Please help ease my mind it you can...

[cminamyer]

I know this is the Fertility fourm, but I also know you ladys have been getting alot of BFP, and many of you have older children as well.  I really need some help, I'm driving myself crazy and no one on the preg. fourm seems to know anything about this.

Have any of you had or heard of velamentous insertion or single umbilical artery?  We had our stage II ultrasound today and found out that we have both.  Our baby girl is growing perfect, everything look great with her, but the umbilical cord is a little bit of an issue.  We are 19 weeks 6 days today.

Velamentous Insertion - is pretty much where the umbilical cord attaches toward the edge of the placenta instead of the middle like normal.  The placenta is in a normal position in my uterus which is good, but the cord is attached toward the top edge, which is way better then the bottom edge.  Another thing that can sometimes happen along with this is a single umbilical artery...

Single Umbilical Artery - you normaly have two artery's and one blood vessel in the umbilical cord, but in our case there is just the blood vessel and one artery.  Also know as a two vessel umbilical cord.  This can sometimes be caused by other fetal abnormalities, but in our case she looks perfect.  My quad screen came back very low risk and completley normal as well.

The perinatologist is going to have me come back in six weeks for anothe ultrasound to check the growth of the baby, then 4 weeks after that then every week for an ultrasound and once I hit about 32 weeks they will also do a weekly nonstress test to check that she is growing well.  

My question is, has anyone else gone through this or heard of it?  How did you not stress?  They told me they weren't worried about me and I can go to a midwife if I want as long as I keep getting the ultrasounds and they won't let me go past 40 weeks.  Just looking for someone to tell me they went through the same thing and everything turned out just fine...Please!  

[cminamyer]

Well, we had our u/s yesturday and again, she looks perfect.  She's growing just as she should, 1lb. 14oz.  The tech looked at everything just like a stage II u/s, paying special attention to her heart and kidneys, both of which are normal (perfect according to the tech).  The insursion of the cord is still a little off, but it's in as good of a place as it can be and still be in a bad place....if it we're over a tiny bit it would be normal.  So they don't have any worries about where the cord is, just that it's a two vessel cord.  But it doesn't seem to be affecting her at all.

I have another u/s in 4 weeks, when I'm 30 weeks.  Then I start the nonstress testing everyweek when I hit 32 weeks.  I've got my 28 week labs on the 14th and my 28 week reg. appt. on the 20th, so from now on I'll be going to the Dr every two weeks or more, fun... But as long as the baby is ok, I can handle it.

Keep me updated, Glenda, I'm praying for you and you little one as well.  

[cminamyer]

Thanks to both of you.  I've done all the research I can on it.  The baby looks perfect now, I saw the peri right after the u/s and he told me the same thing.  She is healthy in everyway right now, they looked carefuly at her heart and kidneys and they were both normal and my blood tests all came back normal... So it's pretty much just a waiting game for us, weather she will grow or not.  I have an u/s tomorrow, I'm almost 26 weeks and will have another one in 2 or 4 weeks.  When I hit 32 weeks I will have to go in weekly for non-stress tests, all worth it as long as she is ok.  I am really hoping that I can have her naturally, but don't really care if I can't.  I'm prepared for her to come early and to have a c-section, but if things go well I'll be happily surprised.

Good luck Glenda, let me know how things go for you and I'll keep you updated on our little girl.

[Houston79]

Hi. I wanted to tell you about friends of ours who had this happen with their baby girl.  Her daughter was born six weeks early and she is pregnant again and due in March with a boy.  Her DD was really small (5 lbs) but she is fine and healthy now.  She goes in for an ultrasound quite often, I'm assuming the SUA is why.  Her son is going to be induced, but so far he looks perfect.    Hope that helps.

[Glenda306]

Sorry no one has replied to you--it's really frustrating I know.  On 12/1 we had our 20w u/s and the tech found SUA for us as well.  We went to the perinatologist on 12/9 and he confirmed it as well as finding 2 extra holes in the baby's heart.  From what I've read SUA by itself is highly associated with heart and renal defects.  Our specialist was convinced our baby had Trisomy 13 or 18 (usually fatal) because of the defects AND my age (40.5), but the baby turned out to be fine (chromosomally, anyway).

My sister is a mother-baby nurse at a hospital here and when she gets a baby into the nursery with SUA, she has to check on their renal function.  I've read that babies with SUA have about a 20-25% chance of having several abnormalities, but that means 75-80% are FINE.  Being aware of the problem means you can LOOK for a lot of these problems and keep a closer watch on the baby in general.

I believe the SUA can be a problem as the baby gets larger in that the single artery can't adequately supply enough nutrition to the baby at that point.  If the baby's growth slows enough, early induction may be necessary.

It looks like you're a week or 2 ahead of me, so let me know how it goes for you.  Best wishes.

[cminamyer]

NVM, I know no one has posted, but just in case someone was going to don't worry about it.  I just had my 20 week normal appt. and feel better.