Our OB was concerned that the baby had more fluid in the ventricles of her brain than "normal." Since this is not something they are used to dealing with, she wanted us to see a perinatologist (a high risk OB). Needless to say, this was not news we were expecting.
Ironically, nothing was found at the 20 week ultrasound and many doctors do not do routine growth ultrasounds as mine does. We are thankful that our dr. does the ultrasound and if there is a problem, we can be prepared, but the unknown is almost worse than if we had a definitive answer.
We were not able to see the perinatologist until Monday. I could tell something was up when they started focusing on the heart. This was supposed to be an ultrasound to look at her brain, but they kept focusing in on her heart. After the ultrasound was done, the dr. told me that the baby did have extra fluid in her brain, but he was also concerned about her heart and kidneys. He said she might have a hole in her heart and wanted us to see a cardiologist.
So, I didn't handle this new news too well...especially since nothing specific could be identified. As the dr. said, it's not NOTHING, but how significant it all is, is unknown. Of course they have to tell you all the bad stuff to CYA, but it is really hard to stay optimistic when you hear it. The logical part of your brain tries to reason it all out, but the emotional part...well, that is something all together different.
We did get this adorable picture of her little face, complete with open eyes :)
Fast forward to today. We met with the cardiologist at the Sibley Heart Center and had another ultrasound. He immediately started ruling out any major heart defects and in fact, on his initial screening, did not see anything wrong. During the detailed screening, he did see what the perinatologist was concerend about. One of her arteries is formed a little differently, but the blood flow was excellent and he did not seem concerned about it. He also said there is a possibility she could have a very small hole in her heart, but that they wouldn't be able to tell for sure until she was out. (It was kind of a CYA statement). He wants her to have an ultrasound on her heart sometime after she is born to look at it just to make sure, but he told us everything looked fine at this time. What a relief!!
We go back to the perinatologist on Tuesday and we have a lot of questions and will get another ultrasound, so we really hope we get more clarification at that time.
Overall, today was a good day.
Please continue to pray for our little girl.
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