Referred to Fetal Medicine and worried

[Hannahusky]

Hey everyone

I really am just looking for similar experiences and advice. I've had a bit of an experience of it all with this pregnancy.

I'm 29 weeks. Early enough we found out his kidneys are enlarged. They still are. He also has a slight concern with his heart which is a small VSD and the right ventricle is slightly enlarged. The cardiologist is keeping an eye.

Well today I have spoken to a consultant who has told me that with these two things she wants me to speak to fetal medicine and I will be offered amnio as there's a chance of an underlying genetic condition e.g. Downs Syndrome. I'm in Northern Ireland so we don't get any of the early tests.

I'm terrified and worried but at the same time I know the kidneys are working as the fluid is normal as is the bladder. The blood flow is good in the heart. He's a little bit small but all in proportion.

Has anyone had this and it all turned out to be fine? Or can anyone give any advice or share any similar experiences?

We were referred to fetal medicine in this pregnancy, however it was a few weeks wait so we paid to see the dr privately. I would say go to the appointment, I found it hugely reassuring as he was able to talk through various scenarios with us and did an in depth scan etc. Ultimately we won't know for sure til birth but so far all looking good. We opted not to go for testing for various reasons but that might've been different had anything shown up on the scans. Who have you been referred to?

Great! So they did another scan as well? I'm so glad to hear things are looking good.

It's going to be the fetal medicine specialist at the Royal in Belfast. I don't know who that is to be honest. But all we can do is take as much information as possible and go from there.

I am very much considering a private appointment too, mainly because I want my husband to be able to come in too. That way we can get a bit more info and go from there.

Hope all continues to go well for you.

We are booked in the Ulster and went to see the consultant privately in Hillsborough. The scanner he has out there is fantastic - but we had a NHS follow up with him too so you'll definitely get a detailed scan and the benefit of their experience. They will have seen it all so will be able to tell you what you may be facing.

Hopefully it is just a formality and all goes well, its a scary place to be so fingers crossed all goes well x

Thank you so much for your advice and reassuring words. So glad to hear things are going well for you and I hope they continue to do so.

My husband and I have spoken and we have sort of come to terms with if our son has Downs then so be it. We will work hard in his early years to give him the best quality of life. What terrifies me more is a more severe condition like something incompatible with life, but I've seen him squirming about at scans and i am telling myself a more serious condition would have been spotted by now especially as I've had two private fetal wellbeing scans at 17 and 21 weeks.