Anatomy Scan

On Friday, June 15th, Daren and I went to UNC to have the 18 week anatomy scan. One of the main focuses of the scan was going to be Bean's heart.  The doctors wanted to know if Bean has the same heart issues as I do. Nothing seemed odd during the scan.  Bean was practicing yoga in the womb so the tech was unable to get a good shot of the heart.  The scan took about 40 minutes and the tech left to go show the pictures to the doctor. After the tech left the room, I made the comment on how tech must see some real highs with the expecting parents as well as some big lows. 

After about twenty minutes of waiting, three doctors came into the room. Once I heard the words, we found an abnormality with the scans, the rest of the appointment became a blur. I again got gooped up for the ultrasound wand. We were shown pictures of Bean's abdomen. Bean has what is called an omphalocele.

An omphalocele is a birth defect, which is an abnormality that occurs before birth as a fetus is forming in its mother’s uterus. Some of the abdominal organs protrude through an opening in the abdominal muscles in the area of the umbilical cord.

Next the doctors discussed the possibility of there being additional issues. An omphalocele can be an isolated birth defect. However, 50% of the cases also have a chromosome abnormality. The doctor started throwing out all different chromosome numbers which could be affected. 

Early in the pregnancy Daren and I agreed we would not do testing to find out if our baby had down syndrome. We knew a positive diagnosis wouldn't change the love we have for our child.  The doctors were telling us the amniocentesis was the method of testing for the chromosome abnormalities. They also mentioned there is a 1:200-500 of miscarrying after the amnio. Through my nonstop tears I shook my head that I didn't want the amnio.

The doctors let us know we would be well supported by the hospital staff at UNC as we went along this journey. We would have a case worker assigned to our case. An ultrasound every 4 weeks and we would be transferred from general OB to high risk sector of the OB department.  After meeting with the geneticist Daren and I agreed to doing the amnio. There was another method of testing which involved blood work, but results would take 2-3 times as long as the amnio. Additionally, if the blood work showed positive results an amnio would be ordered to confirm.

During the amnio I stared at the ceiling as the tears continued to flow. I don't know if Daren was watching me or watching the monitor as the needle was inserted to collect the amniotic fluid.  Daren was to be contacted first thing the following week with the results. 

We finally were able to leave the hospital at 1pm. So much had happened since we arrived at 10:30.  I wanted to go back to work in the hopes staying busy would keep my mind off the latest news. I know I was not productive in the office. Stupidly, I started to Google all of the details I could remember. Seeing those pictures didn't help the wait we had to endure.