Amnio or Not - Milford,CT

I voluntarily had an amnio -would have twice, but the first time the baby wouldn't move his head. If you go to a practice that does them regularly, there is very little chance of miscarriage. The "pro-life" police like to scare everyone and say that there's this huge chance of it -which just isn't true -and that the ONLY reason to have an amnio is if you would have an abortion, which is not only UNTRUE, but actually potentially harmful to your baby. They are making more advances everyday, and they already have a several in-utero surgeries they can do for problems such as spina-bifida that greatly help the baby once born. Not only that, but don't you want to be as prepared as possible for whatever issues your baby may face? Some of them require a NICU team at delivery -and that can be life or death. Sometimes you DO have the unfortunate issue where there is a disorder so severe that the baby will not live after birth. It's still up to you to decide what you want to do in that case.

There are many kids born with club feet or a club foot with no other issues whatsoever, so you probably have nothing to worry about. However, do yourselves AND your baby the service of knowing absolutely what is going on. The doctor is just covering herself and telling you about all of the options. Imagine how you would feel if she said nothing and in your 8th month the baby dies from a disorder she could have detected -and it almost kills you too? Doctors are there to tell us ALL the possibilities! Especially if everything looks great except the foot -there's probably no other issue, but it's always better to be safe than sorry.

There are two reasons to have an amnio; to be informed or to consider aborting. This is a very personal choice. Remember Doctors are not God and an amnio has no guarantees for good or bad.

Julie B is wrong & right on her post. The "pro life police" does NOT try to scare woman into believing there is a HUGE chance of miscarriage but since there is that small *chance*, educate yourself on this for your own personal knowledge. And us pro lifers do not believe the only reason to have an amnio is to abort, but lets face it there are only 2 reasons to have an amnio & one of those is to abort.

I am so sorry you are going thru this. I chose not to have an amnio, although my only reason to have one was due to my age. Best wishes to you and your family.

I am so sorry you are going thru this. As a lot of other posters have said, the stress and worry are not good for the rest of the pregnancy. I just wanted to share my personal story and what my OB said that made me go thru with the amnio when I was pregnant with my first. I had a lot of complications and my blood work came back all screwy twice. All 4 levels were out of whack. The biggest concern was Down Syndrome but there were others also. I was very scared of the risk of miscarriage and had pretty much decided against it until my OB said he was recommending the amnio because he wanted to have the right specialists in the delivery room so they could be there and ready to handle whatever medical complications she might have when she was born. I thought about that and realized if she were to have a heart condition that even a few extra minutes to get a specialist in to see her could actually mean life or death for her. I had the amnio and got the peace of mind.

So, my only advice is to ask a few more questions about what possible disorders your baby might have and if any of those would require immediate specialized medical attention at birth.

GL with your decision and congrats on the soon to be addition to your family!

oh my. I am so, SO, SOO sorry. I just said a prayer for you as I was reading. I realize there's basically nothing I can really say right now that's going to help you make a decision but I am pregnant as well right now and I'm genuinely trying to put myself in your shoes. It has always been my position that I wouldn't for any reason have an amnio and I'm thinking that if I were in your shoes I might feel that no good could come of an amnio. With my first pregnancy we had a "soft marker" for Downs despite good bloodwork and normal scans until that point...and before I saw the specialist I decided and amnio wasn't necessary. Either way once you get answers you'll have more questions and more fears and you won't necessarily have peace of mind because if there are other things it could possibly be then the amnio is likely to just produce further anxiety or anguish.

I say, spend your time and focus on having a very healthy pregnancy and centering yourself emotionally and spiritually for this journey. I think of anything you can possibly do, that's going to be the most valuable for yourself and that precious baby. You will be in my thoughts.

It must be really scary. I'm sorry.

An informed decision is the best decision, USUALLY in life, right?
But ONLY you & your husband can make this decision for you. If terminating the pregnancy is 100% NOT an option for you, I'd say skip it.
On the other hand people will say would give you time to educate yourself on any issues they find.....if you're that sort of personality type.
But the risk (while low) of miscarriage in the case of a perfectly negative result is also a chance....

My personal experience when I was offered amnio? I was 39 and pregnant with our first. Reading the fine print led me to believe that there were too many false negatives and false positives and too few guarantees of anything so we skipped it.

I'd think about it for a few days. Don't make a rash decision.
Good luck whatever you decide.

Please don't let a doctor, specialist or anyone else RUSH you into having any medical procedure. A good doctor won't pressure you to have an amnio or anything else "right away" unless someone's life is in jeopardy. Take your time. Talk to the doctors/specialists. Gather information. Stop, think, pray. THEN decide what's best for you and your baby.

I've unfortunately heard too many stories of test that were wrong to make me think that an amnio is the definitive test for your baby's health. If there is a reason to have one, I don't think waiting a week to digest all the information thrown at you is too long to wait. Best of luck and I'll say a prayer for your family.

being 'confused, scared and overwhelmed' is not a healthy way to finish your pregnancy. I had an amino and it felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders. I wanted to know so I could prepare myself mentally if I needed to and plan for the best possible care.
We went to a guy in Denver and it was such a positive experience I hugged the staff on the way out because it felt so right!. Call them; I'm sure they would be happy to talk with you.
Good luck. A baby is a wonderful gift

I wanted to write a message but marked Julie B.s as helpful b/c that's what I would have written...
Other than that I just wanted to offer a supportive note - will be praying for your family and your doctors. Your decision will be the best one.

