Cystic Hygroma??

[philippasmout]

Hi everyone,
I am new to this site but I needed some help and advice...
On Tuesday I went for my first scan and they dated me at 10+2 days into my pregnancy.
There was a heartbeat and baby was wriggling around so I thought great everything is fine!
Then the sonographer told me she was just taking some measurements and would take me into the next room, that can't be good...
Turns out my baby has something called cystic hygroma, fluid measuring 3mm around it's head, neck and extending around it's body.
Obviously I am upset and confused as I have never heard of this. I have another appointment on Wednesday at Birmingham's fetal medicene centre for a CVS.
Please could anyone give me any advice if you have been through this, what happens throughout pregnancy and what the outcome was.
I am nervous that I am going to have to decide whether or not to keep my baby and the thought makes me feel sick please help xxx

Hi, sending you (((((hug))))) as know how you are feeling. My 20 week scan showed number of abnormalities .Have you seen a fetal medicine consultant at all since your scan? They will be able to answer any questions you have. Also my clinic has very good specialist midwives I can ring to ask questions or seek reassurance. It may be worth you ringing them. Cystic hygroma was one of the things they found at my 20 week scan. I was a bit confused about how these differ from increased nuchal fold and consultant I think said it was not always clear. There is something on nhs website that says increased nuchal fold at 20 weeks occurs in 1% of babies and majority of baby are born having no problems.I think Manitz put something on my post about it. I also read after googling that they can resolve themselves as well. I wouldn't recommend Dr Google though as it is best to speak to professionals. Our little girl was hiding her neck at 12 week scan so they couldn't measure nuchal fold and we had decided against having blood test. I don't know if this has helped but someone else may be able to offer you some more info. Didn't want your post to go unanswered as I fully understand what you are going through.

Thank you!! I have an appointment on Wednesday to see someone at the fetal medicine centre so hopefully we will get some answers. I have read that so many women's experiences are different so I guess we will just have to see what our results say.
Thank you for your help, I appreciate it xx

Hi philippa it's a difficult experience isn't it. I'm in a similar position to you in that my first scan showed fluid all around the back of the head and neck and extending all the way around the back of the body to the feet. No-one mentioned 'cystic hygroma' to me though. I think this is because the fluid around the neck in particular, which is the Nuchal translucency, measured above 3.5mm. So in my case I think they've taken that as the most significant indicator that there might be a problem, although the extra fluid as well is not a good sign in my particular case.
As realnappiesmum says, it can be a bit unclear what the difference is between an increased Nuchal translucency/fold and all this other extra fluid. Unfortunately the science regarding what you see on the scan is not 100% so it can all be a bit confusing.
I hope that you get some useful information tomorrow. They may offer you accurate tests to check for particular problems. Keep in mind that although you've had some soft indicators from the scan, I'm told this does not mean that there is definitely a problem and that extra fluid can be transient. I had a CVS where they take a sample of the placenta and test all the baby's chromosomes. In my case we've had good results so far.
Good luck tomorrow. Try to write down your questions in advance because it can be difficult to keep everything in mind when the information starts coming at you. Sending you hugs.