Amniocentesis curiousity

[Gigi]

First of all, thanks for all your kind words of support - hopefully June 1st is the day i find out the results.

I appreciate i was asking and searching for support in a real rush, news of having the test was just thrown at me, it happened all so fast, and i fully appreciate most of the forum members have kids and households to run, so i understand why responses were not instant - it was unrealistic of me to hope for that.

I did do a SEARCH for amniocentecis on this site and didn't come up with much. No doubt there were posts on here about it, i just couldn't locate them - i was prob too upset to think straight enuff to look properly.

INFO TO HELP OTHER WOMAN WHO HAVE AN AMNIO TEST: (based on my experience of having one yesterday).

I have just had one, and found it hard to find anyone to talk to who had already "been there, done that", so now i have had mine, i would like to share the experience, so that hopefully, subsequent women who go thru it, have something to go on, not go in blindly like i did.

Other woman on this forum have posted some of their experiences and i invite other belly belly members, to share their stories too.

Gigi's amnio test as an outpatient in a public hospital

1. Finding out
i got told i needed the test over the phone by a abrupt tactless midwife. The news stunned me so much and there she was, asking me to make decisions on the spot! It was all too much. My advice is, if this happens to you, go speak to a medical person you feel safe with, like your gp, and don't be alone to deal with all the feelings that will come up. It also really helped me to go visit a girlfriend and spend time with someone sympathetic.

2. Test prep:
you don't need to do anything particular, like drink lots of water (as you do for the nuchal scan). I think the most important thing you could do is *** take a support person to drive you there and back, and hold your hand in the room where procedure is done *** re-arrange your schedule so you can rest after the test in case you get all crampy and woozy like i did

3. the actual test
On the day, first of all my partner and I met with a specialist obstretrician who took us into a private office, using diagrams explained exactly what the test involved, a 1 in 200 chance of triggering a miscarriage by agreeing to have the test and what the risk numbers meant.

The test looks at the 46 chromosomes (23 from mum, 23 from dad and yes , it shows the gender of the baby, whether there is a x or y). The 21st chromosome is the one that shows whether Downs syndrome is present or not. If there are THREE 21st chromosomes, your baby has downs. There should only be TWO 21st chromosomes.

It was explained a regular test takes two weeks for the results to come back. Also there is a FISH test, you pay $200, it comes back in a few days, but is non-conclusive until the two week test comes back.

If the Amnio comes back positive for Downs, the next step is to have the CVS test. That is also invasive and carries a 1 in 100 chance of triggering a miscarriage.

Next we went into a treatment room, there was the specialist obstrectrician, a nurse, and a sonographer. I got up on a trolley bed thing.

The sonographer started doing an ultrasound. I am exactly 16 weeks along.
The obstet. painted my abdomen with a brown red antiseptic. (no local anaethestic was used).
I didn't look but the obstret took over the ultrasound probe tool and then inserted a needle into my stomach, bit lower down than i expected.

The pain was bearable but not at all pleasant - my partner said it took a few minutes - of course it felt longer to me! The obstret. knows where it is safe to put the needle by being guided by the ultrasound (so they can avoid jabbing the baby).

Immediately after i felt rather woozy to my surprise, and got crampy legs like bad pmt. We sat in the waiting room for a while, then went to nearest cafeteria so i could have a drink and a snack. I felt like if i didn't do that i would keel over.

I had not expected any after effects, but was so glad my partner went off and got the car and brought it to the front of the hospital so i only had a few steps to walk. I was not in a fit state to drive.

The obstretician had rattled off a list of things to watch for, the kind of thngs you should get medical help for straight away, like bleeding or leaking. He advised i take it very easy for rest of day - he was right.

For the rest of the day i did diddly squat. Each time i got bored and would get up to do stuff, the aches and pains made me sit down again.

In summary, the amnio test was a bigger deal than i had anticipated - emotionally and physically.

It may involve NO pain or after effects for you (you lucky duck), but my advice is to BE PREPARED. Take a support person, if you need them - they're there, if you don't, at least you have a friend on hand to have a coffee with afterwards.