with the scan that you've had, your "risk" of a child with downs syndrome, or another trisomy, are automatically increased based on your age. they combine a few results together - the thickness of the fold of skin at the babies neck, a couple of different hormones, take into account oyur age, and come up with the risk factor you've been given

a result of 1 in 64 means basically if they lined up 64 pregnant women with the same results as you, they would expect to see one child born with Downs - the other 63 would have a genetically fine baby

what you do with this information is entirely up to you. you can take on board that you have a slightly elevated risk of having a baby with a problem, and go with the "we'll see when it arrives" attitude, or you can opt to have further testing. this is a decision ONLY you and your partner can make. many take the view that it is only worth having the additional testing if you would terminate the pregnancy should a problem show up. others will see that they NEED to know either way - if a trisomy shows up, it means they can prepare for a child that will have additional needs when it arrives. it is entirely up to the two of you what you choose to do here. don't allow anyone to pressure you one way or the other

as to what happens physically with the amnio - i didn't have to go through this so i can't say myself. i know it gives a slightly higher chance of something going wrong (later term miscarriage etc), so that is something else to keep in mind. there are BB members who've had higher risks (one was 1 in 2!) - she had the amnio and it came back clear - she now has a gorgeous little boy

good luck with whatever you decide to do here - you will have support whatever you do

BG