am having a hard time deciding with my husband if we should do the amnio or not. It seems for a multiples pregnancy that a lot of parents get a high risk result, and do an amnio and then get a negative - or maybe others that got positives just don't post. I'm having trouble with the idea of putting my babies at risk for no reason. I will love these babies no matter what, it's not a case of wanting to terminate, but actually being prepared. I want to know if I should be learning how to care for a child with DS now, as opposed to being surprised at birth. My first son passed away from a rare genetic disorder at three weeks old, and we had no idea anything was wrong the entire pregnancy - the surprise and torment of it all almost killed me. Please help! Please let me know what your decisions were, and why. Thank you!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I was 39 1/2 when I gave birth to my third.  I had the amino.  My eldest is autistic, we would never have survived as a family with another disabled child
Helpful - 0
296076 tn?1371334474
of course there are no regrets when all turns out well.. the regrets come when there is a m/c because of the amnio which is rare but does happen.. you have to be prepared for the risk and the guilt
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I was 23 when I was pregnant with my first there was a risk of Down Syndrome and both my husband and I wanted to be mentally, physically and emotionally prepared to receive our baby witht the right type of specialist if needed at her time of birth.  We were nervous and are firm believers that God does not send anything your way you can't handle, we were very fortunate and blessed with a perfectly healthy baby girl.....The hardest part of the process for me was....the wait.....no regrets what so ever.

Good luck and enjoy.
Helpful - 0
384464 tn?1217899843
It wasn't that easy for me to wanna just get out there and do it.  Alot of it had to do with my age so I  went ahead and went for it.  My doctor explain the procedure and how I would get couciling  with the amnio and all has worked out well.  I am going back for my follow up next week and I have no regrets of doing it.
Helpful - 0
377412 tn?1283809646
Ladies it a tough one....some of us have gone thru so much w/fertility, m/c, drugs or all 3 just to move along in our preg regardless of our ages.  And it is your right as a parent to decide if your child has a disorder to terminate your pregnancy.  But for me its just too much effort at 35 (I'll be 36 when I deliver) that I have put forth thus far emotionally, physically and mentally to just not put this all in Gods hands and move forward. He wont give you more than you can handle.....so no matter what you think of yourself He knows what you are capable of. DH and I are not doing CVS or Amnio w/this preg.  
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
in my last term pregnancy, i was advised to do amnio because my afp showed risk of downs 1:39.  i declined.  i decided i would not terminate so for me it wasn't worth the 1:200 risk of miscarriage in amnio just to find out.  i did worry for five months, so maybe it would have been worth it just to know i didn't have to! you have to weigh the risks and benefits and see what you are most comfortable with.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I never had a strong oppinion about the amnio until about three weeks ago when a friend of mine (aged 42 with first baby) underwent one.  She happened to be that one in 200 hundred that things didn't go well for.  The punctured the sac and amniotic fluid started leaking out.  They lost their baby one week later, after and struggle in the hospital.  

I am 38, newly pregnant, and praying that we manage to carry this one to term (we've had two previouos mc), and I know that I will not risk the amnio, simply because it's information I don't feel I have to have, and it's certainly not the risk to me, to loose a potentially healthy baby for a little extra knowledge a few months earlier.  

Another freind, several years ago, underwent the amnio and had no complications whatsoever.  I think it ultimately is a relatively safe procedure, but occassionally it goes wrong.  

