Hi im expecting non identical twins and found out today that one of them has a 1:16 risk of downs having done a small bit of reading on amnio test my husband and i are not keen to do this , we are concerned as we have two babies to think about and just wondered if anyone had any experience of advice to share? Thanks x

we are 1:92 for downs and refused the amino...tho im pregnant with a single baby i dont have the added worry or really any advice for you (sorry) just wanted you to know i understand some of what your going thru xxx

Hi genies girl..... I had a 1:47 risk for downs and we decided to go through with the amnio test. It's really a very personal decision and depends on what's important to you. I am not pregnant with twins but decided that the risk was low enough (especially with the qulifications of my dr.) that we wanted to find out. The results of the amnio would not have made us terminate but we felt like we needed to know what to prepare for. We didn't want to spend the rest of our pregnancy wondering, and worrying, and causing more risk to the baby.

I don't know if the risk is increased with twins, but my dr. told me that the 1% risk that you hear about is from statistics that are outdated, and the risk with today's technology is actually less than .5%.

We trusted our doctors and our early results have come back just fine. We are atill awaiting our full results. Teh relief we feel now made us know we made the right choice.

Good luck in your decision and remember that there is no right or wrong answer here. It is a very personal decision. The right decision is what feels right to you and your husband.

Take Care....

hi just to let you know i had high risk result last week and me and partner feel the same way about amnio and i am driving myself crazy with worry..going to see if i can have early detailed scan..i am only having single baby..
i can sympathise with you greatly
emma

thank you for taking the time to reply to me

I think the risk of an amnio with twins (I am also pregnant with twins) is higher. Also, bloods aren't as accurate, and they aren't that accurate to start with. Chances are, everything will be fine.

Whether you have an amnio or not is a personal decision and one only you can make, but as the mother of a child with Downs, I declined any testing for it in this pregnancy. I really don't care less if I have another child with Downs, and if there are any serious physical problems then they will probably be picked up at my anomoly scan. However, there is nothing on this earth that would make me consider terminating.

Hi! As far as I know, there are lots of false positives in the case of twins.

I did not have twins myself, but also got a high risk result. If you don't want amnio, you can go and try to get a detailed scan to look for soft markers - I did that at w 17. It was all clear, and while the doctor said that Down's still can't be ruled out, in 90 % of the cases there would be some soft marker as well. Did you get the high risk based on blood test or ultrasound?

Not twins, but our baby was scored at 1 in 5 risk of DS and we decided not to have any invasive testing as we knew we wanted the baby - the results wouldn't have changed a thing during the pregnancy. We took the optimistic view that there was an 80% chance of Andrew being born without DS ... which he was.

Hello! If you don't want an amnio there are detailed ultrasounds that can help evaluate the risk. I don't think these are significant though before 20 weeks, when they can start taking detailed measurements. Of course the only 100% accurate method is an amnio though of course there's the 1% (some say 0.5%) risk. I had one, it was a breeze but I did stress over it for weeks beforehand and had serious second thoughts. Of course now that it's done I'm glad I did.

Just take the time to think about it, and have a long discussion with the doctor. If he/she's not willing to take the time to do so, try another doctor.

Just remember the odds are well in your favor - our bodies are amazing that way

Thank you x