i had my Nuchal Scan and thought nothing of it, then got a scarey phone call from the hospital, telling me, "you have to come in immed for an emergency amnio" - because i had a 1 in 6 chance of having a baby with Downs Syndrome. I was over 35 at time of conception. ANyhoo, i had the amnio, stupid specialist consulted me beforehand, saying he WOULD use an local anasethetic, but when he actually did the procedure, he DIDN"T use the local anasethetic afterall (without saying anything to me), so i was in ALOT of pain (screaming). So my advice is, IF you do have the amnio, DO INSIST on the anesethetic. I had five days of cramps after the procedure.

after all that. two weeks of the longest waiting (so it seemed at the time).
no one rang me with results
i went into the hospital
"You can't have the results, that specialist is on holidays"
i am virtually in tears at that point, so anxious to find out
random nurse takes pity on me, goes and rustles up the results
ALL CLEAR

turned out Nuchal Scan test was innaccurately taken or something like that.

so all that stress for nothing.

had a healthy baby.

my risk was one in six
there is a risk associated with the CVS test
there is a risk associated with the amnio

i feel for you, i felt so anxious at the time, i coudln't even think straight to read brochures etc about the risks.

best of luck with whatever you decide to do. i would speak to a few medical people, get a few opinions. Make sure you understand the percentages - i found that so confusing. Actually someone who was really good at maths, helped me "get" that. they put it differently than the medicos did. less scary.