2 vessel cord... ahhh

[kawazuki]

ok so just got out from seeing my doc after my scan on friday.

i apparently have a 2 vessel umbilical cord.

dr said nothing to worry about as both kidneys were visable and appeared to be working.


what should i look out for?
what are the compliocations of this?
what can go wrong?

anyone who has had this please help.

thank you in advance.

a bit worried now but trust my dr that it will be ok.

bubs is measuring to the day and everything else was normal

[butterfly_warrior]

Sam had a two-vessel cord... My first instruction is simply DO NOT GOOGLE!

It can indicate chromosomal defects, most of which would have been ruled out with the NT scan. It can also indicate problems with the heart or kidneys, which are generally ruled out at the scan where the two-vessel cord is discovered.

The other things it can lead to - early arrival, low birthweight... you'll probably find that you get a few extra scans as things progress just to check that the baby is growing ok (Sam turned into a big, boofy baby that they started to worry about being too big for me to deliver). We did, however, get the early arrival thing - but nobody knows for sure whether Sam came early because of his two-vessel cord, because of my severe anemia or because the cord was wrapped around his neck and was beginning to cause distress for him. We did have to have a follow up ultrasound after birth to double check the kidneys and renal system, but it's just a precaution and they rarely find anything with the follow up scans.

I've heard of many babies with two-vessel cords arriving at full-term or post-dates so prematurity is not a given... and those that have come early haven't been excessively early and have had no problems as a result of their early arrival.

BW

[kawazuki]

thanks for that

not worried about bubba coming early as im due christmass day.

thats pretty much what my dr said, all appeared ok in kidneys from the scan and dtaes and measurments are good so thats all good.

[bridee]

My DD2 also had this but also had low Papp-a which can cause small babies and prematurity. DD was born at 37wks because scans said she had stopped growing. Hard to know whether it was the cord or the low papp-a that caused it and it is even debateable whether the scan was accurate as she was bigger (thankfully) than the scan predicted) - she was 2.4kg.

As already mentioned you will have a follow up renal/kidney scan but all should be ok.

[Rommy'sMummy]

With DS we had a two vessel cord and it did contribute to him being small, but we also had problems with his heart and the placenta shutting down and reversal of flow along the umbilical cord.

The best thing we did with this preg was to get on Asprin straight away. I couldn't with DS as I was already experiencing threatened pre-term labor but now I am on 100mg of Asprin a day and the flow along this baby's cord is great!

I would ask your Dr about getting on Asprin to offset any flow issues that you might have with just two vessels.

Hope that made sense - been nesting all day and i am a bit fuzzy now!

[kawazuki]

thanx for the info RM.

i think my dr is going to wait till next scan to see how its all going, will ask him at next visit in 3 weeks and see what he says.