20 week ultrasound anomaly question. need advice.

[LionessMom]

hopefully a professional or someone who has been through this before will have an answer for me.

i had a 20 week scan yesterday. everything looked good. the heart looked good and clear. everything measured right etc. leg bones, arm bones, diaphragm, everything looked like it was where it was supposed to be. except for one thing that the tech measured 3 times. a little white spot in the baby's body. the tech said ti is common and nothing to worry about but they tell you that anyway. my doctor appt isnt until tues. you can see this spot in one of the pictures from the face. i looked it up online but it comes back as being a clacification that will clear up on its own, or as a marker for downs. i am only 35 and never had a problem with any pregnancy or baby. this is the first time i have seen any white spots on a baby like this before. i cant find any other markers for downs on the pics. i am not sure if you can see the spot so well with the way they uploaded. it is in the first pic. the one the tech measured was more easily seen. very white like bones. everything else looks good and my main instinct is that the baby is perfectly fine.

 

[LionessMom]

why isnt this posting to my subs? 

[cristeen]

I can't answer your question, but you might want to be aware that those pictures have identifying information on them. 

Any idea what part of the body that is?  I've heard of calcifications in the heart and in the kidneys.  Both are possible markers, and both will often resolve by the next scan. 

If you can't wait until Tuesday, I'd call your doctor's office and let them know you're really stressing about it and would like to talk to the doc ASAP for a little reassurance.  Maybe you can reschedule your appt or at least get a telephone conversation out of it. 

[starrlamia]

i wouldnt start freaking out yet and would wait until you see the doctor, who may send you for further ultrasound tests. Ive talked to an ultrasound tech who said it isnt completely uncommon to see one or two markers for things like downs, but they usually arent an indication for that, they either resolve or further testing shows that everything is fine.

[LionessMom]

yeah, i dont care that my name is on them. they are just us pics. not like they are my bank records. i mean, what can they do with that? besides know that i am lionessmom and then read all my back posts. i dont care about that either. i have nothing to hide. :)

it wasnt the heart. it was above the diaphragm. which means liver, stomach, etc. the best guess i can find from the internet would be maybe calcified meconium. that almost always dissolves before birth but can also be a sign of bowel puncture that heals itself. but i dont know. i think i will call the doc to see if i can talk to her on the phone or get a sooner appt. i am trying not to worry but it is something i have never dealt with before. 

[tri31]

If it helps, the ultrasound tech told me after my scan, that finding no markers at all only indicates that there is ,like, 30% less of a chance of downs. It's just a test, a quess. I would go with your intuition, that everything is okay. If you are still anxious call the office and ask if someone would give you a call back.

[LionessMom]

the nurse from the doc office called and said they got the us report back and they didnt mention anything about it. and that i would have to wait until i saw the doc on tues to ask her. i saw the tech measure it and i asked the tech about it. why the heck wouldnt they let me know what it was to make me feel better. i am so mad right now. i dont know i f i should wait till tues (since now i know that it really isnt anything to worry about) or call the hospital and ask them to contact the radiologist for answers!

[LionessMom]

so the fam doc called and said there was no mention on the report and she had no idea about it but that i could call the hospital and ask if the radiologist would look and give me an opinion. i am relieved that the radiologist thought everything was normal so i am less worried. but i saw it on the screen. i asked to know what it was. and then it wasnt included on the report. i need to know. so i called the hospital. the first lady said they couldnt give out that info. i said yes you can. i am the patient and this in my info. oh your doc has to call. my doc said to call you and so on. i did not back down. i know for a fact they can tell me and i can talk to the radiologist. i am not stupid. so she put me on to the supervisor. i explained to her: i saw it on the screen, the tech measured it and told me it was nothing. i said i wanted to know, she said it would be on the report. i asked the doctor, it is not on the report. i need to know what it is even if it is something that is simple and normal and common. i have never seen one of these in any of my babies 20 weeks scans. everybody says it is all right but i still need to know. period. she said she would ask the radiologist and call me back and i gave her my cell phone number. i just need to know now. i am glad nobody is worried about it and everything looks perfectly normal to the professionals. but what about the worry that is caused a mom to see something like that and then never have it mentioned ever not even to let her know what it was. i might have embellished my worry to the supervisor. i am sleeping and def not nauseas. but she needed to understand that i was worried. i hate how doctors think they can just do what they want. how could he not know that i saw it on the screen? she measured it and everything! i was asking her about it. she should have written it down that i wanted to know. i feel so neglected by that damn hospital right now. the only way they can fiz our relationship is if they call me back with a good explanation... today. not monday. bc by then i will be even more pissed off. they must have thought i was stupid or something, a sheep that does what they are told. well i do not. i expect answers. i would have gone to the hospital in person and waited and made the radiologist talk to me if i had to. i hate being brushed off. 

