This week the rollercoaster has not been terribly kind. Friday, just a couple of hours before I had to leave for work and just a few minutes after I published that last mopey post, I got a call from my midwife. She told me that the follow-up ultrasound we had mid-week had found a still-bright bowel (boo) but also — a new finding — a two-vessel cord. That means we’re being referred to a perinatologist for a level-two ultrasound. A two-vessel cord automatically bumps you into a high-risk pregnancy, I think. She’s checking to see if the homebirth scenario we’d been planning for is completely off the table. The feeling, I think, is that babies with two-vessel cords don’t always handle labor as well as babies with the normal three-vessel cords, and often the baby ends up needing to come out earlier than 40 weeks because of growth restriction. This will also likely mean that I have to pop in for more frequent ultrasounds as well as non-stress tests and close growth monitoring, as babies with single umbilical arteries can hit a growth wall and fall way behind, which puts them at risk.
I’ve read a lot of reassuring and a lot of terrifying stuff about SUA. The chances for stillbirth are increased, so they encourage you to do daily kick counts as soon as you get the diagnosis. You have to stay extra hydrated to make sure your fluid levels stay good, and several sources have said to reduce stress when possible. Ha. This is why I nearly had a meltdown last night when I made it to 11:30 (choking back tears at my desk only a few times) and was all set to go home so I could decompress, when I was told we’d be changing a story on A1 and doing some other stuff that kept me there an extra half hour. Ugh.
Couple with the echogenic bowel, I’m not exactly sure how to take the news. What’s not clear is if one could be caused by the other, or if they can exist completely independently, or if one’s existence compounds the seriousness of the other’s. Both are conditions that are often seen in babies with abnormalities. Both are conditions that are often seen in perfectly healthy babies. What’s comforting is that his growth is right on track, and that they haven’t discovered anything major in the scans we’ve had. My understanding is that for a lot of the more devastating disorders that sometimes carry these markers (think trisomies 13 and 18), other major signs would have cropped up by now. My midwife said that the lab says they found no other markers that would signify Down syndrome, although I know it’s impossible to rule out on scan alone.
The level-two ultrasound will give us a closer, more detailed look at all the organs, I think, so we will be able to try and rule out major heart and GI defects (which can accompany a SUA). I don’t know when we will get to do that, or what happens after that. Genetic testing? Amnio?
Or do we simply wait it out, hoarding every delicious little flutter like it’s gold?
Yes, we will wait. Our baby is in as safe an environment as he can possibly be in. Play soft, lilting de-stressing music close to your abdomen. it is said it really works to calm a stressed babe.