minor birth defects?

My daughter is pregnant with her first child and she was born with a number of anomolies that were attributed to Bendectin but I have never been convinced. She is a brilliant women and 6 time all-american swimmer but she was born with these issues.
1 dilated pupil and 1 constricted pupil (she did not speak til 3) Then complete sentence with flat affect.
an extra SA node so she has SVT's occationally since she was 9.
Hip dysplasia
missing 5 molars (other teeth looked like they were thrown into her head willy-nilly)
bottom jaw that would not grow (she had surgery at 7 and wore a maxifacial device for 5 years)
very long bone growth (maybe Marfans)
Asperger's (high IQ but flat affect)
Due to surgeries she is VERY beautiful. Her granfather was a Dentist so she had incredible intervention. What are the chances these defects will be repeated in her child????  
To:

[1nana]

If I remember correctly, Bendectin was taken off the market in February of 1983. I had severe morning sickness and took it throughout the whole pregnancy with both of my kids. Fortunately, I delivered 2 healthy babies. I delivered my daughter in January, and the Bendectin was taken off the market the followig month. Needless to say, I was shocked to hear that it caused birth defects, especially when I had 2 healthy kids. You can actually purchase the ingridients of Bendectin over the counter in any drug store....it consists of vitamin B-6 and one 1/2 of a Unisom. I really can't say that the Bendectin caused all of your daughters anomolies, and it's hard to say if she will pass any of these on to her baby. Of course, Marfan's is hereditary, was she diagnosed with it? That causes heart problems.

[nermineagain]

[oldg59]

Marfan's was not diagnosed often or at all 24 years ago.  My OB/GYN discontinued the Bendectin at the 5th month of pregnancy.  We never had her genetically tested because we were led to believe all of the problems were caused by the Bendectin.  Our religious convictions prevented us from engaging in the litigation. There were several years where her growth exceeded 4 inches.  She reached 5'10'  by 12 and never grew another inch. She began swimming 4 to 7 miles a day at age 9.  We did not know the risk of competitive sports to her until she was in college and by that time her cardiologist said her body had compensated.  She was periodically treated with beta blockers during her swimming carreer. She would train on the drugs and then stop taking them prior to competition in order to elevate her heart rate enough to compete. Her heart is large but not enlarged.  4 of her vertibrea are minus or have dramatically shortened spinous processes (discovered while in college) She does have the spidery fingers and she does have extremely flexible joints.  She also has pertruding clavicle's but not the sunken breast bone. Ironically all of these things worked together to give her a beautiful butterfly stroke that was effortless and hard to duplicate. My concern is that her child may not be as fortunate. She refused all testing for birth defects because she said she would not even consider termination and wanted a happy pregnancy. She has her 20 week US next week.  If anything shows up I'll let you know.

[1nana]

It sounds like she does have alot of the characteristics of Marfan's syndrome. Although the sunken breast bone is very common, it's only present in about half of the patients diagnosed with Marfan's. Outside of her physical characteristics, the key test that should be done is an echocardiogram. This will measure the aortic root and also find any valve abnormalities. The larger the aorta becomes, the greater the chance of an aneurysm occurring.
Where do you live? Stanford University in Northern California has a great Marfan's clinic. I'm sure there are others out there, also.
Please let me know the results of her u/s.

[mami2karina]

The ingredients of this drug you say are vitamin B-6 and 1/2 unisom.  My doctor has had me on a unisom and a B-6 every night since Feburary, my nausea is terrible and still is.  I'm 34 weeks pregnant.  Everything has shown a perfect baby on ultrasound and a lot of people are recommended these drugs.  Could that pose a problem?  You have me concerned how.  Peek?  Any advice???

[1nana]

I wouldn't be concerned at all. Like I said, I gave birth to 2 healthy babies and was on Bendectin all 9 months. I don't even know if there were any lawsuits, because they had a really hard time proving that Bendectin was the cause for the birth defects.

[1nana]

oops, that last post was for you.

[mami2karina]

Okay, I was just wondering because I know quite a few of us are taking that stuff.  So that's scary.

[1nana]

Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you.

[oldg59]

That was good advise to mami2karina.  I really never believed that all of those issues were from Bendectin.  By the way my daughter has had a multitude of echocardiograms but they were all done after years of endurance training which her cardiologist said altered the course of her life. He often mentioned that she could have been a Flo Himen?? or Hank Gathers had she not started so young that her body and heart compensated. In addition her cardiologist said that she operated on about 70% function most of the time. When we asked if she should quit swimming when she was 13 he said "Why, if its going to kill her it will probably be in her sleep." I guess the lesson here is be happy with what you get (babywise) and don't let anyone place limitations on your child. I think if you ask her she would say, "I could have missed the pain but I'da had to miss the dance."

[1nana]

Sounds like she has a good outlook on life and I think it's great that she wants a care free pregnancy, and in the end will accept whatever GOD sends her. Good luck on her u/s next week, and I'll be looking for your post (I'm sure everything will be just fine.)