[csekywithlove]

Originally Posted by LionessMom 

so the fam doc called and said there was no mention on the report and she had no idea about it but that i could call the hospital and ask if the radiologist would look and give me an opinion. i am relieved that the radiologist thought everything was normal so i am less worried. but i saw it on the screen. i asked to know what it was. and then it wasnt included on the report. i need to know. so i called the hospital. the first lady said they couldnt give out that info. i said yes you can. i am the patient and this in my info. oh your doc has to call. my doc said to call you and so on. i did not back down. i know for a fact they can tell me and i can talk to the radiologist. i am not stupid. so she put me on to the supervisor. i explained to her: i saw it on the screen, the tech measured it and told me it was nothing. i said i wanted to know, she said it would be on the report. i asked the doctor, it is not on the report. i need to know what it is even if it is something that is simple and normal and common. i have never seen one of these in any of my babies 20 weeks scans. everybody says it is all right but i still need to know. period. she said she would ask the radiologist and call me back and i gave her my cell phone number. i just need to know now. i am glad nobody is worried about it and everything looks perfectly normal to the professionals. but what about the worry that is caused a mom to see something like that and then never have it mentioned ever not even to let her know what it was. i might have embellished my worry to the supervisor. i am sleeping and def not nauseas. but she needed to understand that i was worried. i hate how doctors think they can just do what they want. how could he not know that i saw it on the screen? she measured it and everything! i was asking her about it. she should have written it down that i wanted to know. i feel so neglected by that damn hospital right now. the only way they can fiz our relationship is if they call me back with a good explanation... today. not monday. bc by then i will be even more pissed off. they must have thought i was stupid or something, a sheep that does what they are told. well i do not. i expect answers. i would have gone to the hospital in person and waited and made the radiologist talk to me if i had to. i hate being brushed off. 

I completely understand. They can tell you and I hope they got back to you. This is why I switched from an OB to a midwife at 9 weeks. I was being treated like a complete idiot and made to decide at 5 wks whether I wanted an epidural. So ridiculous. Good luck and keep us posted.

[DiannaK]

LionessMom .....

Bless your heart! I can empathize with you on this one ..... at my 20 week scan (Level II), the u/s tech told us there was a 'echogenic focus' in the heart. She acted like no big deal, but when she headed out to have the doctor come back and meet with us, I immediately Googled it. Big mistake, since it can be a marker for Down Syndrome. I panicked, of course, started sobbing, got my poor husband all worked up.

The maternal-fetal medicine doc came in and scanned me again. (why? I have no freakin idea. This was not how the procedure went the last time, when I was seen there during my twin pregnancy) I asked him about the echogenic focus in the heart, and he didn't see what the u/s tech was referring to, but he saw one in the stomach. He told me he didn't see any definitive markers for Down Syndrome, but gave me the blah blah blah about how u/s weren't 100% accurate, etc.

I left feeling like I should have never had the Level II u/s in the first place. All it did was make me crazy.

I've gotten over it .... and have a que sera, sera attitude about it now. Whatever happens, happens, and we will welcome this baby regardless.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience.

[LionessMom]

it want bad until they didnt include it in the report. the fam doc got the updated report which says that it is an isolated calcification. which could be 3 diiferent things that are no big deal and usually resolve by birth and to get another scan at 32 weeks to check. 

after i go to the fam doc on tues, i will have a copy of exactly what was listed so i can post it. 

[marywd]

So sorry that you are dealing with this.  With my second child I was at the ultrasound and when the tech looked at the bowel, I got a feeling that she saw something abnormal.  My husband was there with me and said that he did not get that feeling.  I knew something wasn't right.  I got a call from my midwives telling me that the tech saw echogenic bowel, which is a marker for down syndrome.  I got an ultrasound from a perinatologist after that and I opted to get an amnio, something I would have never thought I would do, but you don't know until you have the experience.  I was not considering termination of course, just wanted to be able to prepare myself with support if it was a case of down syndrome.  It turned out that the baby was fine and I was reassured.  I felt that I had to know what I was dealing with or I would have stressed myself out for the rest of the pregnancy.  I can relate to this and I wish you the best at your 32 week scan.

[LionessMom]

thanks. i have posted this all over the place and no one knows what i am talking about. which is surprising seeing as how the doc said it was so  common.