[CeciMami]

We found out that we're having another BOY!

All my friends are teasing me that it's the frugal thing to do so OF COURSE we're having another boy as I already have all the stuff!

The only abnormality that they found was a very small spot of echogenic bowel. Apparently this is a soft marker for all sorts of conditions like Downs Syndrome, Cystic Fibrosis, the list goes on and on. The doctor went into LOTS of detail about it and then ended the appointment by saying, "but lots of times it means nothing!" which at that point didn't make much of an impression. She grilled me as to why we didn't do genetic counseling (since I am SO VERY OLD at the age of 36

) and said that they provide all sorts of testing and the like but that she'd leave it up to my midwife and I to decide what our next step will be since my midwife is "independant and does her own thing"

! I got the feeling that this u/s doc didn't take midwives too seriously...

Anyway, since I'm a worrier, I e-mailed my MW right away and we're going to chat this afternoon about it and decide our course of action. I know in my rational mind that it's possible that absolutely nothing is wrong, but my emotional mind is, well, frankly, freaking out.

Anyone else have something like this show up on their u/s? Instead of just being happy about the idea of having another little boy to play with I'm now just walking around worrying...not the way I'd pictured it.

 

[whozeyermamma]

Oh honey - wow - I had the exact same thing just last week! Everything looked great and then the perinatologist comes in and says: echogenic bowel, slightly dialated. So I go from elation over my perfect little boy to that nagging worry.

BUT DON'T WORRY!

First off, not sure if they told you this but the dialation means that a segment of the bowel is slightly enlarged. Ecogenic means that section is showing up brighter than bowel tissue normally does. (The same way bones show up brighter than tissue.)

But this is what my awesome doc says: It could be gas - like literally he's farting, it could be a temporary dialation that resolves itself. It could be that his bowel is just growing at a different rate. In my doc's 20 years of practice he has only seen ONE case where a dialated did not resolve itself.

A dialated bowel is a so-called soft-marker for other genetic defects, which means that it sometimes seen in those defects. I found one study that found in 15 cases of dialated bowel, 5 came back as cystic fibrosis. (This is a very small survey.) (Hard markers, on the other hand, have stronger correlation - like if there is no nose bone - that's a hard marker for downs.)

I also kept in mind that probably even 5 years ago, u/s were not sophisticated enough to pick up this sort of thing - so most women never knew their babes had a dialated bowel at some point. (In the one case that my doc saw, the dialation grew larger and did not go away and the woman had to go for a c-section at like 37 weeks at a special hospital and the baby had surgery shortly after birth. IN the grand scheme of things, this is not horrible.)

I had the cystic test (which was neg) and all the other blood screenings, (also showing VERY low risk - like 1 in 5,000 despite my advanced maternal age of 37) - maybe you might want to have the blood tests, just to ease your mind? It took about 5 days to get results.

I'm going back for another u/s on the 16th to see if my baby's bowel thing has resolved. My doc advised that if it has not resolved, I go back every 3 weeks to see what happens. He does not feel amnio (to test for genetic problems) is neccessary.

I hope you feel better! It does suck to go from being exicted about the baby to hearing there is a slight chance of a problem!!! Given the stats, I'm sure our babies are fine, just farty little guys!

oh - and congrats on your wonderful, beautiful son!!!

 

[at_the_hip]

I don't know anything about the bowel issue, but I wanted to say CONGRATS on your little boy!!!

I do know that many if not most times, things like this seem to resolve themselves and it seems to be more of an exception that there is something seriously wrong. I hope you find peace!

 

[cadejaxellamom]

Congrats on the little BOY

I am sorry you are having to worry though. I will hope and pray that everything comes out just fine and that he is indeed just a farty little boy!

 

[NicolleLynne]

Congrats on your new son!

At my 20 week the perinatalogist said almost every baby has "something" that needs to be looked at more closely or checked up on. In my case, it was an abnormally small stomach bubble, which was normal size a week later.

Try not to worry! Chances are all will be well!

 

[azdaisy]

Congratulations on your little boy!! That's awesome!

I hope you are able to find calm soon...I'm sorry you are going through this!

 

[LisaSedai]

Congrats on your little boy!

technology is definately a mixed blessing sometimes. My U/S doc is having me come back in a month & is wanting a pericardiologist to have a look at my lo's heart. I think they find something in *every* baby and 99.9% of them turn out to be just perfect so try not to worry (yeah, right .... I know!)

 

[CeciMami]

Thanks to all of you for making me feel better! Whozeyermamma, thanks for sharing your story...it really helps to know that others are dealing with this too! I spoke with my MW today and she's sending me to get the quad screen done, just for peace of mind and also going to schedule another ultrasound a couple weeks in the future to keep an eye on things.

I'm loving the idea that our boys are just gassy in there!

 

[CeciMami]

Just wanted to update y'all...I got the quad screen bloodwork done yesterday and my MW already has the results: she says that usually for a woman my age the chances of having a Downs baby is about 1 in 650 and that my results showed a 1 in 5000 chance. So we've ruled that out and I'm breathing a sigh of relief. Hopefully by the next u/s the bright spot will be gone and that will be that...thanks again for your support!

 

[LisaSedai]

 

[whozeyermamma]

Oh that is a relief!

Be sure to update us after you get the next u/s! I go for mine on Feb. 18. I'm actually so confident about it that I told DH last night that I don't feel like he has to go if he has to work. I'll let ya'll know how mine goes too.

I agree with Lisa - technology is a mixed blessing. I know that even just six years ago with DD they could not look at an u/s with this much detail.

And I figure that *I'm* farting so much these days, I'm not surprised that he's a little gassy too!