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2nd Trimester
Ugh... Choroid Plexus Cysts and an Irregular Heartbeat :(
well, i debated on whether or not to even post this... but honestly i'm feeling particularly fragile today and i need to just get this off my chest.
our ultrasound results were abnormal. the u/s tech found two seperate issues and dammit, i'm scared.
the first issue is that our little lulabelle has an irregular heartbeat. now, our doctor tells us this is actually pretty common and usually it repairs itself before birth. but... as a precaution she ordered a follow up ultrasound and fetal echocardiogram on feb 10. in the event the results are not good we will have to drive to billings (about 140 miles away) to deliver because there is no NICU or pediatric cardiologist.
second issue is that lulabelle has choroid plexus cysts. scary. we saw them on the u/s - the tech kept going over and over her little head and we saw them, we just didn't know what they were. the choroid plexuses are structures in the ventricles (spaces) of the brain that produce the cerebrospinal fluid. each plexus is made up of a network of capillary blood vessels covered by transporting epithelial cells and occasionally fluid becomes trapped and forms pockets in the choroid plexus. These pockets of fluid are the cysts... more than 90% of choroid plexus cysts resolve themselves by the 28 week and to check on this we'll have another follow up u/s at 30 weeks. the scariest part about the cysts is they are most commonly associated with T18 - worst case scerario. this basically is a death sentence (or so i've read on goodle) - only 5% to 10 % of infants survive the first year after delivery.
so that's what we're up against. our doctor told us over and over again that neither issue is one to lose sleep over just yet. she said both will most likely resolve themselves well before i go into labor. she said, while she can't promise nothing is wrong with lulabelle - we should be ok as there are "other symptoms" (such as cleft lip and palate, small jaw (micrognathia), low set ears, club feet, clenched fists, intrauterine growth restriction, single umbilical artery, elevated amniotic fluid ( polyhydramnios), and kidney abnormalities) when the baby has T18 (edwards syndrome) and our baby had none (other than the very common irregular heartbeat).
i don't know if you are religious or not... and i'm not trying to push religion on you if you aren't - but my DH and i have decided that we're just going to give it to God. we pray... everyday... a lot. and we're optimistic. we've also decided that we aren't going to tell anyone about these issues in real life because i'm overprotective and i don't really want anyone to know that there is a possibility we could have a baby with something wrong with her. and more importantly than anything i can't help but feel like i could have done something differently, even though i know that i couldn't have. but there are those what-if thoughts like what if i wouldn't have missed my vitamin that day or not lifted that probably past my weight limit box out of my car that day...
anyway, if you've gotten this far... thank you. let me know if you've known someone with these issues that made it out ok... and please pray for us if you do and otherwise send us some good vibes or something, k?
thanks guys.
{forever remembered and missed my sweet babe}
*m/c 10/10/10 - 7w0d*
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Ugh... Choroid Plexus Cysts and an Irregular Heartbeat :(
Wow, that is a lot to take in! It seems as though you and DH are really strong and will do whatever you need to get through it.
So sorry that your going through this stress.
Trust your doctors, pray and we will pray for you too!
GL!
I don't have any experience with this, just wanted to send prayers your way. I hope everything turns out okay.
I am so sorry that you have to deal with this right now. I can't imagine the stress that this must cause you. I'm not a religious person per se but I have found strength in handing life's harder issues over to the Gods ( I prefer to believe in all of them so as to not piss any one of them off) and I hope that in doing so as well, you find peace with letting it all unfold.
I will send positive thoughts to your family and to Lulabelle.?
My prayers are with you. I know this is very nerve wracking - we also found out our little one has a choroid plexus cyst. Everything else looked perfectly normal, but it's hard to not dwell on the negative.
We go for a followup u/s on his brain on Feb 10. The drs think by that time, the cyst should be gone, but we have completely turned it over to God and have faith that his will be done, whatever that may be.
Keep us posted!
I'm so sorry you got concerning results at your ultrasound. The advice from your doc to not lose sleep over it yet is easier said than done, I know. When I was pregnant with my DS, he had a single umbilical artery, and as common as it is and no matter how many happy endings we heard about, the fact is that it often causes problems and we were terrified. In the end everything turned out just fine and I'm thankful for all the extra ultrasounds, but I would have traded it for perfect big u/s results any day.
I truly hope everything turns out fine with your little one! And hopefully you won't have to deliver 140 miles away! Hang in there. *hugs*
A trillion prayers and hugs. I'm sorry, honey that's so scary. I'm really praying that everything resolves itself for your sweet babe.
I'm here for you
Thoughts and prayers coming your way. I don't usually post, but I felt compelled. My SIL's second DS had these Choriod Plexus Cysts (she always told us they were just "cysts on the brain"), and I just wanted to tell you that he is a healthy 6 year old now. It was about 4 weeks of worry during the pregnancy but it DID resolve itself.
Good luck, hugs and prayers.
First off, I'm sorry that you're feeling so helpless about these findings. It's no doubt scary to hear anything but "your baby is perfectly normal".
