Should I have an amnio?

[sarahjack]

I am 14 weeks now with my third child and I'm almost 41 yo. My 12 weeks scan wnt really well but my blood test came back with 1 in 95 chance of T15 or T18 chormosone which means the if bubs has this, it will not survive. Do I take my chances on this or do the amnio which proves either way, but face a 1 in 300 risk of losing the bub even if it is healthy? Has anyone who has had an amnio offer some advice on this? I have two other healthy children a girl 21 months and 4 yo boy.
Confused :confused:

[Londonmum]

Hi hun :hugs:

Not an easy choice to make. I had a 1 in 4 risk of Downs with my DD and opted for a CVS at 13 weeks (done in the UK) and the risk of that was 0.5% cause I was having it done in a hosp that does them a lot. That came back all clear but further scans showed increased problems and at 17 weeks I was told my baby would die inutero or shortly after birth :( But I was advised to wait for the 20 week scan and make a decision then, so I had 3 weeks to think about whether I wanted to continue carry a baby that would die or to terminate........very hard.
I thought back to what happened to my mum when she was carrying me, she had same choice with the exception that I would be born mentally and physically disabled (she was exposed to German measels in her first trimester). She felt that if it was Gods will I die then so be it...I didn't and I was born perfectly healthy.

What I'm trying to say is whether you have the ammnio or not, the risk of your miscarrying/baby dieing is completly out of your hands. It'll happen or it wont, but if you go for the ammnio then you'll know if your baby is healthy or will have those defects and even if it has those defects then the baby may still survive.

I know this sounds very 'new age' but the best advice I was given during my trying time was to 'keep positive' and thats my advice to you.

No one can tell you what to do or make the decision for you, but I hope even a little of my 'waffle' helps you in some way. Feel free to PM me if you want to chat further.

:hugs:

[sarahjack]

Lou,
thank you for your advice, It does help and reminds me that lots of other mums-to-be face the same hard choices. I am starting to think that this bubs is a test of my faith. I really don't think I could cope with losing a healthy baby by my intervention. And there has been so much press about false positives for pre screening. Time for positive thinking...

[Susan Mac]

It's a tough decision to make, sarahjack.

We have been given the option to have genetic testing for DH and myself, because we lost our last baby due to a genetic fault. If we were to also have the fault we'd be offered an amnio too.

Really, the only reason to have the test is so that we can either terminate, which I would never do, or so that we can rest assured or be prepared for the inevitable. The thing is, if it is going to happen anyway, there is nothing I can do to stop it. I will just have to wait until it happens, and I am not sure I can bear the thought of that! I am happy just knowing that it has happened once, so possibly could happen again, and I can't do anything about it.

Maybe doesn't help you much, but that's my own situation.