Single umbilical artery worries

[Sweetheartyparty76]

Hi,
We lost our son at 15 weeks just over 2 years ago with a lethal skeletal dysplaisia. His 12 week scan showed a 6mm NT reading, underdeveloped chin and very short femurs. The subsequent 15 week scan at the FMU at the RVI showed a very disorganised growth plate and very small thorax so that his lungs could not develop. We decided to interrupt the pregnancy based on the scan results alone as we hadn't received the results of the CVS test at that time. An autopsy was performed and the diagnosis was acrondogenesis type 2 was diagnosed.
At the autopsy review meeting with the FMU consultant she went through in detail the results. Thankfully, the chance was recurrence was small (2%). She mentioned that the baby had only a 2 cord umbilical vessel and this is seen more often with babies with abnormalties.

Fast forward 2 years and we have undergone 2 rounds of IVF, the last one was successful. Initially, we were expecting fraternal twins but one didn't develop past 7 weeks. We have had two 12 week scans for the trisomy screening and at the FMU and both have showed no concerns. The NT was under 1.5mm. Our quad test results showed a 1 in 731 result for downs and 1 in 50000 for pataus/edwards. I am 39 years old.

We went for a 16 weeks scan yesterday at the FMU. The consultant was reeling off measurements to the midwife and he mentioned that the baby had 2 cord umbilical cord. I went immediately in high alert and was very alarmed by this. He said that it happens in 1% of pregnancies and although it is seen more with abnormalities that I shouldn't worry as the scans have shown no other marker. He told me not to google either as this would stress me out more. I did google mainly to find other womens experiences and on the whole they were positive. It may just mean extra monitoring, smaller babies and earlier inducement. Our baby is smaller than average although not below 5% percentile. This worries me too as although I am of average height, my partner is very tall.

Has anyone had experience of this?

I'm sorry you're going through this. It must be incredibly stressful after a tfmr. It sounds like you first baby was very, very sick. This is absolutely going to make you more anxious in this pregnancy.

However, I would say to listen to the sonographer, they are right, if something major is wrong then other markers would have been found in sure. You have good nt and quad results and no other soft markers. I know it must be really hard but it does sound like your baby is that 1%. Extra stress in an already stressful pregnancy.

I have no experience of this specifically but I do have experience of a tfmr and loss of babies fairly late on. I know just how hard it must be 💐

Hopefully someone with experience of this will be here soon

Hello :) I think you posted his on another area as well?
We had single umbilical artery with my first pregnancy - he is now a strapping (almost) 3 year old, on the 98th centile for height and weight and it was totally fine
My consultant said they often don't even check for it nowadays or mark it as a concern unless there are other markers (which may or may not be linked to the SUA)
We had extra monitoring - but that was mainly for the gestational diabetes, and I was under consultant care for that and other non-related things
Had a c section as he was breech, but there was only ever mention of inductions for the GD, not the artery.

Hope that helps
xxx

I had this with Dd. It was picked up at a detailed scan after a bleed. The only extra thing they did was give her a kidney and bladder scan after she was born to check for abnormalities there and everything was fine.
She will be 13 in October. She was also small and weighed 6lb 11 at birth. But my next one was small too. She's not 5'8" and head an shoulders above her friends.
I totally understand why this is a worry for you with what happened before but listen to the Dr he wasn't concerned and he will be looking for problems. Big hugs and congratulation .

Thank you for taking the time to reply, it helps so much to hear happy outcomes. I'm feeling a bit better about the situation now. This baby is different to my first one and I've decided if the consultant isn't concerned then I won't be either.
I've posted on pregnancy too Carey, it was a quiet weekend and I needed some reassurance fast x

I had this with my son - he is a twin too and apparently it is more common with twins so that might be the reason rather than anything more sinister. I had a more detailed scan (including heart chambers) as I didn't want any invasive testing and when no other markers came back, I was told that I could relax (easier said than done I know!) as although it is seen with other abnormalities it would be really, really rare for that to be the case without any other markers or abnormal blood tests. My consultatnt did not think it was necessary to do anything else.

All that to say - he was absolutely fine, slightly on the small side and they were keen for me to give birth slightly early as they said it could possibly lead to slowed growth at the end of the pregnancy.

If you are looking for reassurance, may I suggest you call ARC? www.arc-uk.org/ They provide impartial advice about interpreting risks and scans and are absolutely brilliant imo!

I had SUA with DD1.

She was born prem after my waters went at 34 weeks but not thought to be related to the SUA. No abnormalities (she had full genetic testing in fact and it was all clear). She was born small of course but average size for 34 weeks.

Like a pp we were told many places don't even look for or report SUA unless there are other markers.

Best of luck.