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There;s another thread already discussing CVS (and amnio- similar discussions)- but I personalyl had it done.. It depends on the center and its experience. We also had had numerous losses beforehand so we wanted to know for usre whether a chromosonal factor would come into play and we did not want to wait until 16 weeks + 2 week results wait period for amnio. And finally- we needed to know for sure (not like the blood tests or ultrasounds). I would recommend you meet with a genetics counselor who can go over the options for all testing with you. best of luck

If you are only 35, I wouldn't do it. CVS carries a m/c risk of 1:100 or 1:200, depending on the clinic. At 35 your risk of having a Downs is already considerably lower, than the risk of a m/c with CVS! If you go for the detailed nuceal scan at 12 weeks, and possibly a blood test too, you will find that if things come out good, your chance of having a Downs Syndrom child will be in 1 in several thousands!! 35 is still young.. Also CVS can't pick up everything, like spina bifida, so there are no guarantees. Ask your doctor what your chances of Downs are and compare them to the chance of m/c through CVS..hope this helps.

Thank you for your relpy, but actually the stats are 1 in 365, I wish it was in the thousands......Also, I will be 36 when I give birth.

Joey, but your stats are 1 in 365 *now*, before you had the nuceal scan and the blood tests. (Even those odds are three x better than your CVS ones) Once you have the nuceal scan at around 12 weeks, that changes the odds quite considerably. Mine suddenly went really high in my favor. Nuceal scans pick up around 75% of all Downs babies, so if there was anything wrong, there is a good chance they would see it on the scan. They check the thickness of the back of the neck (looking for excess fluid), they look at the nose bridge (no nose bridge is a possible indicator) as well as the limbs and overall activity. If you then add the blood tests, and they come out good, then your chances really do go into the thousands. My friend is having a baby at 37, and after the scan and the bloodwork, that's what her chances suddenly are. In the thousands, that anything could possibly be wrong. Your chance of losing a perfectly healthy baby from CVS are therefore much higher. Also it doesn't matter how old you are when you have your baby, it matters how old you are when you conceive. Your egg doesn't change to a 'Downs' egg, sometime into your pregnancy as you near 36. In fact, most (but of course not all) Downs pregnancies do actually end in m/c before 12-14 weeks, and therefore never make it full-term. Good luck..

Hi! I am sending this message now because I personally believe this site really helped me (when I was completely terrified) about 4 weeks ago make an important decision about which tests to do if any at all. NOTICE: This is just my personal experience I am sharing; I would certainly never tell anyone what they should & shouldn’t do because it is a very personal decision. After reading other stories posted on this site along with any other literature I could get my hands on, my husband & I carefully weighed our options & decided to have the CVS. For peace of mind, we wanted to know with FACTS as soon as possible. N.F.T. are about ODDS, NOT FACTS and while the amnio has FACTS, it was personally TOO LATE for us to wait. I’m 38 yrs. old & this is my first pregnancy (actually my second since I miscarried very early the yr. before) that was conceived naturally. I had the procedure done on the very last day possible (the end of my 12th week) on July 5th in the Chicago/Metro area. While I was unlucky with the unfavorable date (couldn’t get in any sooner), I was very lucky that my uterus & placenta were ideally located to make me a good candidate for the procedure. The actual transabdominal procedure only took about 1 min. I had some mild cramping for about 1 hour and that was it. The very next day the genetics office called me and said my direct sampling looked normal which was a good sign. Exactly 1 wk. from my procedure, the same office called to tell me that final test results showed that all chromosomes were normal. I did not opt to find out the s_x of the baby at that time; instead, I requested to have them send me the pictured chromosome results through the mail so that my husband & I could find out together what the s_x of our baby would be and I could put it in the baby’s sc___pbook! As of this date, I’m 14 wks. pregnant and yes, we are still waiting for that envelope to come!

I went for the test and unfortunately they could not do it. It is less risky than amnio, which is what I ended up having done.

I am 35 preganat with my 3rd - my doctor has advised me not to have the CVS - as I had a miscarriage before my 2 other children. He told me the amnio was less risky - I am 9 weeks now will do the nuchal and if the stats are high I will probably do an amnio - in the UK anything below 1 - 250 is considered high risk - what is it in the USA.