Posted by
Chy
20 yrs ago
Has anyone had one of these tests, was it really painful and is it usually taken place at the doctor's practice or in hospital? I'm 34 years old, 6 weeks pregnant and after my first visit to the doc last week, I was told by the nurse later that I may need to take either CVS or Aminiocenteses test. I'm totally stressed over this as I have an extremely low pain tolerance but I know it pays to be on the safe side, I'm really scared out of my brains just thinking about the procedure. I would be most grateful to hear from anyone who has taken either one of these tests Thanks!
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Hi Chy,
I hope I can relieve some of your fear.
I had CVS sampling done at 10 wks with my last pregnancy.
I would call it uncomfortable rather than painful and I think the discomfort came from me feeling quite tense about having the procedure.
My obstetrian quoted the increased risk of miscarriage with CVS (I was aware of this from practising in Australia) but do keep in mind that miscarriage has a greater chance of occuring before the 12th week anyway and so sometimes the CVS has nothing to do with the intention of mother nature.
Amnio of course takes place later.
I was suprised that CVS sampling is not done as frequently in Hong Kong and my obstetrician mentioned that it is not requested as often.
It is a common procedure and in fact probably a little more practised in Australia and other parts of the world.
I am not sure why they are suggesting you will need one, but I do not know your obstetric history. 34?
If you are going to go ahead with the procedure they will do it soon.
On the bright side, the results come through in about 4 days (much quicker than amnio results).
I can not reccomend Dr. Macor Wan more highly to do this procedure, he is extremely experienced, proficient and head the perinatal diagnostic clinic. He was kind and very caring during my procedure.
All the very best.
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I forgot to mention that Dr. Wan does the procedure in his rooms. He is set up for the procedure with propper obstetric ultrasounds. I am not sure, but he may actually do referals for the procedure as I do know that he does most of the 18 week morphology scans for many of the obstetricians in Hong Kong. The procedure takes about 20 - 30 minutes.
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Chy
20 yrs ago
Thank you very much for sharing this with me 'midwife', but it just never occured to me that I would need one although I would have turned 35 by the time I'm due but that doesn't mean the risks escalate immediately right? My obstetric history is clean, with no previous history in the family with complicated pregnancies or cases of down syndrom. I guess if my doc suggest I do it then there's no valid reason for me to turn it down, I mean, they'll always say it's better to be safe than sorry but I am concerned about the risk of miscarriage. How about if I do go along with CVS sampling, must I also get amnio? Just by reading about how the procedure is carried out got me in tears, I literally cried like a baby, was so scared. I feel that the main reason my doc wants me to go thru with CVS & amnio is to test for down syndrom. However, I'm less nervous to hear you describe the experience as uncomfortable more than painful, that does help, thanks!
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Hi Chy,
No..it is one or the other. CVS is conclusive. You will still have the morphological scan at 18 - 20 weeks to check out the baby's growth and organs (and to get a nice photo!) but the CVS will look for chromosonal abnormalities.
You have probably been offered it as you have presented at 6 weeks and so you will make the cut off time if you would prefer CVS. (They are not normally performed after 12 - 14 weeks - although my information may not be current it may be a week or so out)
Obstetricians have different criteria as to which patients they suggest amnio's from. Often if you are under the age threshold (which is not necesarily an indicator of increased risk) they will suggest amnio if you have a raised AFP blood test (normally done around 14 weeks) or a thickened TN on routine scan. Some obs do not even do the AP test anymore because of all of the false positives and others just rely on the scan. You mentioned it was the nurse that indicated the CVS may be required.
Pregnancy can be a bit of a confusing mine field in the early days and the emotion and excitement can easily give way to bouts of concern, confusion and even fear. Try not to worry, staying relaxed is the best thing to focus on for your baby and your health. Discuss it with the doctor at your next visit and I am sure he/she will give you a valid reason for or against the procedure if it is required at all.
It is important to be informed and understand what is happening and why, but try not to give yourself a crash course and research because you will just uncover lots of scary stuff that really does not relate to you or your pregnancy.
Sleep well and try to relax!
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Chy
20 yrs ago
Midwife, your advice is so comforting, I really am clueless and always feel that I should comply with everything the ob suggests I do. I suppose getting CVS is a good idea but how can I be sure that it won't risk miscarriage? Or is it just a risk no matter what? At this stage, I'm already a nervous wreck about miscarriage, I think I worry to much but I hear about so many women who miscarry at weeks to 5 months pregnant that I can't even begin to feel excited about the pregnancy, there's just so much uncertainty. But I will take your advice and try to relax, I know getting myself all worked up does nothing good for the baby's health. Thank you again for your valuable advice and patience in answering my queries, much appreciated.
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Hi Chy,
Congratulations on your pregnancy! May i please ask who is your doctor? I can't offer any help as i'm still TTC. I have a friend who got preggy at 39 and has a brother-in-law who is retardate, the doctor wants amnio test but she declined, her reason being whatever the outcome of the test, she will still keep her baby. It turns out the baby is so cute and healthy. I'm not saying you don't go thru the test, but still it's up to you what you want. Try to relax and don't ever think of Miscarriage. Take care.
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Hi Chy, I am 6 weeks also and just had my first check up today. My dr. said she would do a blood test today and then again at 12 weeks. If the tests they perform on these blood samples to screen for Downs come back negative then that means that I only have a 1 in 10000 chance of having a Down's baby - not a particularly worrying risk. My dr. said if that is OK with me then there is no need to perform any further tests like CVC or amnio. Why don't you go back to your dr. and talk about it. Also, the nurse was the one that suggested you have this done NOT your dr. I think s/he put you in a bit of a stressful situation. Also on the miscarroiage concern, if you have had a scan already and a heartbeat was already detected then the risk of miscarriage is now apparently down to 5 percent rather than the usual 25 percent. Don't worry too much OK! Hope that this helps.
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Chy
20 yrs ago
Thank you all, really put my mind at ease. I will defintely ask my doc for a blood test anyway and hopefully decide on what's needed according to the results. As for the fetal heartbeat, the doc couldn't detect it at 5-6 weeks, she said it's probably too early and I'm due for another one next week.
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Hi Chy,
Congrats on your pregnancy. I was 34 when pregnant with my baby and took the triple test which included blood tests and neck measurments. I am also very afraid of pain and miscarriage because my husband and I had been trying for a baby for a while. The results were that my baby was a low risk for down's. I opted not to take an amnio. I suggest you try this first and see what the odds are for your baby. If the risk is mid-high, then I would highly suggest an amnio. My doctor was excellent Dr. Alexander Doo. He was very clear about my options, although he's a very fast talker, you have to pay close attention to what he says.
Good Luck!
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Hi Chy
Just to let you know, I was in the Pamela Youde Hospital today and the info they gave me on these was that the amnio is safer than the CVS - the CVS has a risk of miscarriage of 1 in 200 and the amnio 1 in 500. I had previously thought that the risk was the same for both procedures and was higher than this.
Anyway you can have the nuchal scan and blood tests first and decide on the basis of those results whether it's worth the risk.
Best of luck and remember the vast majority of babies are born healthy so don't panic.
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But as someone else mentioned, you should decide first what you would do if there was a 'bad' result. If you would not consider a termination then perhaps it would be better not to take either (although perhaps it would give you more time to prepare for taking care of a child with special needs). Maybe also you are more or less prepared for the (tiny) miscarriage risk depending on how hard it was for you to conceive. Good luck, anyway!
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