I had an amnio. The process was really not much, it was not painful or uncomfortable at all. But the calm of knowing that my baby did NOT have a genetic abnormality was great. It is the only test that can tell you absolutely if your baby has genetic abnormalities, the others only can give you a level of risk, not a definitive yes/no.

I'd want to know. Obviously that's why I had an amnio during my preganancy. This describes some genetic factors that can cause club feet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_foot

First of all, stop stressing. I know it is easier said than done but nothing you can do will change the outcome so worrying isn't doing you or your baby any good.

Second, as for if you should have the amnio or not....depends on two things 1. Would you, under any circumstances, choose to abort based on this test? If yes than you should have the test. If not, the only reason to have the test would be for 2. Would you want to know in advance of any possible health issues? If yes, have the test. If not, there is no reason to have the test.

Third...keep in mind, the test is not necessarily conclusive. There are some that are told positive for Downs and the child doesn't have Downs when born. There are some that a condition does not show up and once born it does. This is why those that terminate based on this test may be doing so for no good reason at all. My sister's friend had a false positive with her second child. I will say that the false positive meant extra check ups for her and the baby during the pregnancy. It also meant they were prepared (and worried) which allowed them to detect a heart issue w/ the baby but he did not have Downs.

I was 19 w/ my son and was told "low risks" so I could have it if I wanted but they didn't feel it was necessary. With my daughter, I was 34 so there was a higher risk. Additionally, there is some risk of miscarriage from having the test (that is what my dr told me). We would not have terminated either way and certainly didn't want risk a false result causing worry or false hope so didn't see the need to expose the pregnancy to unecessary risk. I did not have the test with either pregnancy.

Best of luck to you.

I was very relieved after my amnio. They didn't find anything wrong, but even if they did, I would want to prepare for it. The chance of miscarriage is very low...make sure someone experienced does it. I was older, so I had one.

I didn't have amnio with either of my pregnancies (my only risk factor was age). Many of my friends have had it and it gave them peace of mind. Also I had it described to me as "about as bad as a really inept blood draw." I talked to a geneticist and decided not to do it--looking at my specific risk factors was enough peace of mind for me. I think the risk of miscarriage is very low but ask you doctor for the specifics. Write down all your questions and then talk to the doctor again (and write down the answers) then decide.

First of all, I am so sorry you're going through this. Club feet do often occur when there are other abnormalities, but sometimes occur by themselves -- I know a child born with bilateral club feet whom they thought would have other problems but was born perfectly healthy otherwise!

I imagine they want to rush you into an amnio because, if you hsould want to terminate, there's not a lot of time left. However, the amnio decision in my opinion should hinge on what you would want to do. For me, I wouldn't terminate, so I wouldn't risk the amnio because it wouldn't affect my choice either way (it would be nice to know either way, but still wouldn't change my decision). If you want to terminate for some diagnoses, then you should get the amnio, and get it soon. If you won't terminate but still want to know, you can consider the amnio, but you don't need to rush to get it asap.

Ultimately, it is a decision that only can make. Good luck to you and your little one!

I think you can look at this in 2 ways. Some will say if you don't plan on aborting, what is the point, you are going through with it anyway. On the other hand, if you are going to stress the entire rest of your pregnancy about the what ifs, then it may be worth it to do the amnio so you can enjoy the pregnancy and that nothing is really wrong. I would fall into category 2. This past pregnancy, with me being older, having had a miscarriage, and having very high hormone levels, I decided to have the NT and ultrasound done at 12 weeks. I was so panicked and stressed. If anything was abnormal I would have had the amnio done to rest my mind. Since everything was normal, I turned the amnio down. Only you can decide if you need the reassurance.

I am a women's health specialist with a national laboratory and spent two hours at a huge maternal fetal medicine office yesterday, providing information on new guidelines.

I asked about patient literature and if they needed more, when I'm stressed I tend to forget information but the patients here are only interested in gender. These patients are referred by their regular OBGYNs because of "issues" but they want the gender. Ughhh!!! Truly she was surprised you had questions...most don't.

I adopted (not because of infertility) so these tests were not offered to me. If I had the opportunity to have a medical team ahead to HELP me because of this test, you bet I would. Additionally, there are some nasty conditions that are tested for that will let you know if your baby will make it to two years old or possibly die in utero. I'm all for information.

What do you think the realistic chance of miscarriage is? Did you discuss with them? Who is scheduled to do the amnio - what type of physician?

Best of luck, you have to do what's right for your family. I think you have a lot more questions to ask. Keep us posted!

i think it all comes down to if you would abort the baby if they do find something wrong .. if u wouldnt under any circumstances abort the baby then i wouldnt do the test theres really no point, if u would abort if theres some serious genetic issue then definatley do it... i think the only real issue here is, how badly would u want to know ahead of time? ... if u can stand the wait i would and avoid the risk of the amnio doing any damage