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My doctor thinks I should have it. he says, I am at a advanced maternal age, although I disagree.

Hi Claudia - I delivered a healthy baby boy at 38. I had the amnio. I wanted to be sure. Afp's to me were just an odds test nothing really solid. Amnio gave me relief and wasnt bad at all.

I'm 38 and my doctor's opinion is that we should go with the level II ultrasound first and then if that shows any potential problems we can decide if we want to undergo any other testing. She said at my age the triple or quad blood tests will not come back completely normal due to the age factor; therefore, she said she would not recommend them because all they will do is cause me worry and stress over what is more than likely nothing. She said that most of the mothers she sees my age have perfectly normal healthy babies. She also said she would not recommend an amnio unless some abnormality shows up on the Level II, because again most mothers my age have perfectly healthy babies and she does not believe that there is any reason to undergo the 1 in 150 risk of miscarriage that an amnio entails routinely without a specific reason to do so. Right now, my regular ultrasounds as well as everything else about my pregnancy has appeared completely normal, so unless something shows up on the Level II, she does not recommend any invasive testing. I really appreciate her honest opinion because it tells me that she cares about my baby and me, not how much money she can make. We are being sent to a specialist for the Level II ultrasound, so my doctor won't make any money from that. We're scheduled for the Level II tomorrow.

I generally have always felt that if you know for sure you would keep the baby, then why bother risking the amnio? But I must admit that Tammy had a good point in her post about being able to prepare for it. The risk for amnio is pretty small. It's really a choice you will have to make, I'm not sure what I would do.

Ana - I am 37 and will also soon be pg with my second. I have a friend who was 38 when she had her second and she "warned" me that due to her age, her AFP test came back positive and that is is very common. She was worried the whole time too. But she was told the chances of it being because of an DS baby or just her age was more common due to age. Talk to your doctor. You are not alone ;-)

I had the level II ultrasound today. They used both doppler and 4-D- it was amazing. My little GIRL appears completely normal and all her parts are working- she even waved at us on the 4-D video. Based on the Level II, our risk of Downs went from 1 in 100 to 1 in 457 (way less than 1%). The doctor saw absolutely no reason to do an amnio and incur the risk unless we wanted it to be done so we could be absolutely certain. The risk of miscarriage with an amnio is about 1 in 200, while the risk of my child having Down's is only 1 in 457. In other words, the amnio is more likely to harm my daughter than her chances of Downs. I'm glad we stuck with the Level II, just like the doctor suggested.

i have afriend who did all the tests, amno and cvs everything. She is late 30s. All looked normal and then problems developed from 18-23 weeks and she had to abort a deformed baby, skeletal problems, paralysis and non forming parts. The baby wouldnt be able to be carried to term and they had to abort at 24 weeks so even if you do it it does not mean your baby is fine if it comes back that way. Go with your gut instinct and be comfortable with how you feel. I dont want an amnio, i am 40.

this is the most frightening subject, haveing 3 healthy babies at a young age and now worrying about ds..with this one......not going for amino. just praying its healthy........

After reading many answers from women concerning the quad screen - I feel somewhat relieved. I am 37 and yesterday received a horrible phone call from my doctor's office that my quad screen test came back positive. I will go forward with the level II ultrasound next Tuesday. What would have been better is for my doctor's office to submit that information not to me - but to the medical facility doing my ultrasound. Then the doctor there could discuss with me the situtation - perform the level II utlrasound and answer questions right there with me. I have to live more than a week now knowing I tested positive - with no support or answers to help me relieve the sadness that this test is causing me to feel. I wonder with women in this age category - what is the percentage of positive and then false positive test results?

I was pg at 35 and my dr had me get a special ultrasound. Just as good info, non evasive.

Emmi, Try not to worry - I know how hard that is when you are told something like that. I wouldn't put a whole lot of stock in the AFP results. It is my understanding that at our age, it would be more uncommon for the test to actually come back negative. Like I said before, that's why my doctor does not recommend the AFP for people in our age category. Here is the web cite to an article that should make you feel better: http://pregnancy.about.com/cs/afp/a/afptesting.htm This article says that on the AFP, most research finds that there is an 80+% rate of false positive tests and that of the positive test results, 90% of the babies will not have any anomalies. That means there is a good chance your baby is just fine.

Here's that web site again- I don't think it copied through right. http://pregnancy.about.com/cs/afp/a/afptesting.htm

I think AFP is all stats - they look at age and weight etc... Amnio is much more accurate. It was much less painful than I imagined.