Anyone have experience with Single Umbilical Artery?

[cminamyer]

I asked this about two weeks ago and there wasn't anyone who had any experience with SUA I was just re-checking.  I'm a lot calmer now, I was just wondering if anyone can tell me a good story.  How things went and what to expect.  Thanks.

[othaz]

hi,
my ultrasound at 20 weeks found that the fetus has a single umbilical artery, i was worried to death n was clueless as my doctor didnt tell me much n just said that we will do more u/s to check on baby;s growth. i
searched on the net was horrified with the information i found. i had routine u/s every month, my baby boy grew fine. at 35 weeks n 3 days i had my waterbroke early morning when i went to the washroom like i usually did 3-4 times a night. i felt warm watery discharge n knew my waterbag has ruptured, we rushed to the hospital without calling the doctor. they checked n confirmed that infact it was my waterbag ruptured n that i was 3 cms dilated. they said that at this stage they will not stop the delivery n will continue with the birth process. they gave me medicine to speed up my contractions n that day at 4;20 in the afternoon, i gave birth to my very precious baby boy, he weighed only 5 pounds as he was born around 4 weeks early. the doctors from NICU were there because they thought that the baby;s lungs might not be complete, but he was perfect.... he was born on january 15 , 2008 . its been over a year of happiness since then...i want to say that if the u/s shows no signs of any abnormality, hopefully the baby will be fine... i hope this helpss

[tammiejo]

I hope everything goes well with you. From what I'm told my baby's umbilical cyst is what was fatal to her. I'm told that it is an extremely rare disorder and that the doctors didn't know how to handle it. Ofcourse I'm told this after my baby is dead. It would have been nice to know that the doctors had little to no experience with her condition before hand.  And I could have gone somewhere else. I pray that your baby is OK and you have a wonderful birth.

[caseygirl67]

My heart goes out to you. Reading your entry on what happened and what hospital you went to really scares me senseless. I was diagnosed with SUA on the 11th of Dec. I'm currently 22 weeks pregnant with my third and last child. The entire thing is more difficult not knowing but you really woke me up due to the fact I'm currently going to the women's center at SHANDS here in Jacksonville. I will be talking to my dr. and making sure he sends me somewhere else to get another opinion. I think that more research needs to be done and more medical information needs to be printed. I have had two healthy children/pregnancies before this one. I will keep you and your little one in my prayers. Hopefully they will do what it takes to prevent this from happening to you or anyone else in the future.

[cminamyer]

My problem is my husband is in the military and I can only go to one hospital.  I live in Hawaii, so I go to the major military hospital here.  I have a couple different military Dr. so I hope and pray they know what they are doing.  You are making me scared, but I really do appreciate it!  I would rather be scared then happy and be caught off guard.  I've done all the research I can and all I can do is hope and pray until she gets bigger.  They didn't say if your little angel compressed the cord or anything like that... you said she didn't have any other birth defects or anything like that?  

Again, I do appreciate you talking to me about this!  I wish I could say somthing to help you, but I know I can't.  All it seems you can do is make other mothers aware so they are more educated and insistant with there Drs, it might save another babys life.  Thank you for you info!

[tammiejo]

Yes they did see it on the ultrasound. My daughter also had an umbilical cyst. We had biophysical profiles and non stress tests done weekly. The tests looked promising so the doctors insisted that we wait until week 37 for delivery. But she died at week 36. I was at Shands hospital in Gainesville Florida. That's why I said get a second opinion. DO your research and keep yourself educated. You don't want to go through the hell we have. I don't mean to scare you but to keep you aware.

[cminamyer]

I just sent you a message, again I'm very sorry for your loss and my prays go out to you and your family.  Did they not see the cyst on any of the U/S?  What hospital did you go to, and was there anything else wrong with your pregnancy?

[tammiejo]

I'm sorry to tell you this but my daughter just died at 36 weeks. The reason on the death certificate is SUA and umbilical cord cyst. We had level two ultra sounds weekly and Non stress tests weekly. They planned a c-section for week 37 but she didn't make it that far. Please get a second opinion and if you have any other problems with your pregnancy insist on immediate action! My doctors said everything looked good on the ultrasound taken on Nov. 12th she was dead by Nov. 17th. Please stay on top of this.

[tammiejo]

I'm sorry to tell you this but my daughter just died at 36 weeks. The reason on the death certificate is SUA and umbilical cord cyst. We had level two ultra sounds weekly and Non stress tests weekly. They planned a c-section for week 37 but she didn't make it that far. Please get a second opinion and if you have any other problems with your pregnancy insist on immediate action! My doctors said everything looked good on the ultrasound taken on Nov. 12th she was dead by Nov. 17th. Please stay on top of this.

[kennedydp5]

i don't have a story or anything...  i've never heard of this before.  i'm sorry you're not getting many answers.  i typed in 'single umbilical artery' in the medhelp search bar and found about 22 posts on it.  i didn't read all of them but the ones i did didn't get too many answers on them , too.  i did read one though, that said that she had this same thing found w/ her son and at the time she posted (in 2003) her son was a healthy 4 year old.  so from what i've read if you've had a normal follow up u/s then everything should hopefully be fine.  best wishes to both of you ladies!

[diabolique]

I am also 29 weeks into a SUA pregnancy and would be interested in reading anyone's experience with this.

I have had a normal amniocentisis and a reassuring level 2 ultrasound 8 weeks ago; I am scheduled for another level 2 ultrasound tomorrow.

I still just can't stop worryingl.

[cminamyer]

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