Good luck with whatever you decide.
Helpful - 0
377493 tn?1356502149
I am 39, will be just 2 weeks shy of 40 when I deliver, and am also going back and forth.  DH and I have discussed it in great length already (I am only just coming up to 6 weeks), and I think we are going to do it.  I cannot honestly say what we will do if there is a problem. We have more discussing to do on that issue, but regardless, we want to know, even if its only to be prepared.  My OB gave me the stats of 1/200, and as I have experienced m/c in the past that is scary to me, but my dr. has been around a long time and is considered to be the best there is where I live, so I feel good about putting myself in his hands.  It is such a personal decision, and I wish you well no matter what you decide.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
im 39 weeks with my 2nd child and im getting a amnio this monday 5/19 im so scared is there anyone who got this done late in there pregnacy?
Helpful - 0
254689 tn?1251180040
I had an amnio w/my last child 15 years ago because I have a birth defect that could be detected w/it.  I think it's a personal decision whether to have one or not - I went to a center where that's all they did:  amnios and CVS's so I felt better about the odds of m/c's.  I really didn't focus on if I would've terminated - i just wanted to be prepared for whatever happened.  
Helpful - 0
161782 tn?1201217932
Actually, the risk is much smaller than orginally thought, at least according to perinatologists at the California Pacific Medical Group where I've had mind done. They are now claiming 1 in 1600 for both CVS and amnio.

Newsweek ran an article about it a few months ago.  I can try to dig it up if anyone is interested.
Helpful - 0
324372 tn?1222820202
Hello!

I've been thinking about this as well, since I'm 35 and will be 36 when I deliver.  I'm also a geneticist, so this is of keen interest to me.

My chances of having a child with Down's is 1 in 400, and the risk for a miscarriage with amnio is 1 in 200, it doesn't seem to justify getting the test for me.  My chances are double that I'll miscarry from the procedure than if I actually have a child with Down's.  I think I'll do the blood test and the nuchal transparency test, and between those two, it's about 80% accurate.  I had to go through so much to get pregnant with fertility drugs and such, and so DH and I have decided that any risks are probably not acceptable to us at this point.  If my risk was much higher for a child with a chromosomal problem

That being said, I can certainly understand the desire to want to have it done, and to terminate if there is something very, very wrong with the child.  

Sheri
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
jenandjon, I am now 35 and I had my son at 31.  I was told after my alpha fetal protein test that my statistics for my son having down's syndrome were high.  That scared me a lot because that was the month my husband was deployed to Iraq.  The specialist I went to had me speak to a geneticist and then I had an ultrasound.  Everything looked normal but I was so paranoid, I decided to go ahead with the amnio.  I knew there was a risk of miscarriage, but if anything was wrong, I wanted to be able to determine if I was going to continue the pregnancy or at least be prepared ahead of time.
Helpful - 0
359142 tn?1321120923
See...I'm kinda of like u...judge me if you will...but I would probably terminate if there was definitely something wrong.  I have two beautiful children, and I'm sorry...I know I don't have the emotional strength to deal with a child with terminal illness, or debilitating disease, or extreme special needs.  I talked to DP yesterday and we'll probably do some of the screening tests and a detailed u/s and then decide.  Thanks for letting me know that I'm not the only one on here that feels that way.  :)
Helpful - 0
161782 tn?1201217932
Hi:

I had amnios with this preg and with DD and am glad I did it.  I even had a MC during my first preg and likely had a mc from it.   My docs claim a 1 in 1600 mc risk for amnio - much lower than they thought.  The risk depends directly on the experience of the doctor.

For me, I just needed a definitive answer.  With this preg, it was a tough decision though after all my many mcs.    

Also, I'm in the minority on this board in that I'm not sure I would continue a preg if there were something wrong.  I know that sounds awful, and I thank God every day that I have not had to make that choice, but the reality is that I would likely terminate if the baby were unlikely to survive.  Downs would be a different story...

If there is no way you would terrminate, I wouldn't do it.

Good luck whatever you decide.  You are still pretty young.  I had my first at 36.
Helpful - 0
359142 tn?1321120923
Thanks guys.  Really appreciate your points of view.  I'm 34 now and will be almost 35 when the baby is born.  It just kind of put me on the edge of high-risk and I wasn't sure.  

