I don’t know if I would have made a different decision about the amniocentesis if I’d had more time, but I feel like at the time the Consultant was more eager to carry out the process than I was. It all happened so quickly and I did not have enough time to think. We had just been given a lot of information to process and we then had less than 20 minutes to decide if we wanted to risk the pregnancy to find out if the baby had a genetic or chromosomal condition such as Down’s, Edwards’ or Patau’s Syndromes. The Consultant returned and could see we hadn’t reached a decision so further explained that the risk to the pregnancy due to the brain anomaly was higher than the risk of having the amniocentesis and it would give us the information to make a more informed decision about how we wanted to proceed with the pregnancy. I honestly did not have the capacity to make the decision so we took her lead as it sounded logical and agreed to the amniocentesis.
I climbed on the bed for the second time, rolled up my top and the consultant scanned me again to see where the baby was so she wouldn’t hit her with the giant needle she was about to pierce through my stomach. The nurse then cleaned an area of my stomach with an antiseptic solution and I was advised to stay still to ensure the needle did not move. The long lance was pushed against my skin and I could feel the puncture. It was not painful but very uncomfortable and the size of the needle made the process look worse than it actually felt. A syringe was then used to remove amniotic fluid that they could then use to test for any genetic or chromosomal conditions.
It took nearly 2 weeks for the test results to come back by which time we’d had further appointments, consultations, ultrasounds and a fetal MRI at a larger hospital so we had a clearer picture of the baby’s brain development. This was all intended to help us make a decision on how we wanted to proceed with the pregnancy but I had already made my decision the day of the amniocentesis. As we had sat in the waiting room trying to process what was happening, my baby girl was kicking me reminding me she was a life, a life that I could not give up on.
Project Aiya 