close enough to animosity anyway.
Amniocentesis scheduled for monday Feb. 16th - meeting with the genetic counselor on the same day. I've been googling low Papp-a results all day and really shouldn't be doing that. No good things can come from scaring yourself half to death.
The hospital by us with the best fetal medicine department can't fit us in for four weeks. Which if something is wrong, severely limits our options timing wise. So it looks like we'll be going to Lutheran General in Park Ridge instead as they can get us in a week from Monday.
If you've had an amnio I'd love to hear about your experience. I'm petrified of needles (how I got through all those years of self administered fertility shots is beyond me) and honestly just scared. Really scared.
Friday, February 6, 2009
amnio-sity
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6 comments:
My brother's GF came back with elevated risk after the first screening and she had an amnio; everything was fine.
I had an amnio, but at the end of the pregnancy. She told me it would feel like two taps, and I swear to God, it really did. Not like a needle stick at all. It felt like someone tapped on my belly twice. The boys kicked me harder than that.
Good luck.
We had an amnio with XBoy and after all was said and done (prior to the result issue) the anticipation of it was waaaaayy worse than the actual procedure.
I had an amnio with each baby...I was terrified going into it the first time--fear of the unknown and pain and the risk of miscarriage, etc.--so I know where you're coming from.
With J, our first, my quad screen came back with a 1 in 20 chance of Trisomy 18 (originally the risk was 1 in 5 but they had my weight wrong which skews the result) which meant that doing the amnio was a no brainer for us.
It was during a second level II u/s that we were given the amnio option and told we could take a week or two to think about it if we couldn't decide then...I couldn't say yes, I couldn't say no. I was just so overwhelmed by it all. I put the decision into A's hands right then and there and he said, "We're here now, let's not think about it for a few weeks and lose valuable decision-making time." Fast forward 10 minutes later in the u/s room: my belly is betadined, wiped down, and draped, while the peri comes at me with the syringe/needle. I didn't look, just stared at the pretty picture on the ceiling and crushed A's hand with my own for all it was worth.
It didn't really hurt per se, it was more of a quick sting when the needle first went in, and then I could feel a small "pop"-like feeling, which the dr. said was probably the needle going through the uterine wall and amniotic sac. It took no more than a minute or so for the peri to withdraw the fluid she needed (and I felt a bit of a painless 'pulling' suction-like sensation as she was withdrawing the fluid). It was over almost before I knew it. I then went home and took it easy for a day with no complications or anything of that nature.
Alas, it was the 10-day wait to get the results that about killed me :) The peri did order the results be FISHed so they'd come back in 48 hours but the sample was 'contaminated' with some of my blood (likely the dr. hit a small vein or something when she put the needle in) so they had to do the full growth culture, meaning 10-14 days. If your doc offers it, ask for the results to be FISHed...I guarantee you, it'll save you from shaving years off your life via worrying.
The amnio was such a non-event the first time that we didn't even do the quad screen with D, our second baby. We knew we'd probably just get another false-positive quad screen which would lead to an amnio. Why potentially torture ourselves with that test result again? So, early on in the pregnancy, we told our doc that we wanted to do an amnio when we were far enough along. We did it a little earlier that time, around 17 weeks or so, and it was pretty much the same experience as was the first one. No FISH that time, just another harrowing wait, with a healthy XX outcome at its end :) who just turned 2 years old last Sunday.
DD is absolutely correct--the anticipation of the amnio is sooo much worse than the actual amnio itself. Try not to work yourself up too much; it's not as bad as it's made out to be...if you need any additional info or support, please feel free to give me a shout.
Hang in there April. You can get through this no problem.
Kath has had amnios for both her pregnancies, it seems to be much more the norm in Germany. It didn't sound too traumatic. I do hope all is ok.
I really found my amnio to be no big deal at all -- just don't look at the needle. It took about 45 seconds and felt no worse than a blood draw, in my opinion. My CVS was much, much worse.
I've never had one, but just passing along my positive thoughts for Monday!
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