Enlarged Ventricles

[miracle101]

Hi everyone,
I'm new to this so getting through all the pages of info on different threads but they are all outdated.

I was told after that I would never get pregnant again. Hey presto! We got a positive pregnancy test. We thought, finally we can enjoy a pregnancy...until we came to the 20 week scan. And then our lives fell apart and my pregnancy has been destroyed.

The doctor told us the baby had hydrocephalus. I had no idea what it was so just listened to her. She said 2ventricles in the head were enlarged to 10.5 & 10.7 and the future was bleak. She told us that most people end the pregnancy as the quality of life for a child is so bad. You can imagine our reaction....We were scheduled another scan a week later and to think about having an amnio.

Through researching, we have discivered that were not even at the hydro stage yet but VM. Were furious with the doctor for how she presented the information. Anyway we went back on Wednesday where a team of 4doctors were waiting to talk to us. The head of the department told us that it's not looking good and the effects will be horrendous if this continues. In his experience he said this always gets worse and that termination could be on the cards. He said that the ventricles also look compressed so he's not happy with the outlook. However beyond that, our baby boy is perfect. No other complications and the head is perfect.
They did an amio that day and the initial test came back today saying there are no alterations in the chromosomes. Now theyre checking for infections and in 4weeks we'll have an indepth study of the chromosomes in case soemthing else comes up.

Is there anyone else out there experiencing this or does anyone know of a forum I could join that is active?

 

[_Meep_]

No personal experience, but my sister had this with my nephew. They monitored him throughout the pregnancy and as it turned out the ventricles were not rapidly increasing in size, and it eventually resolved. Have you been given any follow up scans to check for further enlargement?

Nephew is now an incredibly bright and normal 4 year old boy who admittedly has a huge head (99th centile) and has had since birth, but no sign of hydrocephalus and no problems AT ALL. So in his case, maybe his brain was just big? And so was his head ...

 

[_Meep_]

I just looked it up on Wikipedia and remember reading this exact same page when we were all worrying about my sister's baby. You're right, this is considered ventriculomegaly, AND 10-15 mm is considered mild, with a 90% chance of a normal outcome and many cases of spontaneous resolution during the pregnancy, which is exactly what happened to my nephew?!?!?! I can't believe you've been given this information. Please don't lose hope for a happy outcome. I would be asking for careful monitoring, but nothing more as there is a good chance it could just be one of those things that heals itself in time, judging by what I've just re-read for the first time in about 5 years. Brought it all back, but everything is fine now ...