SUA Single Umbilical Artery

[AllieCat]

I'm sorry to the admins for posting again. Yesterday i posted in second trimester about having been told at the doctors office that me and my baby have a single umbilical artery. Yesterday i had not been to worried about it other than the fact that the doctors brought it up twice. Last night i was reading about it and well i had a mental breakdown. Apparently it happens in less than 7% of all pregnancies and half the time result in a birth defect or heart or gastrointestinal problems in the baby after birth. Apparently my chance of miscarrige has been raised to 22%. I'm chocking up just thinking about it. I dont know what i would do if something happened to my daughter. I would be absolutely devistated. I am posting here in hopes of some good news. The doctors had told me she is otherwise perfect and shows no signs of issues from SUA. She passed the tests for possible disorders that are common in SUA babies, and she is of normal size (4 days behind). Her heart seems health to the doctors as well but i was told they will be monitering her growth and development more closely than most pregnancies via sonograms.

Please tell me someone out there has good news for me. Has anyone had this, or know someone who did and the baby is perfectly healthy?

 

[dolly1989]

hiya try not to worry to much as hard as it is my second baby had this and when they 1st told me at my 20 weeks scan i cried my eyes out and was so scared but after they explained it to me i was ok they only difference in my care was i had 1 extra growth scan and everythink was fine he was born just before i turned 38 weeks i remember because of him only having a 2 vessel cord i had to stay on the moniter through my labour as its classed as a defect and also had to stay the night just to make sure everythink was fine they also double checked he had a bum hole as sometimes babys with a 2 vessel cord can be born without one not sure what the link is but this is what i was told and they wanted to see him wee like actualy see it coming out in a stream still unsure wy but it was all fine he actualy did a wee wile a midwife was holding him so she got to see a good stream the main link i think is lower birth weight but my boy was born at 6lb12oz but i do think he wouls have been alot bigger if he had all 3 vessels as he gained weight so fast after being born never lossed an oz and was gaining 1lb a week for a wile after being born my lil chubber lol well what im trying to say is in my case everythink is fine an it is likely everythink will be fine with your bubba aswel they will just moniter you more closley through labour and give her a good checking over after birth and unfortunatly its unlikley they will let you go home the same day as they like you to stay in over night wich they do with most ladies anyways but was new to me as i managed to escape within hours of having my 1st well hope that all made sense lol it was nearly 4 yrs ago now but thats what i can remember good luck and as i said try not to worry to much im sure everythink will be fine xxx

 

[AllieCat]

thank you so much for your support. That's great news and i'm glad your son came out healthy and perfect. Up until this time in my pregnancy i had nothing but confidence. I was so sure that the baby would be perfect and super healthy, which is very unlike me because i worry about most everything. I would joke with my fiance that she would dance out of my womb and laugh instead of cry. All of a sudden i feel like i messed up. I feel ill equiped. All I want to do is the best thing for my daughter but this is out of my control. It is driving my crazy knowing her biggest problem right now is something i cant fix. This is just so hard to deal with i cant belive the worry i'm feeling. Thank you again for your warm words. I'm hoping for the best and trying to keep on the bright side.

 

[Angelkissiz]

Hi AllieCat, My last little baby boy was diagnosed with having SUA, I was so scared, after I googled everything of course, I cried forever, but I worried way to much, he was born at 39 weeks,weighing 6 pounds, 10 ounces, he was health and happy, and has had no problems what so ever. Your little one will be just fine, 7% usually stems from 7% of every 100 births, enjoy your pregnancy and don't worry!!!!

 

[AllieCat]

thank you angel kissez. I'm so glad to hear everything turned out well for you. I try not to think about it because like you said i could worry myself sick for the next 4 months and find iout i had nothing to worry about at all. I am supposed to have a 3d scan because i am in a study that offered it for free as incentive. Because of this issue i plan to ask them to use it to check her out top to bottom. I'm sure if there was anything majorly wrong they would see it in a 3d scan. I'm hoping i can just enjoy these scans, and getting to check on my little girl, and walk out every time with a bill of good health for my daughter. My biggest issue is telling my family. My mother knows but she dosnt really understand what it is.. and my fiance of course knows, but i'm affraid to tell his mother or anyone else. i dont want them to be as scared as we are, but if anything happened i would feel terrible having not told them. i'm hoping so much for a wonderful outcome for my beautiful baby.

 

[sadie]

I am going to try to reactivate this thread. my baby was diagnosed with this today during our 20w scan. some of you mention having 2, but my doctor pointed put that there is only one artery..... So far, baby is measuring one day ahead, so he told me not to worry, but yeah right! Not worry? i go for another scan in 5 weeks. They wanted me in 4, but I wont be in town that week.

i did an amnio a few weeks ago, and the results were normal. hopefully, all will be OK. Anyone else recently receive this diagnosis?

 

[SimpleBaby]

I got this diagnosis confirmed yesterday. Were suppose to have an apointment with a perinatologist. I know our Twirp has measured normal (not small) and they said her heart looked great and other orgins.. so I'll wait till the speciallist to ask lots of questions and then decide if I'll worry or not. I did a lot of googling and if you can ignore the unconclusive stats (one very receint study said SUA had no effect on baby size in their very large study) and the odds of issues are still in the single digits... so I'm going to hope for the best. Also ... a lot of countries don't even scan the umbilical cord... my mom said they never did with me or my brother... so it sounds like they haven't done enough studies to actually say how often this occurs or what the results are.

