amnio decision

[shef]

I did the nuchal fold and was told the results were good, however despite good statistics, they can never be sure of the health of the baby until delivery.
Would any of you chance it with doing an amnio if you got decent results? (we were told the chance of m/c is 1/500, but we have a history of m/c's and are scared either way.

[jen16]

hi, shef,

i'm in the same boat, not sure what to do. i'm 41, 13W p/g with twins. my nuchal test came back fine--1.5 and 2.0, i think, so definitely under 3, but they said it's only 50% accurate, that 50% of down's babies measure below a "3." and since i'm p/g with twins, the bloodwork is not an accurate marker--the results are all jumbled together and don't give any clear indications.

we go in for a follow up u/s in about 2 weeks and then we're supposed to decide. for us, it's a 1/250 chance of m/c since it's twins, so it's really scary! i'm leaning towards actually NOT doing it so long as the u/s looks good/great.

i had one m/c at 8 weeks. as far as amnio safety, i've been told that it's key that your membranes have fused before you do amnio, and that most are fused by 16W.

best of luck to you. i'm eager to hear responses, too, and will keep up with the thread to read replies.

jen

[mmi]

I did not have it with my first(I was 34) but did with my second. I actually came out and ask what MY OB"S m/c rate was. Since he only lost one baby in 25 years and that was 20+ years ago when they used needles(now they use plastic transducers)... i went ahead. It was a breeze and finding out "normal baby girl" made the rest of my pregnancy so much nicer. My ob doesn't think you should find out for reason to abort... he feels you should find out so if there is a problem, you have time to make rationale decisions before birth... not irrational ones at delivery time since many infants will need emergent care. good luck with your decision

[BC-GoMom]

All 3 of my pg were after 35 but before 40. I had raised a child with multiple disabilities and as a PT, I know there are lots of disabilities that do not show up on an amnio b/c they are not tied to genetics (as of yet) so a normal amnio result doesn't mean a child will not have a disability. I opted for the high level US. If there had been any thing that looked abnormal I would have then asked for an amnio for diagnosis (if possible)only. I did not want to risk a pg b/c of an amnio/CVS unless there was a compelling reason and my u/s all looked great.

I know many in the past who have opted for amnio. Only you can make such a personal decision. I hope more ladies will reply.
Best to You,
J

[shef]

THank you all for writing back.
I was told the chance of downs with this pregnancy is 1/2500 which seemed like good results.
It's taken us so long to get here, that if there were an issue, I don't think I'd abort. However, I had a horrendous pregnancy with my last and was told my child was a midget or had downs or any number of additional issues I'd have to adjust to. All presumptions were wrong. I did, though, spend the larger part of my pregnancy in tears, trying to adjust to possibilities I hadn't planned on.
I've had multiple m/c, one in the tenth week (which I "expelled" vaginally into my hands (talk about trauma), and 2 chemicals.
I'm torn either way.
What is a high tech ultrasound? IS that a 3D image?
Also, if the membranes have fused by around week 16, would it then be preferable to wait another week or 2 before actually doing the amnio, to be sure they are "fully fused"?

[BC-GoMom]

high level us is a level 2 or 3.

I do not know much about the fused or unfused so I hope someone else can help.
It sounds as if all things so far are good.
Keep us posted.
j

[jen16]

hi, shef,

here's what i know from a friend of mine who is a genetics counselor in maternal fetal medicine. when i asked about the amnio, i asked when was the last time a m/c occurred. i was surprised to hear last year! before that, they had a record of 7 yrs passing between any losses. i do think things have improved over the years, that's for sure, and my sister had an amnio with both of her pregnancies that went fine.

the story this genetics counselor told me was this: last year, a woman who was 20W p/g went thru an amnio. both she and her husband HAD to know if the baby was healthy or not (i don't know why or what their circumstances were). though the membranes are supposed to be fused by week 16, hers were still not fused at 20W, but they went through with the amnio anyway. the baby was found to be healthy but sadly, she did suffer a m/c. (i have to say, i couldn't even imagine how devastating that would be after all i've done to get p/g!) maybe the lack of fusing would have affected this p/g later on anyway, whether they did the amnio or not--i don't know.

my friend said that the peri always checks to see if the membranes have fused and if at all possible, they wait until they are COMPLETELY fused before performing the amnio. i'm sure your doctor could reassure you so much more than i could. i just know a very little about the procedure.

in my case, with a risk of 1/36 at age 41, i'm still torn--knowing this story was upsetting, so i'm hoping that my high level u/s and another check gives us enough comfort to avoid the amnio, but i'm not sure.

i'm eager to hear what you decide and how things go. with a risk of 1/2500 for downs, wow--that sounds great! if i were there, i would go with the u/s--they can see a lot on u/s. for me, my risk is high because i'm 41. my bloodwork did nothing for the numbers since i'm p/g with twins, so my risk is simply established based on age.

oh, and by the way, when i was p/g with my daughter at age 36, we decided not to do the amnio. the risk of loss was so much higher than her risk of having downs. as i recall, it was super high like yours this time--1/2500 is an excellent number!

best wishes to you! how is your p/g going? hope all is well!

jen

[ScrappyCat]

I'm 36 and we wouldn't risk it. Last pregnancy I was told my baby had a high chance of trisomy 18 and I still didn't risk it...we saw a specialist who did a level 3 u/s. We saw him 3x and he assured us everything was fine. We have a perfectly healthy 2 yr old!

For this pregnancy my doctor told me the chances of something going wrong with an amnio are like 1:400 (or something like that) which she followed up with "that's great unless you're the 1". I took that as her way of telling me "don't do it!". I wasn't planning on it anyway.

Good luck with your decision.

[shef]

Thank you all for wrting back. Your information is so helpful. I'm supposed to go in in two weeks for the amnio, and do an anatomy the day before. I'm going to call to ask in advance if they can see fusion of membranes on the u/s. Also, I'm going to ask about the high level u/s. If they don't do it, I'm going to find someone who does.
This pregnancy, thank G-d, has been going well. I'm truly awe struck to even be pregnant today. I got the old "donor egg" speech in the past, following multiple m/c and a failed IVF. I was crushed when my DH wouldn't even consider a donor egg. A sympathetic friend told me about acupuncture, which turned out to be my miracle, after years of IF and many tears.
That's why I'm so protective of this pregnancy.
I was told that when a m/c happens following an amnio, it's generally a sign that the pregnancy wasn't truly viable, and that there were issues.
It's such a hard decision, though. It's like going in for an unscheduled abortion, after going through years of tears and IF treatments (like shooting myself in the foot).
Again, thank you all for writing back.
I'll keep in touch and let you know where this leads.
All the best.
SHef

[BC-GoMom]

Sounds like you have a great plan.
Let us know ok?