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Anyone out there have any experience with having a baby with heart abnormalities? Our baby has several different issues going on, all of which we knew about except for the leaking heart valve, which we found out about today. Unfortunately, now I can't remember if they said it was the bicuspid valve (the mitral valve) or the tricuspid valve, but blood is leaking back through the valve pretty significantly. Just wondering if anyone else has had anything like this show up by u/s.<br>
On top of that, he has very enlarged kidneys that are about twice the normal size, however, they seem to be working perfectly since I have plenty of amniotic fluid. He has Dandy Walker malformation, which means he's missing some of the connections between the two halves of his cerebellum, although there hasn't been any swelling in his brain so far (which is the biggest risk with Dandy Walker). And finally, he has some hand deformities (some fused fingers and maybe an extra finger on one hand).<br>
Despite all of these things, at the moment he's quite healthy and very good-sized (which helps to rule out some serious chromosomal abnormalities that would lead to poor growth). We have to meet with a pediatric cardiologist soon, so I guess I will know more when that happens. The unfortunate thing about the findings to is that it is the first thing that has come up that makes my midwives leery about letting me deliver with them. The specialists are pushing me to deliver at their hospital that is next to the children's hospital, but I would much rather stay where I am, if not at the midwifery center, in the regular L and D at my hospital. The reason is that the specialists' hospital has an extremely high c-section rate, and I believe very strongly that, barring any serious complications during delivery, a natural delivery will be best for this baby. My midwives are also concerned about the threat of an unnecessary c-section at the other hospital, but I don't know how much say they will end up having. It's definitely possible to have a natural delivery at the other hospital, because I actually delivered my twins there naturally, but it took quite a fight. When I arrived in labor, the first thing they said was, "Let's get you prepped for your c-section!" I was like, "Um, I don't think so!" It definitely was NOT necessary.<br>
Well, I'm afraid I'm kind of rambling on here, but I just wanted to share some of what is going on and get any feedback that I could. Thanks for letting me ramble!
On top of that, he has very enlarged kidneys that are about twice the normal size, however, they seem to be working perfectly since I have plenty of amniotic fluid. He has Dandy Walker malformation, which means he's missing some of the connections between the two halves of his cerebellum, although there hasn't been any swelling in his brain so far (which is the biggest risk with Dandy Walker). And finally, he has some hand deformities (some fused fingers and maybe an extra finger on one hand).<br>
Despite all of these things, at the moment he's quite healthy and very good-sized (which helps to rule out some serious chromosomal abnormalities that would lead to poor growth). We have to meet with a pediatric cardiologist soon, so I guess I will know more when that happens. The unfortunate thing about the findings to is that it is the first thing that has come up that makes my midwives leery about letting me deliver with them. The specialists are pushing me to deliver at their hospital that is next to the children's hospital, but I would much rather stay where I am, if not at the midwifery center, in the regular L and D at my hospital. The reason is that the specialists' hospital has an extremely high c-section rate, and I believe very strongly that, barring any serious complications during delivery, a natural delivery will be best for this baby. My midwives are also concerned about the threat of an unnecessary c-section at the other hospital, but I don't know how much say they will end up having. It's definitely possible to have a natural delivery at the other hospital, because I actually delivered my twins there naturally, but it took quite a fight. When I arrived in labor, the first thing they said was, "Let's get you prepped for your c-section!" I was like, "Um, I don't think so!" It definitely was NOT necessary.<br>
Well, I'm afraid I'm kind of rambling on here, but I just wanted to share some of what is going on and get any feedback that I could. Thanks for letting me ramble!
