Amniosentesis ?

Announcement of pregnancy and birth following assisted reproductive treatment.
Locked
Susie
Regular
Posts: 351
Joined: Sun Jan 30, 2005 8:33 pm
Location: Lancashire

Amniosentesis ?

Post by Susie »

Hi last time I was pg I had blood tests at 20 weeks to see if I needed an amnio. Luckily I didnt, but this time is there anything else I can have instead coz I dont want an amnio due to risks etc but do want to know if anything is wrong.
Is there anything I can have done in place of an amnio that comes with o% chance of miscarriage. Cost wouldn't be a problem if theres only private treatment available, but just wondered if anyone could help
Thanks
Susie
Me 37, DH 53 Male & female factor
1st ICSI +ve, a daughter born 2001
2nd ICSI +ve, a son born 2006
Sponsor
 
sue.m
Regular
Posts: 147
Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2004 11:58 pm

Post by sue.m »

Hi Susie,

when you say you had tests at 20 weeks do you mean for downs and spina bifida?

If so then no, there is no other conclusive test than the amnio and the cvs(?), both of which carry a risk of miscarriage.

I'm 27 weeks pregnant with my 2nd baby and opted not to have the tests this time due to the upset that it caused with my first pregnancy. I very niavely thought that if the results showed me to be a risk that I'd deal with that and not have the amnio anyway, but once you're told that you are a risk you feel quite differently. Anyway after much soul seaching we decided to not go ahead with the amnio and instead hoped for the best, I just felt that there was no way that I could have coped with losing a baby due to a decision that I might have made with regards to having the amnio.

What I would advise you to do before having the tests is to think very carefully about how far you were willing to go after having them, i,e would you opt for the amnio? ......if not then why bother with the tests in the first place and if you did have the amnio and the results confirmed that the baby had downs would you at that stage end the pregnancy.....again if the answer is no then why put yourself through all of that.

My little boy was perfect despite showing as a risk of downs, and to be honest although I certainly feel that there is a place for these tests I also think that they are largely about maths, e.g how old you are combined with various other factors. I'm 35 by the way.

Obviously it's a very personal choice and it's well worth having a discussion with your midwife about.

Sorry for long winded post but it's a subject that gets gets me going! :roll:

Sue.x

p.s you could if you wanted have the nuchal fold scan, but again this really only assesses the risk and may then lead to more conclusive tests being carried unless of course you results were good.
ttc for almost 4 years, diagnosed as unexplained. Just about to begin treatment when we were lucky enough to concieve naturally. Our beautiful baby boy, Daniel, was born on 27 Sept 2003. Now expecting again, baby due 22 Aug 2005.
Wendy
Regular
Posts: 119
Joined: Thu Sep 05, 2002 5:04 pm
Location: Charente Maritime, France

amnio

Post by Wendy »

Hi, I had an amnio with my first baby after being given a risk of 1 in 30, I just felt there was no choice - I had to know, and the risk of miscarriage was so much less (1 in 200). When I got pregnant with my second (ivf again) I was expecting a bad result as I am now 2 yrs older (38) but really didn't know if I could go through the waiting etc - it was the worst thing in the world. I had the nuchal fold test at 12wks which was good, but then had the triple blood test which to our surprise came out at 1 in 190, so we did not go ahead with the dr recommended amnio this time. However I still wanted reassurance so we went to a specialist, who had a better scanner and was obviously more experienced - we had an anomaly scan which took an hour and he gave us a report at the end telling us that everything was absolutely normal and he had listed all parts of the brain, heart, kidneys, bladder etc etc, checked blood flows, counted fingers and toes, decisively said No club foot or cleft palate and best of all stated that the high downs risk was unfounded - so although its not 100 % like the amnio or cvs, theres no risk to the baby and really put our minds at ease that we had made the right decision. We are in france - i wouldn't know where you would go in the uk for the same sort of thing. Good luck with your decision. love wendy xxx
2nd icsi, Benjamin born March '03, 5th icsi, Thomas born Aug '05
Locked