Should I Have the Amnio

I had an amnio with my second child. The test went fine, I had a problem with the doctor that preformed it. He did not want to do it!!! He was a real jerk about it. If I did not want it done I would not have been there. My husband and I had to go through counselling before they would do the test, then in comes this doctor who tells me that I really do not need to do the test. However with the way that my husband feels about down syndrom children we wanted the test done. Yes if the test would have showed up positive I would have aborted the pregnancy.
The amnio went fine with out any problems. My mind was put at ease that I would have a healthy baby boy.

T.,

I would have it if it were me. You would not want to deliver them and learn that one of them has downs syndrome or something like that. How did you find out so quickly that you were having twins? I have three little girls and actually want twins. They run very highly in my family on both sides.

T.- You will obviously get alot of responses going both ways. It's up to you, of course, so make your decision wisely. If it were up to me, I would be getting as much information and doing research to find out all of the pros and cons for the procedure. From what I know about amnios, it can be very dangerous for the baby(ies). So it's a real risk. As far as the "surprises" you mentioned, I am the mother of one such surprise - a beautiful daughter with Down Syndrome born over 20 years ago. When she was born, amniocentesis was not an option unless there were extenuating circumstances. My little angel is more precious to me than you'll ever know, if you go through with an amnio and find out there's a child with a disability - then you decide to abort. Children with disabilities need parents who will love them, support them, and take care of them since they may not be able to care for themselves. It's always a challenge but there have been so many good times that the good always outweighs the bad, no matter the circumstances. We have been blessed that our daughter has had no major health issues until recently, so her childhood was wonderful and she's always been healthy. My advice to you would be for you to be very careful and take this decision very seriously. It might just be the Lord's will for you to have a child with special needs - and He would give you the grace you would need to care for such a child. All children are blessings, no matter what their abilities or disabilities are. May God bless you as you go through this process.

Hi T.,
I am getting ready to have an amnio because I am 37 with my 4th pregnacy and my blood test came back "greater risk" for down's syndrome. I was looking for other topics on the subject and came across your question.
I am very nervous about having it this time. I had a double amniocentesis with my twins at 35 1/2 weeks to check lung maturity and I went into labor within an hour of the amnio. FORTUNATLEY, everything turned out okay. I delivered them a couple hours later via c-section. They had to go to the NICU for 3 days as their lungs did have fluid in them. They were released with me on time and are HEALTHY GORGOEUS boys.
My doctor said not to worry about what happened last time as that was a "totally different thing". Still hard not to think that history will repeat itself.
I can not tell you what to do as I am having a hard time deciding for myself. What I can tell you is that knowledge is power. Talk to professionals. Talk to people with personal experience. I find that lots of people want to tell you their "horror" story of a friend of a friend of friend who.....
Good luck! Keep in touch if you like :)
Best wishes,
S. R.

I have twin boys that are 17 months old. I did not have an amnio when I was pregnant. Granted I am only 25 years told and my doctor didn't even suggest an amnio, but I didn't feel it was necessary anyway.
What would be your reasoning for having the amnio? And if you found something wrong, would you terminate? For my husband and I, the answer was no. We had the blood tests done to test for Down Syndrome and other birth defects, but even if we would have found something, we would have still had our babies. Thankfully, they are both healthy, but we would have loved them the same had something been wrong.
Good luck in your pregnancy! Twins are a handful and a blessing.

T.,

I did have an amnio when I was 37 with my first child, second pregnancy. Yes, we had a son with Down syndrome. I had my second child (fourth pregnancy), when I was 42 and had an amnio and there were no problems. Our decision was made not as to whether keep the baby, but if there were problems, that would give the doctors more information and medical assistance at the time of birth. I wish you well. If you would like to talk more, my email is ____@____.com bless. S. R.

I say don't do it! The risk is too high for me!!
Mother of 3 risky pregnancies, and 3 healthy children. We actually changed docters, because he refused to keep us as patients if we did not do the amnio. I drove 4 hours to a perinatalogist that believed that the care would be the same for baby either way. He was not against amnio, but he did not push it on us. I am very glad I did not do it. No regrets for me.

