White spot on the liver - really worried...

[Taylor80]

I went for my 20 week scan yesterday, all seemed to be fine but right at the end the sonographer had to go and get her colleague to 'check something out'.

It turns out that they have seen a white spot which they think is in the baby's liver.

I've had some blood tests done (although i'm not sure what they're testing for) and i've got go back for another scan in 6 weeks time to see if it's changed (bigger, smaller, gone completely).

I'm now terrified - has anyone had this happen to them or know of anyone that this has happened to??

I called my mum for moral support last night and she said that paracetamol can affect the liver - i've only taken 2 since I've been pregnant (and that was in the last week due to banging head aches) - do you think it could be that??

I'm now questioning everything i've done over the past 20 weeks, please someone put my mind at rest!!!

Sorry I can't be of much help, just didn't like to leave your post hanging in the ether... it sounds really worrying, hopefully someone can come and give you a bit of reassurance soon.

FWIW I had a bit of paracetamol to get my temp down when ill, and nothing showed up on subsequent scans. I also have a friend who took the max dose of paracetamol on many occasions during her pregnancy (under mw advice, due to severe headache problems), and this also did not cause any white spots to show up on her scans (that baby is a cheeky 1yo now too).

Best of luck with this, 6 weeks sounds like a long time to wait. Did they not say what they thought it might be?

I don't have any words of advice, but have taken paracetemol a few times (literally just a handful) while pregnant this time and previously and have not had any problems.

Paracetemol is the painkiller recommended for pregnancy, so I don't think this would be the cause of it.

I would say this - if they're only telling you to come back in for a scan to see what's happening in 6 weeks, then it's hardly something serious. If it was serious, a). they'd be dealing with it right away, and b). they wouldn't be messing around with scans, they'd just be dealing with it.

Really - they take the least little thing very seriously in pregnancy, so this would tell me that whatever it is, is not in the very serious category.

Taylor80, I think you should call the hospital and make lots of questions about that, until you feel better.

I recently was told that my baby (35 weeks) had dilated kidneys and would have to be scanned and take antibiotics when he is born. I managed to talk to a pediatrician in the hospital who explained me what that meant and what these exams would be. And felt much better afterwards.

Basically, I think they won't give you information if you don't actively ask for it!

Taylor, firstly don't stress too much. The paracetamol you took will not have caused any harm at all,in fact it is one of the only safe painkillers to take in pregnancy, so well done you have done the right thing. NOthing you have done has caused this.

What the white spot (was it just one?) is, I cannot tell you as I am not a medical professional, but I am aware that some conditions can be detected in pregnancy.. but it's impossible to say what it is. Fatty liver for example sometimes presents as this.. many liver disorders are congenital, ie the baby is born with the condition, and many have no real effect on the baby's health. If you have no family history of any liver disease then it's unlikely to affect your child as it's incredibly rare. It could be something like a blood vessel forming.. could be the bile duct.. could be anything really and it could easily be gone at the next scan.

Just remember you have done nothing wrong at all and it's great news that the scan was normal other than this, so whatever it is you will have a gorgeous snuggly baby with you and hopefully if there is a problem at all it will resolve itself. sending hugs your way though as it's not nice to be told 'we don't know.. wait 6 weeks!' must be v stressful for you

By the way I imagine* your blood tests will have been full liver function tests as well. Quite what the point is I am not sure but it's procedural thing, to check for all hepatitis strains, and check your liver function (levels of bilirubin, levels of liver enzymes). Not that anything you could have would actually cause an anomaly like this for baby .. but they would have done it to rule it out. If you have questions, ring them and ask if your bloods came back normal.. and assuming it's a yes, try asking what they think the problem shown on the scan is. It's likely that they simply can't yet tell you which is pants for you waiting but it's hopefully going to be OK at next scan. Good luck

Thanks to everyone that's posted, I'm feeling a bit better now.

They seemed genuinely unsure as to what it was and as you say, i'm sure if it was serious they wouldn't leave it 6 weeks.

Fingers crossed!

Hey I came across you're post on mumsnet and can relate to it 110% I have just literally been told the same thing. I know you posted this a while back but I would really really appreciate it if you could give me an insight into what happened after and if baby was born all ok?

Appreciate it. God bless.

Carly.

Hi. I hope your baby is healthy and fine. We recently did the scanning and was told the same result. Can you please update me everything is okay?