I can't believe I did this- I had an amnio today

[pollyanna123]

I went in today (at 23 weeks) to follow up on clubbed feet from my anatomy scan. My baby does have clubbed feet.

The baby also had short femurs. Long story short, we had about 5 minutes to decide whether or not we wanted to do an amnio to know for sure whether or not the baby has Down Syndrome.

I didn't think I'd ever get an amnio, but that's what we decided to do!! I'm feeling guilty that I risked my baby's life just so I could know for sure (not that we would terminate!), but on the other hand I'm relieved that I'll know for sure.

I'm used to making careful, well-researched decisions, not deciding in five minutes. There's a chance I may have researched and decided to have the amnio, but the hastiness still has me reeling. I'm a wreck right now with worry that I'll lose this baby over this!

Those of you who had amnios, when did you feel like you were "in the clear?" I'm way more concerned about losing this baby than I am finding out he or she has Down Syndrome.

[Mosaic]

Like you, I never ever thought I'd get an amnio; but circumstances presented themselves and we decided to do it. When the first 48 hours passed and I had zero symptoms from the procedure, I felt slightly better. When the preliminary results came back promising, I felt slightly better. When the final results came back with some mixed news, I felt confident that we'd made the right decision wrt to the amnio, but that came with the caveat that we'll never really be "in the clear" so to speak.

The amnio can tell you some things, but a lot of things remain unknown. In our case, we chose to go in with our eyes wide open, knowing that the down side is possibly having too much information. And ultimately, we can only make the very best decision that we can given the information we have at the time. You may not have had much time to debate your decision, but you did what you thought best at the time, and that's all you can ask of yourself.

[misskira]

With the information you've already been given, I would say an amnio is a reasonable choice. You need to maximize the care available for your child immediately after birth, and know how to plan for the birth. I choose not to do the quad screening, but I do have a 20 week anatomy scan to try to pick up on physical issues, and would follow up with further testing as needed. Big hug to you. It's so hard to have to make those kinds of decisions on the ball like that. Hopefully the amnio will give you some good news and you can have some peace of mind and calm for the remainder of your pregnancy.

[Buzzer Beater]

Laura I did the same thing in your situation. DH and I read studies that linked club feet to a number of problems and syndromes so we wanted to know for sure. Trisomies are only part of it. Did they rule out arthrogryposis at your last ultrasound? We were very worried about that too, but of course you can't tell that from amnio. I couldn't relax until we did the amnio and got the test results back- I just had to know one way or the other, not spend the rest of my pg wondering and fretting. I hope you get good news in a few days and you will be left looking forward to your wonderful babe.
Sara

[myk]

i was given 1 in 20 odds that she'd have down syndrome (they later said it was actually 1 in 10).. i never thought i'd have amnio either but i knew it would torture me until i got an answer. didn't matter what the answer was, i just couldn't deal with uncertainty.

by the next day i knew things were fine.. no spotting, cramping was reasonable, baby was active. hugs!

[zinemama]

I worried about the results, but to be honest, I never worried that the amnio would cause problems. The statistics didn't seem to warrant worry. Wishing you peace of mind soon!