Wow what a positive thread. How lovely!! I met someone recently who had an amnio and was told her baby was 'fine' all clear. Her baby has mosaic Down Syndrome that was not picked up when they counted the 15 cells of the amnio. It was picked up however at birth and it only took 7 cells to find one with 47 chromosomes....so yes, it can happen.....

And yes, these tests do NOT predict in any way shape or form, what your baby will be like and how you will cope with looking after it. I bet all of us have been surprised by our parenting in one way or another now that we have children....

I would strongly recommend skipping the testing as it only creates worry....I have a friend who has just had her first baby and her pregnancy was wrought with worry as the docs (she saw at least 8 different ones) were worried about the size of her bub. Not to mention her and her hubby are not that big! ggrrrr so she spent weeks worrying about baby not growing properly, placenta maybe dying etc....wondering how she would cope with an induction blah blah blah. It was so unfair. She ended up having a reasonably good birth and her baby was on the small side but perfectly normal and healthy. I can understand that doctors have to go by numbers and that some babies are in fact saved this way but really....!!!

For what it's worth, I have a child with Down Syndrome and she's perfectly normal and healthy. She has no health issues and although she picks up things a little slower than others, she's by no means a dunce! It saddens me that people are scared of people like her - after all, she's people like us I'd love to help allay people's fears.....

Cas