Abnormal u/s

[nerdymom]

We had a u/s last Monday, I was about 18w5d. We found out we were having a boy, and that is pretty much the only thing the tech told us. Saturday evening I received a call from my MW telling me to call on Monday and schedule another u/s in 2-3 weeks. She said that there were 3 reasons. They could not get a clear view of the spine, one of his kidneys looks "prominent", and there is a spot on his brain that could be a cyst or something else. After telling me all this she said not to worry, that they just want to double check everything, no need to worry. So obviously, I'm worried. I have a routine MW appointment on Thurs, and right now my follow up u/s on the 30th of December, I hope that the MW will convert the order to "urgent" so we can get in sooner.

We planned a HB with DS and didn't have a u/s, so I don't know if this is something that often happens or not. Has anyone else had this? What did you do? What did your second u/s show?

Edited by nerdymom - 12/6/10 at 9:04am

[myk]

not seeing the spine clearly means just that - due to baby's position or whatever, they didn't get a clear view. doesn't mean anything wrong. a prominent kidney may be nothing, or may indicate a problem but if the other kidney looks normal, i'd file it under "check again" not "panic". a cyst in the brain at this point isn't too uncommon, i think. generally resolves itself.

[nerdymom]

The brain is what I am most worried about because I've no clue what it means. So cysts in the brain can resolve themselves in utero? I'm avoiding doing an internet search because I know it will just freak me out even more. Thanks for your reply.

[myk]

yeah, don't google! i've known people who were quite worried because cysts in the brain can signal a problem, but in almost all cases it resolved itself as time went on.

[LSUtwinMama]

With ultrasound images getting better and more detailed all the time, it seems they cause a lot of unnessesary panic in parents. I had both Kidney and Brain Cyst scares with both my pregnancies and everything turned out just fine.

With my twins, Baby B showed 2 choroid plexus cysts on an 18 week ultrasound. They dissolved while in utero and were confirmed to be completely gone after birth. 

For kidney issues, the tech couldn't find Baby A's kidneys at all. OB was very concerned and I was sent for another u/s a week later. Everything turned out to be fine. 

With this pregnancy, a baby boy, his kidneys were "enlarged" one week, OB was concerned, I had a follow up the next week and everything was fine.

I hope it all turns out well for you and your baby.

[DanielleT]

I have a dayhome and one of my mom's had the exact same thing; she was sent back for monthly u/s and now the cyst has resolved itself and the kidney thing is looking better...they arent' going to do any more u/s (due in Feb) and check babies kidneys when its born just to make sure everything is ok

[ibusymomto5]

We went through something similar with our 7th. I had an early ultrasound for NT that was normal. Then I had a routine 18wk u/s to check anatomy and gender. The tech told us everything was fine, but then later faxed all her concerns to my midwife. She found 3 soft markers for Downs. I know one thing was the shape of baby's head(her head was wedge in my bladder at the time and truthfully she just couldn't get a good view), another marker was something to do with the bowel, and the other was nuchal fold measured on the high side of normal. We didn't find any of this out till I went in for my next mw appt, and we were shocked out of the blue seeing how the u/s tech had told us everything looked good. My mw referred us to a perinatologist for a more indepth u/s. I'm so glad we opted for that, as he ruled out all of her findings. He said what he often sees happen is techs using newer, higher tech machines but who haven't been thoroughly trained to use them properly thinking they "see" things when infact there's nothing to worry about. Also, each of those things "can" be explained by other things, but I guess once they find one thing they go in super search mode looking for other things sometimes letting their imagination get away with them. For this reason, I have opted to go to the perinatologist for my routine u/s in my following pregnancies. I feel like this particular doctor is extremely thorough but doesn't blow things out of proportion. And, he levels with us right then and there. None of this telling you everything is okay or staying tight lipped only for you to be whammied by a surprise phone call after the fact.

I did go on to have an extremely healthy and normal baby, btw. These false alarms happen frequently I think. I hope you have a similar outcome. Best wishes!

[nerdymom]

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I am feeling less worried tonight. And I hope to get more reassurance when I go in and see the midwife on Thursday.

[Snow Cherries]

Definitely try not to worry!  I had all three of those concerns pop up on my oldest son's 20 week ultrasound and he's a typical, healthy, very smart 8 year old today!  Like was said previoiusly, the spine thing really is simply that they couldn't get a good look.  (I had that happen again with my current pregnancy as well)  I DID google the cyst thing when pregnant with  my first and all it did was cause unnecessary worry.  Apparently it's quite normal for babies to have those in utero and nearly all of them dissolve/disapper by birth.  As for the kidney part, DS1 did end up having one slightly enlarged kidney (hydronephrosis) and we just had to take him in for occasional tests during the first 2 years to make sure it didn't get any worse.  It resolved itself by the time he was 2, which I later found out was also quite common.  If I had that happen again with another baby, I would not allow such frequent testing.  That's my only regret.  I think we put poor DS1 through too much unnecessary testing for a relatively common "problem" known to usually resolve itself.  So try not to worry!  I'm betting you have a perfectly healthy baby boy!  Congrats!