amniocentesis

Hi,

I am 13 weeks pregnant, expecting non-identical twins. Since I am already 40 years old, I want to get an amnio (amniocentesis) test done. Does anybody know, if it is done at the same time as with one child, i.e. 16-18 weeks or is it different with twins? Is the risk much higher than with one? What would be the consequences? If there is any problem with just one child, is it possible to remove one and keep the other one (with non-identical twins). How would this be done? Is there any time limit for that?

Thank you very much for your answers!
Barbara

 

Barbara- I know the risk is double with twins, since they basically have to do the procedure twice. I also know that in normal multi-fetal reductions (which are done between 10 and 12 weeks, you stand a 10% chance of losing the whole pregnancy. My guess is the chance of losing the whole pregnancy would be higher later on. I would talk to your doctor about these issues ASAP so that you can get the amnio done at the earlies date possible. Good luck to you - I'm sure your babes are healthy and happy Laura

 

There's a study that found that the risks of losing at least one twin after an amnio is 1/62. I don't know if they distinguished between mono-di and di-di twins. And you can do a termination of just one twin, but that has risks to it also. Did you have an NT done? If not, call your doctor ASAP--like in the next five minutes--to get one scheduled because there is a very small window of opportunity. That will give you the best predictor of Down syndrome for a twin pregnancy.

 

I don't think they do NT screens on women over 40, but I could be wrong...Laura

 

NT screens are also not great for twin pregnancies. There is no algorithm for twin pregnancies, which results in a lot of erroneous results.

 

There is nothing at all wrong with the nuchal scan itself. The bloodwork can produce some skewed results due to the presence of two fetuses, but thats not always the case. I don't know about the over forty cutoff, but if you do the scan then your doctor should counsel you regarding the results if the odds seem high.

 

I had the amnio done since I was 37 when I conceived, but just turned 38. But first they did the NT test @ 12 weeks, which u/s was normal but blood work came back a little abnormal. So I needed to know if there was really a problem or not so chose to do the amnio. I spoke to my high risk doctor, who is very well know & respected in my area. He said there is a very minimal risk with the amnio. He said he had one miscarriage 14yrs ago & she went shopping after her amnio, which you are suppose to totally rest for the next 24 hours, and performs about 600 per year, those are great odds to me. The babies were fine and so were my results, which gave me a huge piece of mind. My amnio was done the day I turned 16 weeks.

 

Did you talk to your doctor about possibly doing a CVS? You might be a little late for that ... but I'm not sure what the window is ... I had a CVS done when I was pregnant with triplets ... if you go to a doctor that is really skilled in amnio/cvs the chance of miscarriage is very very low. I went to one of the best in NYC ...

If you do find an issue, I believe they can reduce up to 24 weeks? I'm not sure what the risks are of reduction, but I'm sure if it came to that, the doctor could go over it all with you. IMO, knowledge is power.

Good luck!

 

24 weeks is a viable baby so that sounds a little late to be legal in most states. I would get testing down ASAP so you can make your decision early. Good luck and keep us posted!