Fetal hydronephrosis

[Robyn07]

Hi I’m looking for some advice I’m 24 weeks pregnant and my baby has swelling of the kidneys has anyone experienced this

My best friend's baby had bilateral hydronephrosis. She joined various support groups which were very useful.

What has the hospital said?

How are you feeling?

I only ever think of it when I see posts like this… which I hope indicates how little impact it’s had on our lives - and he’s 10!

I honestly can’t remember how many weeks i was - I had a lot of scans due to various complications.

The consultant said not to worry because most cases sorted themselves out before birth…

… and it’s never been mentioned since and he’s as nuts as any other 10 year old.

Try not to worry. X

My little one has this, had it throughout pregnancy and still has it now. Impact has been minimal other than a nasty uti when he was shortly off the antibiotics. He’s back on them now and all is fine, we’ve had some more tests so will be going to see a specialist but usually it resolved itself by the time children are born.

Dd has it in her right kidney they didn't find it in utero they found it when she was 18 months old after an awful UTI they left it and it self corrected took years of monitoring and they would have operated had it got worse however hers was not as bad as expected and she is a healthy 21 year old

They were detected at 20 week scan 10-9mm both kidneys had my 24 week scan today and they are 13-15mm both kidneys have got worse slightly worrying

@Spinxsta the hospital have basically just said there’s not much they can do at the minute just wait and see how it goes I have another app in 4 weeks with consultant to see how it is and maybe go see a kidney specialist in Glasgow.

@MamaTutu2 I’m glad everything is ok now with baby. was it severe during pregnancy or just mild swelling ? my baby’s currently at 15mm and 13.5mm for both kidneys

@RunningInTheWind thank you so much I’m glad everything went ok I’m trying to stay positive but it’s hard.

My son had it on one side due to duplex kidney. He's had one bad UTI at 4 months old but nothing since. He's under consultant review but he's a normal happy healthy toddler.
Have they detected anything which could be causing the swelling?
They also thought my son had something called a ureterocele but that was only ever mentioned at one scan so I think that may have gone away on its own.

The good thing is that it has been detected now so your baby can be protected from kidney infections if it’s necessary. It wasn’t picked up on my scans and ds became sceptic at 3 months old from an undiagnosed UTI. After 3 weeks on intravenous antibiotics he made a good recovery. He grew out of the whole issue by age 8.

@LazyYogi they think it might be a partial blockage on the tubes from kidney to bladder

@Robyn07 hey we’re in a similar situation with our second baby. Wondering how you got on in the end? Fingers crossed everything worked out.

My anxiety is a nightmare!

My dd had this in utero. By the time I gave birth it had resolved. I was extremely anxious throughout my pregnancy but luckily all was well.

hi looking back on these I wished I didn’t worry as much at the time as it made my life hell and I hardly got to enjoy the pregnancy at all but there’s always going to be that worry! my boy had to be born at a hospital with specialists and I was induced at 39 weeks they took bloods done an ultrasound and had a catheter all when he was only a few hours old but they did so just to make sure the kidneys were ok and the results were better than expected he’s now 16 months and he’s had multiple ultrasounds and a DMSA scan (xray) to asses how well the kidneys are functioning I’m awaiting the results on that at the moment but so far his kidneys are still swollen they haven’t got worse nor better we will know more when the surgeon phones with his X-ray results. Hope this helped If you have any questions at all just ask your baby will be ok 💗

Sorry forgot to add he was also prescribed trimethoprim to prevent UTIs as these can put a strain on the kidneys but he hasn’t had a UTI since he’s been born which is a good sign

@rje93

You are totally right….your mind just makes up what is uncertain and google is the devil! I’m glad your little boy is doing ok despite some interventions, but all sound manageable. We’ve had a rescan and it’s primarily affecting one kidney and doesn’t appear for the moment to be getting worse, and the feral medicine team at Edinburgh RI seem relaxed. Need to try and trust. Thank you so much for responding! ❤️

Thank you for responding, always good to understand outcomes for babies. Hope you’re both doing well!

@rje93 im glad it’s looking positive for your baby fingers crossed it stays like this it’s totally manageable in most cases i was just so stressed as when I went to my 20 week app the consultant told me basically she couldn’t say for certain if my baby would survive birth as both kidneys were affected I was seen and had to deliver at Glasgow QE hospital

Good to read all your updates.

I'm not sure if my experience is relevant depending on the cause of swelling in each case. But I'll add it as I'm sure someone will come across this looking for reassurance some time.

So my boy had duplex kidney diagnosed at the 20 week scan. Also placed on trimethoprim antibiotic prophylaxis. He has had 2 UTIs which tbh the consultants are happily surprised by, they expected more!

His dmsa scan showed that his duplex was only doing 10% of the work while the other did the rest. His overall kidney function appears to be fine. He is now on the waiting list to have the duplex kidney removed completely so he will be left with one functioning kidney. This would resolve the urinary reflux and he won't have to be on antibiotics anymore.

So that's where we are at. He is a wonderful and fully functioning wee boy.