I'm having an amniocentesis done?

Question

What should I expect I'm 28 and mother of 2 okay kids and was told by my health care professionals not to worry about my unborn child having down syndrome since the triple test sometimes show a false positive and I don't fall in the age range, I need to know if anyone had this procedure and what was the out come?

Answer 1

why are you having an amnio if the Dr's think nothing is wrong? if your triple screen showed a false positive the next step is a special high intensity ultra-sound to check the baby more thoroughly....ex. measure the long bones of the leg and arms, measure the width of the neck , check for heart defects and such they also told you not to worry about DS you aren't in the age range?...hmmmm did you know that a good percentage of children born with down syndrome come from mothers under 35?
I had this procedure after the high intensity ultra-sound was done and they found my baby to have a congenital heart defect. which happens alot in DS kids so I opted for the amnio to know for sure. I would ask for an ultra sound done by a Dr that specializes in looking for health issues in unborn children.......if they find something only then would I go for an amnio if you really want to be sure of DS (there is a chance of miscarriage).

Answer 2

The doctor said that my baby had a 1/32 chance in having Down Syndrome, by doing the AFP screening test. They had me go get a level 2 ultrasound, and it ended up that my de date was off. They can usually tell just by looking at a level 2 ultrasound if the baby had DS, by measuring certain parts of the body and if there is extra skin on the back of the baby's neck. I ended up not having an amnio like they told me I would. I would have chose not to have it anyways, because no matter how my baby comes out, I will love him just the same! There are a lot of risks with the amnio, one being miscarriage. That's another reason I didn't want it.

Answer 3

I am having mine done on Nov. 17. I am 38 years old and will be 39 y.o. at the time of delivery, which means that I have a 1 in 75 chance of having a baby with Down's syndrome or other genetic defect resulting in mental retardation.

At your age, 28, your risks are much much much smaller.

The risks of amnio are a 1 in 200 to 1 in 400 chance that it will result in miscarriage/fetal death. A lot depends on the skill of the practitioner. Ask how many he/she has done (go with someone that has done at least 500 of them and preferably much more) and ask how many miscarriages he/she has caused.

My doctor said he has been doing them for 20 years and has only caused 3 miscarriages, and he said one of them the baby had a genetic defect and would not have survived anyway. He offered to send me to someone who does them every single day, and I decided to let him do it, since he has a good track record.

I am still nervous about it. Apparently the needle looks huge, but it is thin and doesn't hurt much. Just a little pinch.

Answer 4

I had an amniocentesis test done on me to see if my son's lungs were developed because i had went into labor at 33 weeks plus i had pre-eclampsia and they wanted to go ahead and let me have my son but his lungs wasn't matured. I ended up having him at 35 weeks. He was and is healthy.

When they took me into the room to perform the test i was so scared. I was alone, no one was with me at the time. Well i got up on that table and then they had me sign a paper stating anything could go wrong like making me go into labor or the needle hitting my baby. I really didn't want to sign the paper after hearing all of this stuff. But i was at a very good university hospital so i signed them.

Then they done an ultrasound as they were inserting the needle into my stomach. As soon as i seen that needle i looked away and just watched my baby on the ultrasound. It didn't take but a few minutes to do then they took me into this room and monitored me for an hour. It hurt just a tiny bit not enough to make you uncomfortable it is just i felt where they had put that needle in at.

You know they said it would take 24 hours for the test results to come back but within an hour a nurse told me that my babys lungs were not fully deveopled.

My baby is now 5 years old but i am sorry you are going through this but it could be a false positive just like they told you.

Good luck and congrats

Answer 5

I had an amniocentesis done with my son and it's fairly easy. They put a needle through your belly, into the amnionic sac and extract some of the fluid to do genetic tests. This comes in very handy because then you're prepared when your child comes out with some kind of "problem". My son tested positive for sickle cell anemia, but came out fine. Some of the problems can change after the test is done. Good luck.

Answer 6

Yes, I had the procedure at about the same age as yourself and with two other children. The procedure itself is relatively simple and painless, but the needle is scary looking. The procedure was done in the doctor's office and I had it several times as the doctor was monitoring an RH factor. It was a vital procedure and eventually I had an emergency C-section after the results were returned. I had a healthy baby girl.

Answer 7

So I take it your triple screen must have shown a chance of DS? There is a small chance of miscarriage with an amnio. What would you do with the information an amnio would give you? What (if anything) would your caregiver do differently with your care based on the info this test would give? Once you think about that, if the answer is that you would do nothing different, why have it done and take the risk? Just something to think about.

Answer 8

I was pregnant with twins at age 37, so I had to have two amino's. Its kind of weird, you can watch them stick the needle in on the monitor. The second one looked like it poked the babies hand. I had to stay in bed for a few days and they give you a list of things to watch out for. Its pretty scary, but that's the worse (at least for me, thank God, my twins were healthy). Good luck, I'm sure everything will be fine and you'll get to know for sure what the sex is.

Answer 9

I'd get a second opinion about needing that amnio. If you don't need it, don't get it. The risks in that case would far outweigh the benefits.