Intro - baby with duodenal atresia

cosmodawlitan

Hello ladies, I just thought I would intro myself and share a little bit of our story. End of December, my 20 week anatomy scan revealed what looked like the classic "double bubble" sign for duodenal atresia so I was sent on to my local hospital's maternal fetal center for a more in depth ultrasound, fetal echocardiogram and an amnio (though that was not part of the original plan). At the MF center, the doctor confirmed duodenal atresia so we went ahead and were able to be squeezed in for an amnio that day to see if there were any associated genetic conditions (I had turned down all genetic testing previously). The echo came back clear, and the amnio showed no genetic associations. I got a referral to our local Children's Hospital to get an MRI so they could hopefully narrow down where in the duodenum the blockage/disconnect seemed to be, as well as get a repeat echo to just confirm there were no issues there. The echo was fine, and the MRI just narrowed down the issue to the second section of the duodenum but they couldn't really tell what was going on exactly which means we won't have answers until the baby is in surgery and they're seeing what's happening.

I had the first monitoring ultrasound to track fluid and growth this past Wednesday (at 27 weeks) and my fluid is already elevated. I'm really concerned about the fluid pushing me into pre-term labor. When we were at Children's Hospital, the high risk OB noted that most babies with DA tend to arrive 36-38 weeks, so I'm really hoping we can get as close to that as possible. 

This is my and DH's second LO. Our first baby (a boy, who will be 3 in April!) was a typical pregnancy and newborn. I'm having such a hard time knowing that we're looking at a 1-1.5 month NICU stay... only because the thought of not being able to bring my baby home is just really heartbreaking. I'm also really worried about pumping/milk supply. 

That's a lot for an intro! But I thought I would get it all out there. Thanks for reading, and I appreciate any info/tips/whatever.  

leelee72

Welcome and Glad you shared. I don't have any experience with that specific issue. However I do.kjow what's it like going to mfm dr and fetal echos. Our lo was diagnosed with a chd at our 20 wk scan and we have been going for several followup to keep an eye things. My mfm dr is a little concerned at our last visit that I had a little too much fluid and also wants to keep an eye on that. And our lo umbilical cord is connected in an odd way. We go to our local children's hospital as well and they have just been great. We will transition there for the remainder of my pregnancy around wk 32 and deliver there as well. Right now it seems that our lo won't need heart surgery until around 3-6months. But they r continually monitoring. My t&p are with you and your little one.

cosmodawlitan

Thank you  I'll keep you and your LO in my thoughts and prayers, too.