 

[SimpleBaby]

There is a study on https://journals.lww.com/greenjourn...gnosis_of_single_umbilical_artery__is.14.aspx



OBJECTIVE: To estimate the utility of fetal echocardiography in the evaluation of the fetus with isolated single umbilical artery.

METHODS: A retrospective analysis of fetuses diagnosed with single umbilical artery by sonography was conducted between January 1995 and June 2000 (n = 127). In the 103 patients who had fetal echocardiograms, we examined the frequency of abnormal echocardiographic findings when the initial sonogram demonstrated a normal four‐chamber view and cardiac outflow tracts.

RESULTS: Approximately 1% of fetal anomaly screens had a diagnosis of single umbilical artery. Of these, 72% were isolated (no other anomalies identified). No fetus in this group had an abnormal echocardiogram. There was one postnatal diagnosis of cardiac disease in this group; it was not predicted by either the four‐chamber and outflow tract views or the echocardiogram. Among the group with other anomalies, the four‐chamber view predicted every abnormal echocardiogram but one.

CONCLUSION: Fetal echocardiography does not appear to add further diagnostic information to the antenatal evaluation of the fetus with isolated single umbilical artery when normal four‐chamber and outflow tract views of the heart have already been obtained.


Single umbilical artery is the most common of human umbilical pathologies, occurring in 0.08% to 1.90% of all pregnancies.1 Previous investigators have reported that single umbilical artery is associated with a variety of structural abnormalities of the genitourinary, central nervous, cardiovascular, and musculoskeletal systems, as well as with aneuploidy.2–10 Because of the reported association with cardiovascular malformations, since 1995 we have recommended fetal echocardiography for all women whose fetuses have a single umbilical artery. We undertook a retrospective cohort study to evaluate the contribution of fetal echocardiography to the evaluation and management of these pregnancies. We were particularly interested in whether the echocardiogram added useful clinical information in the otherwise apparently normal fetus (isolated single umbilical artery).

 

[sadie]

I went for a fetal echo today because of the sua and a past family member's history with an unknown cause of malformatiln....all was ok. I am going to try to not even worry. I barely slept last night and was miserable for 24 hours. Doctors are doing and saying too much, so they're protected, at the expense of my mental happiness. Ugh.

 

[Angelkissiz]

Hey sadie, I noticed we are due, around the exact same time, my last baby had the due, and he was born perfectly healthy, and we did not get all that many scans, of course he was very quiet in the womb, but now he is as feisty as ever, he will be 1 tomorrow!!! I can't tell you not to worry, because I did like crazy!! We should be bump buddies!! let me know ok!!!

 

[sadie]

Angel, thanks for the encouragement!

why dont you join our group "over 35 pregnan section", babies due in June) The link is only a cpl of pages back! We arent too old for you, i hope! Then we also started a fb page. The link is only a cpl pages back, in that group!

A few doctors have told me not to worry regarding the sua and baby is right on target and the heart is perfect, so it's time for me to enjoy the journey!

 

[SimpleBaby]

24 weeks today and an apointment with the specialist on Thursday... fingers crossed.

 

[sadie]

Good luck!

 

[sadie]

oops. posted too quickly. I am sure everything will be just fine. Every doctor I have spoekn to said it s absolutely nothing to worry about!

 

[SimpleBaby]

Thats good to know Sadie. Im hoping our twirp is all good.
As is yours.

 

[SimpleBaby]

Scan went great.. no soft markers...Organs are all developing good... blood flow is good.
They want to watch her growth so I'll be having an ultrasound every 4 weeks till she presents herself to the world.

 

[sadie]

Great news!
Thats what my docs said too, every 4 weeks an u/s, since i already had an amnio, with normal results. Just continuous follow ups, which is good. A colleague had the same thing with her second son. He was born with just one kidney but again, that isnt so bad either. He is in great health, just needs to take it easy with contact sports.
Again, great news and keep up the good work!

 

[SimpleBaby]

thats great news Sadie. They looked at her kidneys so I think that means there's two..lol.

yay for us.

 

[AllieCat]

Hey ladies. I was reveiwing old threads and i wanted to update you on mmy baby's progress. My little one is not so little anymore, she weighed 6 pounds 4 ounces at the last sonogram at 35 weeks. I had a total of 5 throught and dispite her 2 vessel cord she is otherwise perfect. I know she's going to get an extra close exam when she is born to ensure everythign is fine, but so far they have found nothing wrong. With two 3d scans they checked her as close as possible to this point. Also i'm showing no signs of going into labor before she's due. Her heart is strong and she's a regular mover and shaker. They told me at my last scan if nothing else seemed wrong their worst fears would be that she would be born small. Although she's already in the 75th percentile. They predicted she would be over 8 pounds by her due date. I wish you all the best of luck with your little ones i hope your news is as good as mine, and try not to worry, just do your best and stay as stress free as possible. Oh and eat.. lol!

 

[SimpleBaby]

Had our 28 week scan yesterday... she's coming in at 2 lbs 11 oz.. and growing like a weed... so safe to say the cord is not affecting her growth.. yay.