T., are you wanting to have an amniocentesis because of your age or because they are twins? I was pregnant at 37 with twins and the doctor ASKED if we wanted to have one or not. It was our choice, she explained all the risk and everything, and if we weren't going to terminate...what was the point in having one? I think she eventually did some type of blood test and it came back "normal". I did have to see a perinatologist because I was diabetic. I had a sonogram every week, so I figured if something was wrong we would see it on the sono. This is a very personal choice. I have heard horror stories as well as stories with happy endings.

Life is full of surprises. You can't avoid them by having this test. :)

I had my babies at 37 and 40. Second was a vbac and the midwife didn't even recommend an ultrasound. I think birth is getting increasingly medicalized and controlled, and it does not benefit babies or mothers, overall. (Though of course there are times when interventions are life-saving, I just mean to say that it is not beneficial to use them routinely.)

That's my opinion, of course you must do what's right for you.

Wow, just based on Julie M's story about her friend who had the (turned out to be false) positive screening for Down Syndrome, which led to an amnio, which resulted in preterm labor and the baby ultimately dying...I would say no way!

Nope, I wouldn't do it. I didn't even get the AFP blood test during my pregnancy that tells you if you could possibly have markers for genetic diseases. This is the blood test you usually get BEFORE even thinking about getting an amnio. If you get the AFP test done and it comes back positive, then maybe you should think about getting an amnio done. However, that test very often has false positives. So, you might want to follow that up by a Level II ultrasound done by a perinatologist. They can look for other markers in the babies brain, heart, spinal cord, etc. This is a MUCH less invasive way to look for possible defects, with no risk of miscarriage or other complications.

The question I asked myself was:

If you get the amnio, and it turns out something is wrong.. would you terminate the pregnancy?

My answer was no, absolutely not. If something was wrong, we would deal with it. There was absolutely no way, I'd be able to go through the whole pregnancy knowing something might be wrong and not being able to do anything about it. So, I chose not to know. The risks of the amnio are way too high, so why do it and put my baby at risk, when chances are she was perfectly fine?

I don't know... it's a very personal decision, one that only you and your partner can make. I would highly suggest that you talk to your doctor about the procedure and the risks involved, also do some research on your own so you can make an educated decision.

The only thing I want to ask you is, if there is a problem would you terminate. Do not answer that question to me, only yourself, I am not looking to judge you or allow others to do so. The reason I ask is amnios can be dangerous especially with mltiples and if you are not going to terminate anyway wouldn't you rather just enjoy the pregnany?
We were told (after a test which I forget the name of)there was a high chance our last had down syndrome, the only way to rule it out was with an amnio. DS has a lot of false positives and there was no way I was going to abort at this point anyway. We turned down the amnio and prayed that it had been a false positive. My last 6 weeks I had an ultrasound every week due to low amniotic fluid and I was induced one day past my due date. My son was born 8.5 lbs, totally healthy. Looking back I wonder what would have happened if I had had an amnio, my fluid was already low, what if the ammount they would have taken was the exact ammount that would have put him at risk?
I am in no way trying to talk you out of it, just want you to think about whether it is REALLY something you want. I always tell people, read, read, read. There is a ton of information out tere and the more you know the better decision you can make. I wish you all the best on your pregnancy, congrats!!

Just a personal thought...Congrats on your upcoming twins. If you have the amnio, there are always a high chance of false positives, and if you have a false positive, you will only spend the rest of your preg. worrying. It won't change anything else. There is also a risk of complications. Unless you have a high suspecion or family history, I would not (and did not) have the amnio.

T.,
I found out at 12 weeks that I was having twins, and I never had and amnio and never had any surprises at birth. I even was able to have my boys vaginally with no stitches. I don't thnk they even ever said anything to me about an amnio. They did a toltal of 5-6 sono, but never an amnio. Also I have an 20 year old little sister that DOES have Down Syndrome and yes the thought did cross my mind. But we(my husband and I) would never in a million years have an abortion because of a downs baby. In my option, that is just WRONG! As the Lord Jesus Christ said "I will not give you anything you can not handle."

