advice on what to expect

cherokeesartori92

My dr said i need to have the aminostsis test done where they insert the needle in your stomach. Has anyone else needed to have this done? Im really nervous to have this done.

chicagomomab

No experience with it but sending positive thoughts to you!

sarahchrismck

Did something come up during blood work or a scan? If so, good luck, and I hope everything goes well.

LexiSophie55

captainleela said:

I would recommend having a more in-depth conversation with your doctor - talk about specific risks and benefits and have him walk you through the procedure so you know what to expect. Make sure he explains to you exactly why he wants to do it and what kind of information will be gained from it - and what decisions will be made based off of that information. Remember that your doctor is your partner, not your dictator. In the end these decisions are yours to make, not his. It may be worth it to do the procedure or you may choose not to, but you need to have more information before making that decision.

Agree 100%.  That is a huge decision and you need to learn more about it.  Your doctor can give you much better information than we can on the reason and what to expect.  I strongly believe in being proactive with your health care.  They see so many patients, sometimes they forget to treat them individually and breeze through details.

Unknown

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rels09

I agree, it's your decision, not your doctor's. If you do decide to have it done, think carefully about what doctor you will choose to perform it. My MFM (high-risk pregnancy doctor), for example, has a miscarriage rate for amnios that is less that half the national average (which is already a very small risk to begin with, but the choice of provider matters when you obviously want to minimize that risk as much as possible).

marijaa333

I haven't had amnio but I did have a CVS. In the course of researching both procedures, most accounts of amnio and CVS were pretty positive. It's really not a big deal. I had worked myself up into a frenzy before the CVS, and it was like a slightly longer pap smear. 

I think the most important aspect is the experience of your doctor (who will perform the amnio) and the complications rate at the particular facility where you will have this done. I would ask for specific information on both of these. If you are in experienced hands, you have very little to worry about. Good luck!

CamoBride2010

I have never had one done but good luck! Definitately agree with all the above posters about talking more with your doctor!

supersarah77

I've not had it but a friend has and she said it wasn't as big a deal as she made it in her head. She had high risk of Down Syndrome and wanted to know for sure (this was five years ago).

To piggy back on PPs, I like the following acronym when making big decisions about interventions like this:

B: What are the benefits?
R: What are the risks (of doing and not doing)?
A: What are the alternatives, if any?
I: What does my intuition say?
N: What happens if I say not right now?

JC714

The MaterniT21 would be an option before doing an amnio but can not replace the amnio as a diagnostic test....MaterniT21 is a screening for chromosomal abnormalities and other disorders if you choose to add them to the testing, but it cannot give a definite diagnoses....however because it is non-invasive doing that test first is usually a popular choice. If the results come back "positive" (it is only a positive or negative result from this screening not a ratio like the NT Scan) you can then decide to pursue more invasive testing such as the amnio.

itsmevkb

I have had an amnio, but later in pregnancy to test for lung maturity, not for chromosomal issues.

The procedure itself was pretty quick and easy and I thought it was really cool to watch it on the monitor.  It was also painless.  After it was done I was monitored for about 45 minutes for contractions but I'm not sure they do that if you're having it done in the second trimester. 

I think the big thing is that YOU get to decide if you want the test done or not, not your doctor.  And, if you do decide to go ahead with it, make sure the person performing it does a lot of them and has a low rate of complications.

As an aside, when I was pregnant with my first, I had a doctor who was really pushing an amnio on me despite all my screenings coming back within a normal range.  I think he was just the type to want to make sure I understood that those screenings could be wrong and didn't want me coming back later saying I had no idea something could still be wrong with my baby.  For me, without there being a very high risk of there being something wrong with the baby doing the test wasn't worth the added (but very small) risk of a miscarriage.