Newborn Baby girl can't urinate?

[arose08]

I just recently had a baby girl yesterday morning and the nurses and doctors have noticed that she hasn't urinated since she was born. She poops and eats well. She had a ultra sound and everything is normal, kidneys are fine everything. So they just tried to put a cathater in her to drain her pee, but the nurses couldn't find a hole (urethra?) so they called another doctor in and he couldn't find it either. So they drained her urine through her tummy or something through a needle i believe, almost 3 ounces of unrine they drained. So we have to wait till tomorrow for the pedatric uraologist comes in, even then they dont know if he's on vacation or not so she might have to go to Minnesota :(. They said that she might not have a pee hole or urethra i think...im really  scared for my baby, everything else is fine about her except she cant pee...how serious is this and what are the outcomes of her having a surgery? they said that they might have to have surgery to create a hole or something. i don't know, i just found all this out and am trying to find some answers on the internet, cant wait till tomorrow. PLEASE HELP

[katelove]

Hi,

Firstly, congratulations on your new baby girl!

I'm sorry you are having health worries so soon after she was born. That must be really tough for you.

What will need to happen really depends on exactly what the issue is. The urethra is the tube which connects the bladder to the outside world. The urethral meatus (or urethral opening) is the hole which you see externally. 

There are a few possibilities. One is that the urethra didn't form at all or only partly formed. Or, the urethra formed but the urethral meatus is closed (an imperforate urethra). Another possibility is that the urethra has some sort of stricture or narrowing but this seems less likely as you mentioned that the nurse couldn't see the meatus when she examined your LO.

If it is an imperforate urethra then obviously this will be simpler to correct than if the urethra has not formed.

What may happen initially though is that the surgeon will create an opening on your LOs abdomen for the urine to drain which is called a urostomy. Then, when your baby is a bit older she may be able to have corrective surgery to close the stoma and repair her urethra.

You could post in the special needs forum to see if there are any mamas over there who have experience with this sort of thing.

Please keep in touch and let us know how you go.

Take care and enjoy your precious little girl.

[hedgehogs4]

The above post is great.  Congrats on your new baby - it's great news that she is eating well and having BMs and that here kidneys are functional!  Good luck with your consult tomorrow and if your baby has to go to the Mayo Clinic?? think of it as one of the best hospitals with the best experts in the WORLD - they do amazing things there, mama.  Keep in touch and good luck to you.  (hugs)