Hi all,
This is going to be a long read but I'm sure it will benefit those who really wan to know more....
While most of us had a healthy pregnancy and gave birth to healthy babies, there is small a fraction of us that go through that period of uncertainty where the Gynae suspects that something that might be amiss and recommend an invasive amniocentesis procedure to get more details.
I hope this post will give worried parents-to-be an idea of the procedure, the risks involved and more details on this invasive procedure. I also hope to share the accounts of the procedure based on my wife's experience and the aftermath.
For more technical in-depth info on Amnio, the link from wikipedia sum up pretty much.
Amniocentesis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In a nutshell, Amniocentesis(Amnio) is based on DNA findings and accuracy of up to 90%. It involved inserting a needle from the abdomen (can be any position, depending on the location of the fetus) via guidance from the ultrasound scanner and extracting around 20ml of Amniotic fluid from the waterbag (25ml if you opt for PCR/FISH for fast results) Depending on the place you do it, most Amnio test includes Trisomy 21(DS), 18 and 13. Sex determination is usually included.
The procedure is done at around week 16 or 17 when the baby is the most stable/strongest period and the there is still space for the needle to be insert. Too early or too late will elevate the risks.
The idea of a "invasive" procedure would have made many Mums-to-be hair stand with the thought that a needle would poke to the waterbag, causing potential harm to the baby within. This frightening thought had been going through our minds when the procedure was recommended to after our OSCAR risk assessment result.
Before a decision is made, we must understand the risks involved and if the risk from the OSCAR result or other test outweights the risk involved in Amnio procedure.
At the end of the day, you need to ask yourself. Why Anmio? For some the answer is very straight forward which I will not emhasize that;s why they want amnio, but for the rest may not be that simple. For our case, my Wife's first few Weeks quite unstable and had injection and duphaston so we are not sure if these will elevate the risk.
We asked various people for advise and got different answers:
1) My dad is initially against the idea after finding out it's a invasive surgery. But he's pretty well read in the internet and after finding out more online, he actually say it's up of us although I knew he's worried too.
2) My colleague say he had bad OSCAR results too but after discussion with wife, they skipped the test cos to them, they are keeping the child anyway regardless Down Syndrome or not.
3) My wife's colleague, who had a Down Syndrome child, encouraged us, without a thought, to go ahead the test.
4) My other friend, who is a staunch Christian, say he will not even do OSCAR as it's a gods gift and god's will.
5) My friend, a doctor say "just do it, it's safe lah.."
In the end, after reading from the net and finding out more on the procedure. We realise is amnio is a very common procedure even in SG. The procedure was also highly recommended for pregnant women above age of 35. For my wife's case, the procedure is done personally by our Gynae who is very expereience and has done this procedure countless of time. This is important as the risk of Amnio is also dependant on the doctor doing it.
So, we decided to go through the procedure.
During the procedure, the nurse preped the equipment which is rather simple, a long metal needle for insertion, a tube leading to the syringe which will store the amniotic fluid. During the procedure, family member cannot be present to reduce the risk of infections.
The Gynae did an initial scan to determine the position of the fetus, the Gynae then clean up the area of insertion. very carefully with the scanner, the Gynae slowly insert the needle to through the abdomen. This is the part where the typical "needle injection" pain will be felt. From here, The Gynae told my wife to breathe slowly and easily as the needle can be seen from the ultrasound screen. (appears as a white long object) The doctor slowly guides the needle to outermost layer of the waterbag, barely touchly the inner wall of the waterbag.
"Ok, the worst is over, you can rest easy.." My Gynae told my wife. "You see the screen, the needle is far away from baby" she said as she pull the syringe to extract 25ml of aminotic fluid. After that, the Gynae slowly pull the needle out while the nurse cleaning up the area with some antisceptic spray and patch up the wound with a plaster, like a typical injection wound.
All the procedure, including prep, is completely within 10 mins. The Gynae did an overall scan to show my wife that baby is still fine and kicking around.
We were told to rest at the waiting room for 40 to 45mins. During which my wife complain a slight sore that become more and more obvious before it slowly subside in the next 2 hours. After 45mins, the nurse removed the plaster and did a detail scanning of the baby to check all organs/limbs/genitals are in place. We felt relief at the baby seem oblivious of what just happen and still moving around.
Doc gave 2 days MC but my wife took the rest of the week leave just in case. The past 2 days were good and wife had no big effects. Initially Wife have mild feeling of morning sickness but it went off by the end of the day. The next day she felt some mild cramps or pulls at the abdomen, but not at the insertion area. Not the very painful type but felt like flutters. So we figured it's not amnio related.
Now the wound is only a tiny dot like a insect bite.
If you opt for PCR/FISH test, the result should be out in 2 to 3 days. The PCR will determine if there's trisomy 21, 18 and 13. The test will also determine the baby's sex.
.
.
.
.
I hope this lengthy post will help those with the same dilema as us, to make better decision as to whether to go ahead with Amnio or not. But I want to disclaim that this is based on our experience and different people may experience different things with different outcomes, pls don't hold me responsible for anything.
All the best and goodluck!
