Severe ventriculomegaly 40 weeks

[Lacksie]

My sister is due. She had a scan yesterday at 40 weeks. All scans have been fine until now. They suddenly found severe ventriculomegaly. Growth rate also shot up as did amount of amniotic fluid. They recommended doing a c section to get the baby out and do some testing/an MRI. Does anyone know what all this means? Dr Google is terrifying.

I can imagine how worried you both must be but please try not to panic. Growth rate shooting up when measured at 40 weeks is SO common, it is really hard to get an accurate measurement so far into pregnancy as baby is too big really to be measured by scan that way. The categorisation of “severe” is based on the mm measurement but the measurement alone isn’t the whole picture as it doesn’t tell the doctors why it has happened, and it doesn’t necessarily mean anything was missed on prior scans as it can develop very quickly. A C Section is the safest way given the whole overall picture to get baby here and then the MRI will help figure out what is going on. The severe ventriculomegaly is not a diagnosis, the MRI will help give that and based on just what you have said alone there is no way of saying what impact it will have on baby without knowing the cause, there is a huge range of outcomes right from babies that develop totally fine, to hydrocephalus, to other abnormalities. You will both know more once baby is here and an MRI is done so in the meantime just try not to worry, easier said than done I know. Good luck x

Thank you so much for your reply 🥹, it's really helpful. Very worried but I know it's so hard to tell what is going on until baby is out xx