Marleysgirl
Mum to a SCBU Warrior!
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Just wanted to include my "gestational complication" in case anybody else is experiencing the same ... (I'm 40, first pregnancy)
My 12 & 20 week u/sound scans showed a healthy baby, no problems. My blood tests showed a Downs score of 1 in 5, but we decided against an amnio.
I had an additional u/sound scan at 21 weeks as part of the SCOPE research project. This included dopplers, and it was found that I had "notching" on the uterine blood-flow, i.e. my blood-flow to the placenta. Obviously this would affect the quality of the placenta and, as a result, baby's growth.
I was switched from Community Midwife care to a new Placenta Clinic set up here in Manchester, where I could have regular monitoring of this situation. I underwent dopper u/sounds every 4 weeks to start, and this would increase as the pregnancy progressed. Baby would most likely be induced slightly premature.
However, at 28 weeks the doppler showed that the resistance to the blood-flow had increased to the point of some reversal of flow - not good, life-threatening for baby. I received steroid injections to help develop his lungs and was given a doppler u/sound every 2 days for a week. Things did improve slightly.
At 29+1, the doppler showed the reverse flow had started again, and we received the warning that baby should be brought out at that point or we risked losing him completely. I underwent an emergency c/section that night, and Andrew was born weighing just 1lb 6oz (having IUGR).
Andrew is in NICU, he's doing just fine and we hope he'll be home soon.
The consultant at the Placenta Clinic carried out my 6wk post-natal review, and has warned us that the uterine artery notching will probably recur with each pregnancy, though probably not so badly next time as my body will be more used to the situation.
If anybody else has developed this situation, I'd be happy to discuss our experiences further.
What amazes me is that, were it not for me volunteering for the research project, it wouldn't have been picked up - our first clue would have been reduced movement at the point when my placenta eventually failed. We were soooooooooooooo lucky.
My 12 & 20 week u/sound scans showed a healthy baby, no problems. My blood tests showed a Downs score of 1 in 5, but we decided against an amnio.
I had an additional u/sound scan at 21 weeks as part of the SCOPE research project. This included dopplers, and it was found that I had "notching" on the uterine blood-flow, i.e. my blood-flow to the placenta. Obviously this would affect the quality of the placenta and, as a result, baby's growth.
I was switched from Community Midwife care to a new Placenta Clinic set up here in Manchester, where I could have regular monitoring of this situation. I underwent dopper u/sounds every 4 weeks to start, and this would increase as the pregnancy progressed. Baby would most likely be induced slightly premature.
However, at 28 weeks the doppler showed that the resistance to the blood-flow had increased to the point of some reversal of flow - not good, life-threatening for baby. I received steroid injections to help develop his lungs and was given a doppler u/sound every 2 days for a week. Things did improve slightly.
At 29+1, the doppler showed the reverse flow had started again, and we received the warning that baby should be brought out at that point or we risked losing him completely. I underwent an emergency c/section that night, and Andrew was born weighing just 1lb 6oz (having IUGR).
Andrew is in NICU, he's doing just fine and we hope he'll be home soon.
The consultant at the Placenta Clinic carried out my 6wk post-natal review, and has warned us that the uterine artery notching will probably recur with each pregnancy, though probably not so badly next time as my body will be more used to the situation.
If anybody else has developed this situation, I'd be happy to discuss our experiences further.
What amazes me is that, were it not for me volunteering for the research project, it wouldn't have been picked up - our first clue would have been reduced movement at the point when my placenta eventually failed. We were soooooooooooooo lucky.