Needing to ease the mind and heart......?

Question

I am 21 weks pregnant and at our last ultrasound we were told that our baby has a two vessel umbilial cord instead of the normal 3 vessel. I understand that this is not normal, athough I've read that many babies have been born just fine with the 2 vessel. What I would like to know is if anyone has experienced this and what kind of abnormalities can I expect, just to get an insight in case something could be wrong. I want to be prepared as possible, but I haven't been able to find out much info. on this. I wasn't able to talk to my Dr. about this because he had already looked over the ultrasound from technician, scheduled me an appointment to have a level 2 ultraound done, then called me in a hurry to let me know what was up. He was leaving on vacation that day. I'm praying everyday that this baby wil be alright. I lost one baby to a miscarriage and couldn't even imagine if something was to go wrong with this one. Any anyone has any info, it would be so appreciated

I'm scheduled for the level 2 ultrasound on Tuesday. Waiting the whole weekend to see if eveythingi s going to be all right is stressing me to the limit. Thanks again to anyone who answers this question!!!

Answer 1

A 2 vessel cord is a soft sign of certain defects but generally the baby is just fine and has no defects.

More:
http://search.marchofdimes.com/cgi-bin/MsmGo.exe?grab_id=0&page_id=2897&query=umbilical%20chord%20single&hiword=CHORDS%20SINGLED%20SINGLES%20SINGLEY%20SINGLING%20chord%20single%20umbilical%20

"The good news about a single umbilical artery is that the babies usually do very well during pregnancy. The fetal support system (placenta and umbilical cord) is designed to provide plenty of oxygen for the baby through the significant stresses of labor and birth, which is much more than the stresses of a normal pregnancy.

However, the stresses of labor and birth are significantly greater, which is why babies are monitored during labor to assess their continuing well-being. In particular, the stresses during pushing can be significant. It is possible that these stresses may be too much for the baby, which could cause fetal distress and require a cesarean section for a safe birth of the baby. This does make the postpartum recovery significantly more difficult, and it is harder for a new mom to mother her new baby as well as she would like when she is also recovering from major surgery. "
[more please read there are suggestions]
http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/SUA.html

Answer 2

I think that sort of thing should be classed as a risk of _ultrasounds_.

Does it make you feel any better to think that not all that many years ago, nobody would've had any idea, and the baby wouldn't have been terribly worse off for nobody knowing?

There are some statistics on the prevalence of it (and useful info about detecting same) here:

http://www.greenjournal.org/cgi/content/full/98/5/837

Note, especially,

"There were seven false-positive diagnoses of a two-vessel umbilical cord between 15.9 and 25.1 weeks’ gestation..."

It's not "normal," but it also doesn't look to be marvellously unique. The odds that you know somebody born with ditto are pretty high.

Answer 3

I know it is so nerve wrecking to hear that kind of news. My best friend was diagnosed with the exact same thing. They just monitored her baby a lot more closely throughout the pregnancy. She had a perfectly healthy girl and she carried full term. She was nervous about any defects but there wasn't any. She just was monitored the whole time. I am sure your baby will be fine. My friend wished in one way the dr. didn't tell her cuz she worried the whole time and the dr. couldn't tell her much and had no control and then the baby turned out fine. Good luck and congrats!!

Answer 4

Check out the attached link - it's something I found on the issue, but keep in mind just a question and answer, so not sure how "right" the answer is, but could give you something to go on. Your best bet is to call your doc or even the nurse and ask for more information. Good luck and my thoughts and prayers are with you.