amniocentesis with twins

I'm scheduled for an amnio on October 30, will be almost 17 weeks. Although I've had an amnio in the past, I'm particularly nervous and scared about this one considering there's TWO. I'm open to hearing both positive and negative experiences since I'm VERY new at this! Thank you.

 

For me, it would depend on what they were doing the amnio for. If it was to detect any genetic abnormality or birth defect then no I would not have one done. We refused all such testing (aside from u/s) during our pregnancy with our girls, as it would not have made a difference anyway because we were not willing to terminate. Please keep in mind that a lot of these tests can bear false positive results (especially with twins). Best of luck to you and your little one's! :hug:

 

I never had one with either one of our pregnancies. To me the risk of miscarriage was too great to have one and besides. I hate needles!!! :winking: Good luck!

 

:hug: I hope it goes well. I can imagine how nervous you are. Sorry I have no experience with amnios.

 

:give_rose: Sorry.. :welcome: to Twinstuff!

 

Not sure why you're getting opinions on whether or not to even have the amnio as it sounds like you've decided and are just looking for honest first hand experiences from other who have done amnio!

I haven't ever had one, so I have no personal experience to share, but I wanted to say good luck with the test. Chances are that the procedure will go just fine!

 

Hi - I had an amnio at 18 weeks. I didn't have one when I was pregnant with my son. I opted to have one this time for the following reason - in order to get pregnant, we needed to do IVF. In our first IVF cycle, we had quite a few embryos to freeze and our son actually came from one of those frozen embryos. We opted to do another IVF cycle since I wanted to give us the best chance possible of getting pregnant. Anyway, other than the 2 embryos that our now our twins, nothing else survived. I was extremely concerned about an embryo quality issue so for my own sanity, I felt it was important to know if there were issues.

I was extremely nervous about the amnio - not just about the procedure itself - but about the results, the possibility of miscarriage, it was all very overwhelming to me.

Anyway, they prep your belly with lots of iodine and then with ultrasound guidance, they do the first needle. By this time, my heart was pounding out of my chest. I felt pressure but that's about it. It takes about 30 seconds or so to actually collect the sample. Then they inject blue dye into that embryo to identify one from the other. You will be peeing green/blue for a couple of days. Then the second needle. It hurt and burned but not something you can't deal with it. By this time, I had been on my back for awhile and all the stress got to me, I almost passed out. They finished the sample, sat me up and I was sweating and out of it, but came around quickly. The doctor required bedrest for atleast 24 hours and had me drink a glass of wine that night to relax the uterus. That was a nice bonus.

The results came in 10 working days later - they didn't expedite anything since there was no indication of an issue. All came back great.

Good Luck - you'll be fine!

 

My wife had an amnio, and it was basically what jmk said. I would have actually liked to watch the process, but my wife can't stand needles, so I was busy keeping her cool, calm, and collected, (well as much as possible). She wasn't allowed to do much of anything for 3 days, but all came back good!

 

I had it done at 17 weeks and it wasn't too bad, except that I had to get poked three times! The first time they tried Baby A's sac, it wouldn't puncture, so they had to try a new spot. I think because of all the pokes, my uterus cramped quite a bit with the last poke, but the cramp was over quickly. Other than that, it didn't feel that much different than getting a needle in the arm or butt.

 

I get an amnio done on Wed at 36 weeks to test for lung maturity. This was a great post! I was wondering about the process and whatnot! I have no experience with it yet so far and am also a bit terrified with it as I hate needles!
:hug: to you and I hope you get the answers you are looking for!

 

Hi blessedX4. I might be having an amnio a couple of weeks after you (doctors appointment tomorrow to find out). Are yours di-chorionic di-amniotic twins? If they are, which mine are, I have been told the results are pretty accurate. The thing is to make sure you have the BEST practitioner doing the procedure to ensure your babies' safety due to the obvious 'complication'. We are special and deserve special treatment!

 

Hi there!! :wavey:

I didn't have my amnio till 37.4 weeks to check lung maturity as well (the day before my c/s).

Unfortunately they were only able to get results from one babies fluid, the other was in the way & it was too dangerous at that point.
They did try though & think I was poked about 4-5 times OUCH! I couldn't watch, but my DH did

Good luck!

 

I was scheduled for an amnio at 18 weeks with what I thought was a singleton. I was on the exam table getting an U/S to start the procedure-see where the baby was so they could insert the needle in the appropriate place. That was when we got our big surprise that we were having twins! The peri gave us a few minutes to regroup and decide if we still wanted to do it explaining to us that the risks were the same for each baby, but not higher just because they were twins. We went ahead with it and it was fine. The reason we chose to do an amnio in the first place was that I would be 35 when the baby(ies) came and we already had a 1 year old at home and wanted to be prepared if there was anything to be concerned about. I also went on to have another amnio with my subsequent pregnancy with the same peri and that was all fine as well. I just made sure I stayed off my feet for a few days afterwards-had the procedure on a Friday and went back to work on Monday. We also selected a peri that did frequent amnios and had lots of experience.

Good luck!