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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

venticulomegaly

13 replies

beezmum · 06/01/2008 12:58

Hi,
I'm new to mumsnet and am posting as I am pregnant and have just had my second scan at 22 weeks and the baby has mild vetriculomegaly. We lost our last at 16 weeks as it had big chromosomal abnormalities but were told that we are at no increased risk.
Has anyne had a similar experience? I was Ok but am starting tolose the plot!

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Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
babycarrier · 06/01/2008 14:50

welcome to mumsnet but sorry cant help you with your problem.

PussinWellies · 06/01/2008 22:06

Not sure whether to post, but I didn't want you to be ignored. I THINK we had this with our first child, though no one ever gave it that name -- we were told he had unusually large ventricles within the brain. Is that what the term means?

I was asked to come back for further scans in a month, but got it brought forward as I have a family history of hydrocephalus. We got a cursory second look (at which a different sonographer said, 'Oh, looks ok-ish to me', or words to that effect).

Our son is mostly fine, but does have Asperger Syndrome, which is why I hesitated to post, even though I have not heard of a link between the two things. He's very able, just 'odd'!

Hope this helps, as I do feel for you.

Monsoonrain · 06/01/2008 23:37

I had to have 4 scans with my 2nd baby for growth reasons. My 1st baby (DD) was 2 weeks early due to me having symptoms of pre eclampsia, I was induced and she was 5lb 10 - not THAT small but for my 2nd baby they wanted to scan me throughout to check the growth.

At my last scan at 34 weeks I was scanned FOUR times (in 4 different rooms!) and eventually scanned by consultant who informed me that baby had ventriculomegaly. She explained it meant the babies brain was swollen, in my case just on the right side, it was bigger than the left by 3cm.

As you can imagine this caused some panic and I was sent the next day to a consultant at another hospital who were more specialised (again causing panic!).

To cut a long story short, we had more scans over the next 6 weeks (it was a LONG 6 weeks) before our baby arrived to see if the swelling had increased or changed in any way.

Our gorgeous son arrived safe and well last April. He gave us no cause for concern and is now a happy, healthy and very clever 8 month old. We came to the conclusion that the "swelling" is a bit of genius in his brain cos he's so clever and advanced (he has 2 teeth already

Have you been booked in for more scans? Have they explained that the swelling can fluctuate, ie increase or decrease from one day to another?? Our boy had a head scan when he was 6 weeks old and there was "nothing" to be seen (still not sure if that meant both sides were now the same or if swelling on one side was still there but no bigger, etc).

It was a shock for us with only 6 weeks to go, im not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but in hindsight I was glad because 6 weeks was long enough to worry, so I really feel for you.

I was also annoyed that it hadnt been picked up at earlier scans as I had had more than usual. We have a check up soon as the hospital want to keep an eye on his progress but we really have no concerns.

If you are worried about anything, speak to your midwife and ask them to do some more scans so they can monitor if the swelling changes in any way.

We got through it by having faith in our baby and, as he was coming to us in 6 weeks, either way it didnt matter to us, it is a blessing that he was born safe and well and we appreciate it every day.

bigcar · 07/01/2008 10:50

Hi beezmum. I to was unsure of whether to post or not, my intention is to try to reassure. Our dd3 was diagnosed with this after the 20 week scan along with a couple of other anomolies. My understanding is that the more anomolies that are found, the greater the chance of the baby having chromosomal problems and that one anomoly is not necessarily a great cause for concern. Having said that I have no medical training, that was just what we were told.

I had regular scans, I think about every 2 weeks for a while, but as dd3 grew the ventricles stayed the same size, so eventually fell within normal limits and stopped being a cause for concern. It was a very tough time for us, we found the midwives a good source of support.

Have you been in touch with Antenatal Results and Choices, they may be able to help. I can't do links but their website is www.arc-uk.org

beezmum · 07/01/2008 12:54

Thanks so much everyone. I am going to be having regular scans - yes it is enlarged ventricles and the measurement is currently not too bad and there are no other markers. Because of the last pregnancy we were very wobbly anyway but I know that actually the statistics are on our side and its good to hear some positive reports that bear that out as that will help us get through all the uncertainty.
Thanks for taking the time to write your stories!!

OP posts:
emkana · 07/01/2008 12:57

My ds was found to have mild ventriculomegaly at the 20 week scan, initially there were no other problems found, but in the course of the pregnancy it turned out that he has a type of dwarfism.

Nevertheless he is doing very well and is, even though I say so myself, rather gorgeous. See profile pics!

Good luck to you and your baby.

bigcar · 07/01/2008 13:10

emkana, he is rather lovely, such beautiful eyes!

beezmum · 07/01/2008 15:59

Emkana your ds is indeed gorgeous! The unknown is the worst bit I guess.

OP posts:
beezmum · 10/01/2008 18:04

Good news!!! (pretty much)
The baby was scanned yesterday and the ventricles had gone down dramatically-well within normal. The consultant thought this ruled out most reasons for concern and we won't even have to keep going back for scans.
However, she did say that just having had a bad measurement (she confirmed the previous one)massively increased the risk of chromosomal abnormalities. Dh seemed to think she was multiplying by a factor of four or five. Because of the excellent nuchal and nasal bone presence at 13 weeks this still puts us at only 1:400 risk. I keep having to tell myself that there are not different types of 1:400 - that this figure was arrived at by slashing something nearer 1:3000 (or even better if she calculated the nasal bone)is neither here nor there! Dh, the mathematician, doesn't have the the same emotional responses to statistics!
In the new scan the baby was totally normal - not a single thing was found. Some measuremetns had definitely changed from five days ago. Apparently the baby had put on a whole inch round its abdomen and one measurement had gone down! We didn't want to risk an amnio so thats it till 32 weeks as the placenta is low.
I think I should have peace of mind and wish she didn't think an amnio was necessary but then I don't think I could risk it.

OP posts:
bundle · 10/01/2008 18:06

lovely news

Monsoonrain · 10/01/2008 21:54

Emkana, your son is GORGEOUS, even with a dribbly chin!!!!! His eyes are stunning

Awwww brilliant news Beezmum

Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy, try to enjoy it and very soon you will be holding a beautiful baby in your arms and your worries will be left behind!!

Im sorry about your last pregnancy, I meant to put that in my last post.

Let us know how you are getting on x

bigcar · 11/01/2008 13:51

Thats great news! Hope everything goes well!

emkana · 11/01/2008 23:40

Really pleased for you, all the best for the rest of your pregnancy

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