What do you mean "no surprises?" Do you want to know the sex of the babies, or do you mean genetically? If it's just the sex, they can usually tell with a sonogram. If you are at risk for genetic issues because of your age, etc., and you want to have the amnio done to prepare yourself, I don't see anything wrong with that. I did it, it was fine, no problems, didn't even really hurt that much (surprise, considering the size of that needle). I was also very relieved after a couple of weeks to know that I had a perfectly healthy son.

I had an amnio with my first child because we had concerns about whether he was genetically normal. I had cramping afterwards, which is very common. The procedure itself was uncomfortable. There was a small amount of pain, but mostly it just felt...unnatural. Fortunately, it was over quickly and it turned out my child was fine. The wait between the procedure and the results was what seemed like an eternity. Even though I didn't realize it at the time, it was very stressful. When the call came that everything was okay, I was so happy and relieved and thanked the genetic counselor. Then, I hung up and collapsed into a blubbering mess.

My second pregnancy turned out to be twins. I did not find out until around 15 or 16 weeks. I did not have, nor was I offered, an amnio. Unless there are extenuating circumstances with your health or couple's genetic profile, or unless an ultrasound shows something of concern, I can't think of a single reason to have an amnio simply because you are carrying twins.

If I have another child, I will not be having an amnio for any reason or even a triple screen. I felt that the stress involved was too much and had I found out something was wrong with my first child, I would not have aborted. Knowing may have afforded me the opportunity to research and be prepared for a high needs child, but the stress would have affected me every day until the birth, which would not have been good for either of us.

I hope that helps.

I would be very careful about this decision. I have 6 month old twin girls and my doctor advised me against having the downs screening and the amnio. He explained that due to carrying twins the downs screen would most likely come back positive and then cause unnecessary stress with us. He also advised against the amnio since it could cause put my pregnancy at risk from preterm labor all the way to miscarriage. He is a perinatologist and I am very thankful and blessed to have him. I know that there are many OB's and specialists that are ready to throw every test possible at you, but ask yourself and your spouse this question and really think about it. Would you terminate your pregnancy based on what the results are of that test? I know that it is a harsh question but that is the bottom line, if your answer is no then I would really recommend that you discuss this with your physician. My doctor did ultrasounds on me every month to monitor the growth of the baby since there really is not any other way to make sure that they are both growing within the same limits (i.e. one getting more nutrition than the other). They can rule out many different problems with the babies by ultrasound, but of course downs syndrome is not one of them.
The choice is yours and your spouse's, I wish you all of the luck with your pregnancy and hope that you have two beautiful healthy babies. Good luck!

J. S.

Unless your dr is insistant on having it I would not. Sonograms are so good now days that they can tell for sure. You can always have the 3d done if your dr office does not offer it. less invasive.

I wouldn't do it, there are way to many health risks involved. Unless you have major health concerns for your babies, I would not do it!

I would not have an amnio. It was offered with my pregnancy's and I asked myself "will this make me want to terminate my pregnancy? Will this make me feel any different about my baby when s/he gets here?" the answer to both questions was no. The risks for an amnio are high and don't outweigh the benefits. It's not worth endangering your babies just to find out if they might have a problem. the test is very likely to be wrong, and it's not worth the risk.

congratulations on your twins, you are blessed.

I just had twins 8 mo ago and did not do an amnio. I saw a pernatologist that did extensive ultrasounds and blood tests. Because we did not find any questionable things in the ultrasound we skipped the amnio. I have had an amnio in a previous pregnancy and it was fine. I hate needles so that was the worst part. If you are having doubts you may want to ask your doctor for other options before having the amnio. These other tests will just indicate markers (potential issues) that can be answered with the amnio.
Good luck!
M.

Don't do it. You could lose your babies. I've heard too many horror stories. I know doctors will tell you the risk is small, but why would you put your babies in danger?

Is an amnio usually suggested for someone having twins or is your age also involved? I was pregnant at 35 and it was an option my doctor and I discussed. She only recommended the amnio if I was to have the blood test that also checks for downs syndrome and other disorders. I told her I didn't want to do the blood test so she suggested not to do an amnio either. It's really your personal decision...would you want to know if you had a baby with downs or other genetic disorder? would it matter to you? Some say it wouldn't matter, but everyone's different. I have heard that the amnio can be painful and risky to you and the baby. For me, it didn't seem worth the risk, but you do what you feel is best. Good luck in whatever decision you make. Congratulations on the twins!
V.

