Lemon shaped head, dilated ventricles, cerebellum 20 week scan

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rry for the long title, I just thought in case this thread ends up being helpful for other people down the line it would be easier to have a ronseal title!

I had my 20 week scan yesterday. We've been referred to the fetal medicine unit for further scans on Tuesday.

Everything looked good with baby, including the spine. But the head was lemon shaped, and the ventricles were slightly dilated (measurements hovering around 10). The sonographer was also unable to visualise the cerebellum.

I've obviously done lots of googling but can't find anything with this combination of abnormalities. Has anyone any experience? I can see that there may be links to spina bifida but the fact the spine looked good and the cerebellum couldn't be visualised has me confused and of course extra worried.

I've been very teary for the past 24 hours and am trying to pull myself together for the sake of the child I already have but I'm so scared about what next week might bring so wanted to reach out for any advice/experiences just so I can get myself mentally prepared (for good or bad).

my son had brain abnormalities shown at 20 week scan. Because my husband was on deaths door the doctor didn’t have the heart to tell me. 🙄 my husband finally pulled through so by the 32 weeks scan we were told about abnormalities and seen fetal medicine. They said he’d be stillborn and was born the next day by c section. He did have parts of his brain missing and other abnormalities but he’s turning 12 and apart from having autism and a mild / moderate learning disability he’s completely fine.

Oh my god! That's so shocking! I'm so sorry you were treated that way. But glad there was a happy ending for all of you x

Thought I'd update this thread every now and then in case it's useful to anyone in the future.

Our baby has spina bifida myeloschisis at L5/S1. It's a small lesion and we are likely to have antenatal surgery to repair the opening and hopefully reduce any further nerve damage.

Our baby can be seen moving their legs on ultrasound and there's no sign of talipes. Ventricles are only slightly enlarged. The specialist fetal medicine team had no problem visualising the cerebellum, which does have a chiari II malformation but hopefully this will correct with surgery. Everything else looks good including an in depth brain scan which didn't show any additional issues. So we're confident our baby, while having some decreased function in the lower body, will have far more in common with their siblings than differences.

The past month has been a real journey but the more we learn about spina bifida the less scary it becomes. It just means we have forewarning of what the challenges for this child might be rather than being in blissful ignorance like we are for our other children!

On to surgery next, I will update again as things move on.