Neural Tube Defect

Re: Neural Tube Defect

• Panaceia member

  February 2019

  If your doctor and the specialist are not concerned than I would try not to worry (I know, easier said than done). With my first they found that DD had a dilated kidney which remained all throughout my pregnancy (I had scans every few weeks to monitor it). My doctors told me not to worry and that it would likely resolve itself after delivery, but I drove myself crazy reading about all the conditions that it could have been a soft marker for. DD had an ultrasound done when she was a week old and the doctors ended up being right. It had completely resolved and she was totally healthy. All that to say, trust what your doctors are saying. If they are not concerned then I'm sure everything is fine! 

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• bzcuddy member

  February 2019

  @Panaceia thank so much for your perspective! Just needing to be talked off the ledge haha 

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• xtinecatherine member

  February 2019

  I think those personally are pretty low chances of having a Neural Tube Defect, plus those Quad Screenings are notorious for false positives.  

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• mrscammack member

  February 2019

  My situation is slightly different but it does relate to potential neural tube issues. My AFP came back at 2.07 and my midwife said anything above a 2 they look at further, but some clinics don’t have concerns until it’s 2.5 so it was definitely a borderline result. I also had a specialist look over my 20 week scan to check for abnormalities in the spine since spina bifida was the main concern and my midwife said everything looked normal. I have the additional issue of needed to get checked for a leaky placenta (which is irrelevant to your post so I won’t get into that lol) however based on the neural tube issues it sounds like we’re in a similar boat (borderline screening test results but no evidence of issues on ultrasound) 
  
  My attitude regarding potential neural tube issues has been to trust the ultrasound and try not to stress. The ultrasound is definitely a better diagnostic tool than screening tests which do have false positives frequently. I’m going to trust that until I have reason to believe otherwise, I figure if baby did have any severe neural tube issues they would be able to see something on my ultrasound and the fact that they couldn’t makes me rest easy that he’s okay.
  
  So in your shoes I would also go by the ultrasound results and definitely not worry over your other results, which still are within normal range. If something was really wrong with baby I imagine the specialist would have picked it up. I definitely wouldn’t do an amino in that situation but of course that’s a personal choice. But my vote is you can breathe easy! 

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• bzcuddy member

  February 2019

  @xtinecatherine thanks for your input, I tried researching more on the statistics and didn’t find much so I thought I’d ask on here to get some more insight 
  
  @mrscammack thank you for sharing your story! I agree trusting the ultrasound is what I want to do and it seems like that’s what my doctors agree to doing as well. Im definitely not planning on doing an amnio at this time - just needed to hear some feedback from some other moms going through the same emotions - so easy to worry yourself. I will do my best to let this go considering the ultrasound looked normal and this little boy is kicking me daily - another good sign said the doctor. I hope all goes well with your little one, too!! Thanks guys!!

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