Single Umbilical Artery

In the midst of all this change, chaos and excitement, it has become exceedingly hard to "feel" pregnant. I'm at the stage in pregnancy where I don't feel the baby move often and I only look chubby NOT pregnant. I can still wear my same clothes they just fit a little, different.  We have been so busy with a hundred other things that we haven't had time to sit down and enjoy the moment of expecting our 3rd child.

Cody and I had an appointment to receive a sonogram at 18 weeks.  My new OB refers all his patients to a Perinatologist for their complete sonogram.  It is crazy to me that with one baby you generally only get one sonogram.  I had 1 every two weeks with my twin pregnancy.  I had seen a Perinatologist & an OBGYN my entire twin pregnancy because I was "high risk" and it seems things haven't changed for this one as well.

Before I get into the details, I would like to start by saying we are having a little GIRL and couldn't be more excited.  I know, I know, I know...we said we were NOT finding out BUT when the sonogram tech put the little tool on my belly she just so happened to be on the BUSINESS (or lack thereof).  I immediately felt that we were having a girl.  Like 99.9% sure it was a girl, because when we saw the area with Lukas....we knew immediately we were having a boy.  The tech didn't tell us what we were having, but when she left the room and while we waited for the doctor, I told Cody I was sure it was a girl.  He kept telling me I didn't know for sure and what if I thought this entire time that it was a girl and it turned out to be a boy then we were even more shocked because in my mind I was mentally prepared for a girl.  When the doctor came in and asked us if we knew...we caved and said we wanted to know for sure!  VOILA...we are expecting a beautiful baby girl.

I digress...so when the tech was doing our sonogram, I noticed that she kept going back to the heart over and over which made me really nervous.  She said that little miss was laying in an awkward position and that she was having to look and listen to her heart through her spine, which casts shadows on the picture.  She said that the heartbeat was 153 and was good and strong.

When the doctor came in he quickly told us that I have a Single Umbilical Artery (SUA)...also known as a two vessel cord.  Generally, your umbilical cord has 1 vein and 2 arteries..mine has 1 vein and 1 artery.  They aren't sure what causes the anomaly, it just "happens".  We asked if this was common and didn't really get much of a direct answer. (Dr. Google would later tell me that this happens about 1% of the time in a singleton pregnancy)  He told us before the use of sonograms the only way they even knew someone had a SUA was by inspection of the umbilical cord after delivery.  He then went on to say since the use of sonograms they have been able to link SUA with other "complications".  What complications?  He told us that our baby girl is at an increased risk for kidney, heart or genetic abnormalities as well as an increased risk for Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR).  IUGR is basically where the baby stops growing accurately because she isn't getting the nutrients she needs from the placenta (a term we are familiar with from our twin pregnancy).  The doctor thoroughly checked her heart and kidneys and said that he didn't see any problems with them and they looked completely healthy.  He even went on to say that he thought there was a less than 1% chance that there is something wrong with those two organs.  He also told us that he didn't see any "markers" that would indicate that there was something genetically wrong with the baby girl BUT we would have to do an amniocentesis (think big needle inserted into belly) to be sure.  He said plenty of woman with SUA deliver full-term healthy babies.

He will follow up with us my entire pregnancy and I will have to be monitored the same way I was monitored with the twins to ensure that our baby girl is growing as she should.  Even though the news isn't terrible, in fact, it has been mostly positive, I can't help but burst into tears when talking about it.  Mostly because I'm a worrier and this gives me something to "google" and worry about.  However, even Dr. Google is pretty positive when no other "markers" are present on your sonogram.

Cody and I can't decide if we would like an amniocentesis or not.  We see both sides of the coin.  While the results wouldn't change anything for us,  it would be nice to know for sure what we were facing or to know that everything was okay.  Some of the genetic disorders that are linked to SUA are life threatening and it would be nice to know that ahead of time.  At this point, we are going to discuss the issue further with my OB this week and wait until our next sonogram to see if anything has changed in our doctor's mind.

It now comes time for faith, prayers and patience.  We know that our baby is the hands of the Great Physician and he wouldn't give us anything that we couldn't handle.  We can't wait to meet our baby girl and if it takes extra monitoring, worries, & prayers to get her here safely...bring it on...because we have a faithful God who has had our backs in pregnancy trials before.

Thanks for listening and if you get a chance, send a prayer up in our direction. We could use a few extra shout outs right now :o)

"Cause what if Your blessing come through raindrops?
What if Your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights is what it takes to know You're near?
What if trials in this life, Are your mercies in disquise?"