I think its a very personal decision, & it takes a very special person to knowingly progress with a pregnancy knowing the baby has Downs.
I had tests with both mine, & with Charlie they said I was a higher risk & I chose to have the amnio, thank god he was ok but was terrifying & still get upset now when I think about it. Who knows what would have happened if the outcome had been different. The thing with Downs, is that when diagnosed, theres no way of knowing just how severe it could be, it could just be facially with a slightly slower learning disabilty, in which case they can lead almost normal lives, stay in mainstream school & when older maybe even live on their own, or could be round the clock care, in which case I think I would have to think about the effect it would have on my other children. Paula worked for a guy whos sibling had downs, & he said he would never knowingly have a child with downs as its not fair on the other children in the family, & thats kind of stuck with me as he has first hand knowledge.
When I was pg with Liam, a friend who was due at the same time told me when I went for the blood tests 'you get what you're given' Just because I went for tests doesn't necessarily mean I would have aborted, I would just want to know from the beginning & would hate the shock that Billy & Honey have had. To spend 9 mths dreaming of a perfect baby, & then to be told your baby has downs must be devastating. The same girl went on to have a sex scan at 20 wks & was disappointed it was a boy, never made sense to me after telling me 'you get what you're given'
Godd subject by the way, sory to have prattled on!!