Hi ALR,

I think I may be too late since you wrote your concerns a couple of days ago. Firstly, I am soooooooo sorry to ehar of your mum's passing but I feel quite certain that she is still with you in every way, just not physically.

I wrote a thread titled Amniocintesis - do I or do don't I ? in the 2nd Triemster forum. I received a great response from a huge number of caring and beautiful people and the advise swung both ways. My case was a little different in that my nt scan showed low risk for ds, but with my age at 41, I still decided to go ahead a month later and have the amnio to be 99.9% sure. My dp and I were both in agreeance that we didn't want a "challenged" child as we are too old.

Anyway, I went through all the emotions like you are (were), I cried and asked lots of q's of family, friends, doctore, genetic councellor etc. And just like you I was so scared of the mc factor which was higher for me having had 2 previous mc's. I went ahead and had the amnio as I felt that it was the right thing to do knowing that we would terminate if anything was wrong. The choice is ultimately yours, but I think that you have answered your q, with already having a child that has challenges and how you cope with that.

I had a wonderful OB, I felt extremely informed before making the decision, and the procedure itself was no big deal as it was conducted very carefully and with a great deal of compassion and understanding towards my fears!! I also suggest having 2 days off from work with your feet up!! Give that little darling every chance!! I am now 20 wks pg and expecting a darling girl and all is well and I am so happy that I did have the test as harrowing as the decision was to make.

My heart goes out to you ALR and I wish you great results which can still happen even if you are diagnosed as "high risk". Lots of love to you, Nicole