Most babies have three blood vessels in their umbilical cords: two arteries and one vein. My little guy's cord only has one artery and one vein. This is called Single Umbilical Artery. Here is a link to a page that describes it, somewhat: http://www.womens-health.co.uk/sua.asp. This site, and every other site I've encountered, is a roller coaster for me. I feel better, then I feel worse. I am encouraged, then dejected. I think, 'Oh, this is OK', and then a paragraph later I am in tears.
I've been reading about genetic testing, intrauterine growth retardation, all of that.
I am freaked out. FREAKED OUT! And I have to confess to feeling slightly let down by my doctor, whom I have been absolutely smitten with up to this point. I got this news yesterday, at my four week check-up. I was seeing my doctor's partner, whom I had never seen before. She casually asked if my doctor had gone over my ultrasound results with me (the ultrasound that took place 4 weeks ago, mind you); I told her he had not, since I had seen him that morning before the ultrasound. She dropped the two-vessel-cord bombshell, then said they just wanted to monitor baby's growth from here on out. I asked if there was anything I needed to be concerned about or needed to know; she said no.
Then she said I should start coming in every two weeks for appointments (which is seems a trifle early to be doing, but whatever) and should make an appointment for an ultrasound in the next 1-2 weeks, so they can monitor growth and check out baby's face - he was trying to bury his face in my uterus at my last ultrasound, so they couldn't tell if he had a cleft lip and/or palate. Imagine a child of mine being camara shy. So next Tuesday I go for my next ultrasound, and then my sugar test. Then two weeks after that I go to see my doctor again.
I feel like he should have called me. But then, he didn't call me, and if he's a good doctor (Like I really feel he is) maybe it's because he wasn't concerned about the results. And I think that the doctor yesterday should have given me more information. I understand why she wouldn't want to give me the cold hard facts about SUA; she doesn't want me to panic (which I am doing now, because I looked the information up myself without a doctor around to temper my findings with facts), she doesn't want me to worry. I appreciate that. But I would rather be well informed. Did they see any of the potential developmental abnomalities normally associated with SUA? Heart, kidneys, nervous system issues? Did they rule that out? If they did rule those out, for which I would be eternally grateful, WHY COULDN'T SHE TELL ME THAT. If they didn't, why did she say the next ultrasound was just to monitor growth?
I'm just nervous, and I'm making too much of this, and I'm blathering. But I want more information. I understand there is no way of knowing for sure how things will turn out, I'm not asking to look into the future, but I want to know what they do know, at least as they can tell in the ultrasound.
Please pray for our baby, if you pray. I'm sure everything is fine, but it can't hurt. I'll keep you updated.
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Hi! I just responded to your email, and then I clicked over here to your site and read your entry about SUA, and this actually might be good news for you :)
I'm not a doctor, but your first ultrasound sounds an awful lot like mine: an otherwise clear scan with an isolated SUA noted. That's happy news, because the birth defects that sometimes go along with SUA are not slight - the are big honkin' problems, and if they didn't see anything else to concern them on the ultrasound, then you can feel pretty calm about your little guy's health.
Of course, if you are like me, then this won't stop you from freaking out every now and then, and it does help when you stop googling SUA (I, too, was banned from "internet research"!)
Good luck and now we can check in on each other - it will be like an SUA support group or something :)
PS: I used to live in P'Cola as well - when my husband was in the Navy :)
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