We were told that our baby has a choroid plexus cyst, too, and you know what? I'm not worried about it. The Dr. explained it briefly and basically said not to worry b/c they see this 2-3 times a week and it usually goes away by the 32nd wk. I googled it myself to just get a little piece of mind and didn't come across the long explanation you did, so I didn't even know about T18. But I did find basically the same info the Dr told me. Really all we can do is wait until our next Level II u/s on Feb 9 and see what they find. If it hasn't gone away, then I'll decide if I should start worrying.
As far as the heart condition goes, I hope that it turns out to be okay along with the CPC as you get further along in your pregnancy. Just keep your thoughts positive and have faith that it will all work out.
When I was pregnant with my second son, the ultrasound tech found 4 large CP cysts on his brain. I was terrified, and like you, had to wait 2 months to have another ultrasound! They gave me a bunch of papers on T18, and scheduled me another ultrasound at the children's hospital 2 hours away. Those 2 months were so hard. I cried a lot, prayed even more, and hoped for the best. At the second ultrasound, there was only one cyst remaining, and it was so small you could barely see it. Like your Dr. said, most of the time they go away. My 3yr old son is a happy healthy little boy, with absolutely no effects from the temporary cysts
I don't have any advice on the heart murmur, I'm sorry. Hopefully everything will turn out for the best, I will keep you in my prayers....
I will pray for your baby...
We had the same issues... DS has two CPCs, one big, one small. Other than that, he is anatomically perfect. My quad screen came back crappy. So, they sent us to a genetic specialist.
Based on the CPCs and my bad quad screen, they gave my l'il Junebug a 1:10 chance of having T18 or another chromosomal abnormality and recommended amnio. I had it and it was horrible, both the procedure itself, and the waiting.
We got our results just a week ago, and they came back fine.
My baby is totally normal. Since I had the amnio, I've been researching a lot about CPCs and checking out numerous studies on them.
After all that I've read (and it is a LOT), basically, as long as your baby has no other abnormalities, just like your doc says, she will NOT have Trisomy 18. This CPC = Trisomy 18 hysteria is just that... hysteria. After all the research I've done, I feel that the 1:10 overall risk assessment that they gave me was inaccurate. I believe the risk was actually much lower.
I have been unable to find one study online that listed a case of any fetus having isolated CPCs that indicated Trisomy 18. So, don't worry! I am sure your little girl is fine. If she had T18, they would have noted clenched fists and/or rockerbottom/clubbed feet and/or kidney problems and/or lowset ears, which are all hard markers for T18.
I know what you are going through and how hard it is.
Do not beat yourself up, there is nothing you could have done differently to not cause the CPCs. I wondered the same thing. They are random occurrences. And, in the case a fetus with CPCs has T18 (which your daughter almost absolutely does not, since she has no other symptoms), there is nothing the parents could have done differently to not cause T18.
I am sure all will be well. Please let me know how it goes...
If you want any of the links to all of the CPC-related info I have bookmarked, I'd be happy to post them.
Good luck!!
DD#1 born June '09
DD#2 born April '11
TTC #3 as of July '14
Im so sorry you got these results. I will be praying for you. If this helps, my friends had the same stuff..Her doc. told her that her son had a cyst on his brain and the Tri18 was a possibility. They went back for the check up and everything was fine. She was also told that the cysts go away and are more common. I hope you get the same results.
Also on a side note..I was born in Billings!
I will be praying for you and your family!
I'll pray for you guys. This is tough stuff.
Not freaking out would be insanely hard to do.
My best advice is watch a movie you can fall asleep to. It'll help you get your mind off of this while you fall asleep (which is my worst time for "what-if" bugs to creep in).
I am so sorry to hear that you are going through so much. I had my big u/s appt. on Jan 27th and they had found two cysts in my baby girls brain. My dr. said that she has to tell between 5-7 women a week that they found cysts and that it is very common during this stage. I think she was just being extra precautious because she has not rec'd my blood work back yet and that they want to cover all their bases. My husband was there when she started going over the possiblities of downs, chromosomal problems and T18... he had no clue what T18 was. I did and I told him not to look it up because it would just worry him more... I had looked it up a long time back. I felt so bad for him... he felt like he was in the dark and that he could not say anything to make it better.
I am waiting for the call to set my appt up with the high risk dr. It is no fun waiting and it is hard not too stress. From what they told me everything else looked great, but I know they had a hard time getting a profile image of her. I just am just trying to keep busy and I am trying to stay postive for my little one.
I am so sorry, sweet.
In news that I hope you find comforting, a good friend of mine had the same diagnosis & the cyst healed itself & disappeared. ?The babe was born perfectly heatlhy.
I will keep you three in my prayers.?
Don't worry about the heart beat! My sister has three children, and her third had an irregular heart beat. They even found a small hole in the wall of his heart that the doctor said would most likely repair itself by the time he was born, but she had to come in for a monthly sonogram just in case.
He is a healthy 3 year old now and was born without any complications. I love that we have all of this technology, but sometimes it can make us all worry about nothing.
Best wishes to you and your little one!