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Amniocentesis' Days Could Be Numbered

Promising Excerpt from the above link:

For the second time in a month, scientists have announced that a simple blood test, rather than more invasive tests such as amniocentesis, can determine a fetus's genetic make-up, identifying mutations causing any of about 3,000 inherited disorders that arise from a glitch in a single gene, such as cystic fibrosis.

Tags: Amniocentesis, Be, Could, Days, Numbered, alternative, blood, child, disorders, fetus, More…

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Permalink Reply by Over-wrked Momma on July 5, 2012 at 8:24am

When 15 week pregnant, I was told by my OBY/GYN that my blood test came back with a 1 in 10 chance of my baby having a Trisomy 18. (Tisomy 21 is Down Syndrome and 18 is so much worse - 99% of the fetus' are born still born or only live for less than a week) So before proceeding he did an amniocentesis. It was one of the scariest moments of my life. Seriously you could watch the needle being inserted and just how close it was to the baby. Worse of all, it's all in the hands of another human being, who is human. What if he drank too many cups of coffee that morning because he had been up all night delivering babies - he was puncturing your placenta and coming withing cenimeters of your child, I was borderline hesterical by the time it was done. On top of that I had some cramping for several hours afterward. While it was one of the scariest moments it was very relieving to receive the phone call a week later, that everything and I mean everything was ok - because they test for everything. To know, absolutely without a shadow of a doubt that your carring a perfect and healty baby is very relieving. (Especially after 2 miscarriages, and ectopic and the current pregnacy being very high risk due to gestational diabetes and high blood pressure)

With that said, I'm glad to hear that they are making strides in DNA/genetic testing so that in the future other moms never have to go through the risks and that scary moment again.

Thank goodness for modern medicine.

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Permalink Reply by Shawn Spivey on July 6, 2012 at 3:38pm

Wow, you really put it into perspective on what it's like to go through this procedure. You describe it so vividly! I'm so sorry you had those worries. :(

At each pregnancy I asked myself what decision would I make if an amnio was asked of me and I never could make a mental pinpoint on what I would have done. Over-wrked Momma, I'm glad your story has a happy ending. :)