T. - I did not have the amnio done on either of my pregnancies. I had talked to my doctor about, there was no history of any kind of birth defects in my family or my husbands. And the one question that my doctor asked me when I was deciding if I wanted it done was "will it make a diffrence to you". And the answer was no - I would have had the baby no matter what the amnio said. So he didn't recomend doing it. My mother had it done on one of her 5 pregnancies (it was her 4th one) due to her age at the time. It showed that my sister was going to have problems. My mother worried the whole time looked into programs and everything. My sister was born fine. Same thing happed to Aunt and a couple of other people that I know. Amnio is not 100%, it is wrong much of the time so if I were you I'd look at your family history, see if there are any problems lurking in the closets and then ask your self "will it make a diffrence". Good luck with your new baby and remember that every baby, no matter what condition you get them in is a gift from God.

Congrats! I have had an amnio done. I had it done with my daughter b/c we were told that she had amniotic band syndrome & many malformations. We went to a perinatologist after many ultrasounds showed that she had serious malformations that were life threatening. We found out that she was a girl & thta her genes were perfectly normal.I carried her for another 8 weeks until I went into labor at 36 weeks. She lived for 1 hr. & 16 min. after birth, without breathing. Without the amnio we would not have know that she was a girl b/c her external genitalia did not form.
I only had it done to make sure that all of her problems were not genetic & that our next baby would not have the same problems. The amnio went smoothly & I did not have any complications, but the possible complications were scary. I would not do it again unless the same problem arose with another baby. Personally the chance of a healthy baby possibly being born too early to survive would be too much for me to take that chance.

God Bless!

DON'T DO IT!!! The risks far outweigh any benefits you may have. If there is concern that your baby will be anything ther than a normal healthy child, then continue through the pregnancy with the knowledge that something 'could' happen, but don't worry yourself over it. An amnio must puncture the sterile safe sac the baby is in, and there is NO GUARANTEE that the procedure will not do harm. You could even lose the baby. Sure, the risk is small, but why chance it?!?!!

I asked my doc what I could do when I was pregnant to put my mind at ease. There are several blood tests he can do on you to determine many things. Taking some of your blood is safe for the developing fetus and can indicate many defects, if there are any.

I had a friend who had a positive screening for Down Syndrome. She went ahead and had amnio around 22-24 weeks (I'm not quite sure how far along she was). Within 24 hours of having the amnio, she went into preterm labor (one of the risks with an amnio!) She delivered her daughter at that point and there was nothing they could do to save her. By the way--she did not have Down Syndrome--my friend taught special ed at the time and had no concerns about having an amnio--it seemed as though everyone (dr. included) just pushed her into having it to know for sure.
Unless there's a really good reason for it, or if you would terminate the pregnancy based on the results of the amnio, I wouldn't do it. They have incredible 3-D and 4-D ultrasounds that are much safer for the baby.
By the way--congratulations on your twins!

I had an amnio very late - almost too late to do it at all - I was over 5 months pregnant in a high risk pregnancy at age 39 and had not wanted to do an amnio at all. I took the one test prior to the amnio that usually always comes out positive. Once I took that test I couldn't get it off my mind. All of a sudden it seemed everywhere we went we saw a down syndrome child and my book club was reading that book about the down syndrome son of the Harvard grad. I know it is silly but I thought maybe God was trying to tell me something so we decided to take the amnio so that we would know thru the remainder of the pregnancy either way. I am glad I did it as all was fine and I was able to stop thinking about it and refocus my thoughts. The procedure itself went smoothly and I felt just fine afterwards. Good luck to you.

With my last pregnacy I had the blood test done( I forget the name) the one with a lot of false positives. It came back positive for Downs syndrome. I did have the amnio. I had no problems the test was simple and actually interesting. My son is perfectly healthy. But it gave me a huge sense of peace to know everything was fine. As some of the other Moms said you need to ask yourself what would you do if there was a problem. You are the only one who can know if the benefit out way the risk. I know there are horror stories, but they are also millions who have it with no complications. There are horror stories to labor too. But most of us have no complications. Talk with your doctor, get the facts about complications and risks, then decide what you need to do. Good luck! S. G