amnion/chorion not properly fused - anyone else experience this?

sfmama

i am 38 years old and this is our 2nd pregnancy (we had DD when I was 35) and i went in for an amnio today, at 16w4d, and the doctor was not able to perform the amnio because the amnion and chorion were not completely fused and he said proceeding before they are fused has a higher risk of triggering a miscarriage.  we didn't think much of it and scheduled an appointment in about 9 days so they can "try again", but then i spent some time looking up information about it on the internet and that got me more concerned.   the information out there seems to indicate that the vast majority of chorion have fused to the amnion between 9-16 weeks, and that failure to fuse or in some cases, "un-fusing", is a strong indicator for significant chromosome problems and also a high rate of 2nd and 3rd trimester fetal death. i did find a few websites that indicated late fusing is more common with late maternal age and does not necessarily mean there is anything wrong with the baby.

all of the other "indicators" seemed OK, the baby was measuring exactly on schedule, was active during the u/s and when we did our NT our results were (not amazing but not terrible) - 1:440 for downs and 1:15,000 for trisomy 18.  we were proceeding with the amnio because there is some history of abnormalities on my husband's side and since i was adopted i have no knowledge/history.

since we are just over 16w, i probably shouldn't get too worried but i was wondering if anyone else has experienced this and what happened?  thanks for anything you can share!

LyndaCarter

Seriously, stop googling. You'll only make yourself worry more. If the doctor performing the amnio thought the fusion was an issue he/she would have said so at your appointment. If they thought it was fine, I'm sure it's fine. Maybe some fusion had occurred, but it wasn't complete yet so they wanted to wait a bit. I see nothing wrong with that.

ateytelb

I did amnio with my 2d, and CVS with my 3d. I did my amnio at 18 weeks and didn't have this problem. I would call the doc. and ask him/her if it's something you should be concerned about, and how many cases like that he's seen in his practice and what was the outcome.

BrideforKen

Honestly, I would just try and be patient for the next amnio. Your NST #'s sound really good. Try to stay positive and stay away from Dr. Google.