Thank you.
This is going to be a long read but I'm sure it will benefit those who really wan to know more....
While most of us had a healthy pregnancy and gave birth to healthy babies, there is small a fraction of us that go through that period of uncertainty where the Gynae suspects that something that might be amiss and recommend an invasive amniocentesis procedure to get more details.
I hope this post will give worried parents-to-be an idea of the procedure, the risks involved and more details on this invasive procedure. I also hope to share the accounts of the procedure based on my wife's experience and the aftermath.
For more technical in-depth info on Amnio, the link from wikipedia sum up pretty much.
Amniocentesis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In a nutshell, Amniocentesis(Amnio) is based on DNA findings and accuracy of up to 90%. It involved inserting a needle from the abdomen (can be any position, depending on the location of the fetus) via guidance from the ultrasound scanner and extracting around 20ml of Amniotic fluid from the waterbag (25ml if you opt for PCR/FISH for fast results) Depending on the place you do it, most Amnio test includes Trisomy 21(DS), 18 and 13. Sex determination is usually included.
The procedure is done at around week 16 or 17 when the baby is the most stable/strongest period and the there is still space for the needle to be insert. Too early or too late will elevate the risks.
The idea of a "invasive" procedure would have made many Mums-to-be hair stand with the thought that a needle would poke to the waterbag, causing potential harm to the baby within. This frightening thought had been going through our minds when the procedure was recommended to after our OSCAR risk assessment result.
Before a decision is made, we must understand the risks involved and if the risk from the OSCAR result or other test outweights the risk involved in Amnio procedure.
At the end of the day, you need to ask yourself. Why Anmio? For some the answer is very straight forward which I will not emhasize that;s why they want amnio, but for the rest may not be that simple. For our case, my Wife's first few Weeks quite unstable and had injection and duphaston so we are not sure if these will elevate the risk.
We asked various people for advise and got different answers:
1) My dad is initially against the idea after finding out it's a invasive surgery. But he's pretty well read in the internet and after finding out more online, he actually say it's up of us although I knew he's worried too.
2) My colleague say he had bad OSCAR results too but after discussion with wife, they skipped the test cos to them, they are keeping the child anyway regardless Down Syndrome or not.
3) My wife's colleague, who had a Down Syndrome child, encouraged us, without a thought, to go ahead the test.
4) My other friend, who is a staunch Christian, say he will not even do OSCAR as it's a gods gift and god's will.
5) My friend, a doctor say "just do it, it's safe lah.."
In the end, after reading from the net and finding out more on the procedure. We realise is amnio is a very common procedure even in SG. The procedure was also highly recommended for pregnant women above age of 35. For my wife's case, the procedure is done personally by our Gynae who is very expereience and has done this procedure countless of time. This is important as the risk of Amnio is also dependant on the doctor doing it.
So, we decided to go through the procedure.
During the procedure, the nurse preped the equipment which is rather simple, a long metal needle for insertion, a tube leading to the syringe which will store the amniotic fluid. During the procedure, family member cannot be present to reduce the risk of infections.
The Gynae did an initial scan to determine the position of the fetus, the Gynae then clean up the area of insertion. very carefully with the scanner, the Gynae slowly insert the needle to through the abdomen. This is the part where the typical "needle injection" pain will be felt. From here, The Gynae told my wife to breathe slowly and easily as the needle can be seen from the ultrasound screen. (appears as a white long object) The doctor slowly guides the needle to outermost layer of the waterbag, barely touchly the inner wall of the waterbag.
"Ok, the worst is over, you can rest easy.." My Gynae told my wife. "You see the screen, the needle is far away from baby" she said as she pull the syringe to extract 25ml of aminotic fluid. After that, the Gynae slowly pull the needle out while the nurse cleaning up the area with some antisceptic spray and patch up the wound with a plaster, like a typical injection wound.
All the procedure, including prep, is completely within 10 mins. The Gynae did an overall scan to show my wife that baby is still fine and kicking around.
We were told to rest at the waiting room for 40 to 45mins. During which my wife complain a slight sore that become more and more obvious before it slowly subside in the next 2 hours. After 45mins, the nurse removed the plaster and did a detail scanning of the baby to check all organs/limbs/genitals are in place. We felt relief at the baby seem oblivious of what just happen and still moving around.
Doc gave 2 days MC but my wife took the rest of the week leave just in case. The past 2 days were good and wife had no big effects. Initially Wife have mild feeling of morning sickness but it went off by the end of the day. The next day she felt some mild cramps or pulls at the abdomen, but not at the insertion area. Not the very painful type but felt like flutters. So we figured it's not amnio related.
Now the wound is only a tiny dot like a insect bite.
If you opt for PCR/FISH test, the result should be out in 2 to 3 days. The PCR will determine if there's trisomy 21, 18 and 13. The test will also determine the baby's sex.
.
.
.
.
I hope this lengthy post will help those with the same dilema as us, to make better decision as to whether to go ahead with Amnio or not. But I want to disclaim that this is based on our experience and different people may experience different things with different outcomes, pls don't hold me responsible for anything.
All the best and goodluck!
Thank you.
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