Hi all. I am a major lurker on the internet. I rush to Dr. Google whenever I get back from appointments and sometimes scare myself silly and other times find comfort in the stories of others. My husband said that because I read so many of these forums that I am obligated to share our story(s).
My first baby had a single umbilical artery. I see that many people are still asking about this complications and thought those people should know that my son was born 2 days late weighing 7 lb 10 oz. They were very interested in examining the cord in the delivery room since it was a teaching hospital. I had an additional ultrasound and fetal echocardiogram during that pregnancy but that was the only extra care I received. I go to a maternity clinic that is associated with the university in my city and they were not at all concerned with this finding.
I am currently 27 weeks pregnant with our second boy. This has been quite a rollercoaster of emotions for me. I went for the first trimester combined screen at 13 weeks. The baby was measuring a week small and my PAPP-A was at 0.15 MOM which is very low. Because of these two things I ended up with a risk for Trisomy 18 of 1:116. They recommended amnio and I declined at that time because I knew that if the baby did have Trisomy 18 it would probably be fairly evident at the detailed scan. I had an uneventful few weeks followed by the detailed scan. There they found 2 choroid plexus cysts on the baby's brain. The also found that I have a battledore placenta - the cord has attached to the side of the placenta rather than the middle. Everything looked great with the anatomy of babe though! However, the cysts further elevated my risk for Trisomy 18 to 1 in 16. Again the recommended amnio. I decided to think about it but decided in the end that there was not enough evidence to support Trisomy 18 so i declined. Two weeks later at 20 weeks, I had a massive bleed. Off to the hospital where babe was kicking away. Had another ultrasound and could find no reason for the bleed. I had another ultrasound at 22 weeks to check up on blood flow from the placenta to the baby. Looked great!
At this point, the doctors at my clinic are giggling because I keep having weird issues come up but baby and myself are perfectly healthy and definitely growing. I have another ultrasound at 32 weeks to follow up on growth since my placenta issues can, in very rare cases, cause IUGR. My gut is telling me that everything is fine, the boy just wants to make sure that I am not too busy with his big brother to think about him.
I hope that anyone who finds out that they have any of these issues can find some comfort in this post. Pregnancy is a crazy thing and just because something isn't textbook does't mean its bad. Keep positive, don't dwell on the worst case scenario and good luck to all!
My first baby had a single umbilical artery. I see that many people are still asking about this complications and thought those people should know that my son was born 2 days late weighing 7 lb 10 oz. They were very interested in examining the cord in the delivery room since it was a teaching hospital. I had an additional ultrasound and fetal echocardiogram during that pregnancy but that was the only extra care I received. I go to a maternity clinic that is associated with the university in my city and they were not at all concerned with this finding.
I am currently 27 weeks pregnant with our second boy. This has been quite a rollercoaster of emotions for me. I went for the first trimester combined screen at 13 weeks. The baby was measuring a week small and my PAPP-A was at 0.15 MOM which is very low. Because of these two things I ended up with a risk for Trisomy 18 of 1:116. They recommended amnio and I declined at that time because I knew that if the baby did have Trisomy 18 it would probably be fairly evident at the detailed scan. I had an uneventful few weeks followed by the detailed scan. There they found 2 choroid plexus cysts on the baby's brain. The also found that I have a battledore placenta - the cord has attached to the side of the placenta rather than the middle. Everything looked great with the anatomy of babe though! However, the cysts further elevated my risk for Trisomy 18 to 1 in 16. Again the recommended amnio. I decided to think about it but decided in the end that there was not enough evidence to support Trisomy 18 so i declined. Two weeks later at 20 weeks, I had a massive bleed. Off to the hospital where babe was kicking away. Had another ultrasound and could find no reason for the bleed. I had another ultrasound at 22 weeks to check up on blood flow from the placenta to the baby. Looked great!
At this point, the doctors at my clinic are giggling because I keep having weird issues come up but baby and myself are perfectly healthy and definitely growing. I have another ultrasound at 32 weeks to follow up on growth since my placenta issues can, in very rare cases, cause IUGR. My gut is telling me that everything is fine, the boy just wants to make sure that I am not too busy with his big brother to think about him.
I hope that anyone who finds out that they have any of these issues can find some comfort in this post. Pregnancy is a crazy thing and just because something isn't textbook does't mean its bad. Keep positive, don't dwell on the worst case scenario and good luck to all!