Thanks again.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Before I got pregnant I always said that I would get an amnio done, but after discussing the miscarriage risks (1 in 200) with my OB I couldnt go through with it. We tried for 3 years for this baby, I would have died if I did the amnio and was told that the baby was fine only to miscarry a week or two later. Plus my OB looked me straight in the face and said "are you really going to let someone stick a needle into your baby's sac?". I decided then and there that I didnt want to go through with it. However, we did do the combined 12 week NT ultrasound and blood test. Initially I wasnt happy because as you know this is only a screening and doesnt give a definate yes or no answer, so I kept thinking "what if my baby is one of those in the 10% that gets missed!?", but then after doing some reading I found that althought this screening isnt 100%, there are certain markers that they look for, and the ultrasound tech pointed out that everything loked fine (nasal bone present etc), so that combined with the fact that I am only 29 made me relax a little. Plus I spoke to a close friend of mine who is 33 years old and I asked her if she did the amnio or the screening and she casually replied "no, I'm not in the high risk age bracket (35), so I didnt worry about it", and I thought - wow, she's 33 years old and not even worrying about, and she really just enjoyed her whole pregnancy and just went with the flow. I also asked a lot of my older sisters friends who have had babies, and even thought they had higher risk results than I did they still didnt worry. I realised that I was just stressing and worrying too much. Sorry to blab, but I think if you want to do anything, just do the screening, and if by chance the reulsts do come back high risk, then you can think in more detail about whether you want to do the amnio or not. But at this stage I would say that even though the risk or miscarriage is small, I wouldnt take the risk. There are, however, plenty of women on this forum who have done the amnio and have had no problems and it was really able to put their minds at ease. Hope this was of some help!!??
Helpful - 0
221025 tn?1332555346
We did not do the amnio - the genetic markers that are in our family would not show on an amnio - the amnio does test for limited defects - it also does not tell you the severity of the defect if one exists - so you may be worried about worse case scenario, when it could be quite mild - plus, we would have loved our daughter regardless - we knew that whatever the results we would continue the pregnancy to full term - so knowing that, it seemed silly to risk the baby in any way with an amnio - our beautiful and healthy girl was born on Feb 29th with no complications or problems!  I am glad we chose to not do the amnio!
Helpful - 0
296076 tn?1371334474
you are very young... get the nuchal translucency scan and if all is ok... just leave it at that... no real need for amnio until after 35 and even then.... if you wouldn't abort for an abnormality there is really no reason to risk your baby...
Helpful - 0
304653 tn?1217001302
I did it... very stressful because of the numbers and and classification they put on the risk. but am sooo glad I did... Just one less thing you dont have to worry about. and for me and my age? worth its weight and gold.. lol... I will be 45 when she is dilivered. so my case is alittle diffrent.
good luck... It really isnt that big of a deal.. I would just put it off till atleat your 17w for risk factors.
The outcome will help you adjust as nesserary... atleast thats how I felt.
Helpful - 0
148691 tn?1260194903
Well, the first time I got pregnant was unplanned... I talked it over with my husband and we decided that we were going to..... of course, I went on to miscarry at 12 weeks... which devastated me! =(
After 1 year or so of battling infertility and going thru heck and back to get my womb cleaned out (i had all kinds of cr.ap going on down there!) we finally got pregnant, and my dream came true... I cherish this baby like my own life! even more! and to be honest, my perspective changed. I no longer considered amnio. I decided I was gonna love and accept this child wether she required special needs or not. I didn't care. So I didn't do it. No tests were gonna change my mind or would push me to 'abort' this child of mine. Never.

Now some mommies decide to go with it since they might have chromosomal disorders in their families and would like to be mentally and physically prepared when baby's born....
But we just decided to place us in God's hands and wish for the best. So far it's going awesome! she's as healthy as can be, with a couple of scares here and there.... but her and I are doing fine! =)

Good luck to you in whatever decision you make. =))
Helpful - 0
Have an Answer?

You are reading content posted in the Pregnancy 35 and Older Community

Didn't find the answer you were looking for?
Ask a question
Popular Resources
Get information and tips on how to help you choose the right place to deliver your baby.
Get the facts on how twins and multiples are formed and your chance of carrying more than one baby at a time.
Learn about the risks and benefits of circumcision.
What to expect during the first hours after delivery.
Learn about early screening and test options for your pregnancy.
Learn about testing and treatment for GBS bacterium.