Friends of mine had their pregnancy monitored by a lot of scans due to slow growth & they were getting told the head was too big as well. When bub arrived he was small but perfectly normal & all was in proportion.
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Friends of mine had their pregnancy monitored by a lot of scans due to slow growth & they were getting told the head was too big as well. When bub arrived he was small but perfectly normal & all was in proportion.
Stellasmum - Holly is doing exceptional well - she is certainly trying to catch up growth wise. She is putting on about 300gms per week (which is alot, they expect between 20-40gm a day). She is actually at this point the perfect baby just eats and sleeps. I have to wake her for feeds during the day and at night she is going from 4-6 hrs between feeds so I'm really only waking once in the night to feed her.
Good luck with your scan tomorrow I will be looking out to hear how it goes.
I had the scan this afternoon (34 weeks) and am very happy with the results! The head is still measuring larger than the rest of the body, but the abdomen and legs have grown really well. The doctor is happy with her progress and estimates her weight to be 2.25 kg which is average so that sounds good to me! :dance:
The blood flow in the cord is good too so hopefully everything goes smoothly from here on.:pray:
So glad to hear Holly is doing so well. She sounds like she is putting on good weight which is great. How are you feeling after the caesar?
Great to hear your scan went well. The weight estimate is great sounds like the papp-a isn't going to play a part in this pregnancy which is fantastic.
I'm fine from the c-sect I'm very lucky to recover very well from them. I was happy to drive from 3wks (actually a couple days before 3wks). I was up and going to DD activities within 2 weeks much to most peoples amazement but I was feeling fine and Holly is such an easy baby she will just sleep wherever I put her.
Are you having a c-sect or going the natural?
Hmm I'm still undecided. The baby is head down now so I cant use that as an excuse! I will have to think long and hard about it in the next few weeks. Everyone is telling me to go natural. I'm just trying to guage how long the recovery is after a caesar.
Just wanted to say thanks to all who've posted on this subject, especially Bridee and Stella's mum. I also had low papp-a results (very low actually - 1.1 MoM) so it's been really reassuring to follow your progress for the past couple of months. There is so much doom and gloom on the internet about this subject but seeing you both do so well has kept my hopes up. I am in the UK where there seems to generally be a lot less knowledge of papp-a. In fact I went to a 'specialist obstetrician' a couple of weeks ago who had never heard of it!
Had my 20 week scan yesterday and my little girl is looking fine so far. I was half expecting for them to find a single umbilical artery like they did with you two but looks like that's one problem I've avoided!
Stella's Mum - have you had the baby yet? If so hope all went well. And Bridee - hope Holly is feeding well and growing strong. Fingers crossed I'll get as many weeks along as you both did.
Hi, just an update from me.
Im 37 weeks 3 days now! Had a scan yesterday to check on growth. The head is no longer that much larger than the rest of the body, in fact the legs are now in the 50th centile! Abdominal circumference is still hovering at about the 20th and head just below the 50th. The doctor is happy with the growth and we have decided to have a caesar on the 12th, providing she doesn't show up in the meantime! He estimated her weight to be about 2.85kg so hopefully she'll be around 3kg in 11 days time! Really cant wait to meet her now! Cord flow is still unrestricted so that is good news.
Bridee, hope holly is doing well, keep me updated.
Emma
Emma - great to hear you have made it this far and everything is going along perfectly. Holly is doing fabulous she has now put on 2kg in her first 8wks which is really good weight gain. Saw her paed last week and he was happy with the weight gain, he picked up a heart murmur but thinks it is innocent but will check it again in 6mths.
Good luck for the 12th.
Hi Bridee,
just wanted to ask a question - after your caesar did they give you blood thinning meds? i know most people wear the compression stockings after the surgery, but my doctor said he would be giving me the blood thinning drugs for 5 days also. I was just wanting an opinion on its safety in breastfeeding.
Thanks!
Hi Bridee and everyone else,
Just letting you know we had our baby girl last Wednesday by c-section. Her name is Holly Bree (sorry Bridee - great minds think alike!) and she is gorgeous. She was 2.7kg so a little smaller than we thought but she is going well. Breastfeeding didn't work out so she is on formula and is taking that well. Loving every moment with her. Like you Bridee, holly sleeps alot and we sometimes have to wake her for feeds, other times she wakes after 3-4 hours.
Emma
Congratulations Emma - love the name, hahaha! Enjoy this very special time. Sorry breastfeeding didn't workout for you but it really doesn't matter, maybe next time.
Very pleased everything worked out for you I know how worrying the pregnancy was at times.
Hi Emma and Bridee and everyone else,
Just read this whole thread as I found it so interesting to read about your pregnancies and recent new babies. I have not experienced these issues in pregnancy myself but thouraghly enjoyed stumbling across this thread as it was a stimulating read. You must both pop in and update how your babies are going in say 6-12mths time, please?!
All the best.
I have been reading through your posts and have some hope...I just received my results last night. I don't know my exact #, but the doctor said I was in the 1% and not too clear about what it means- he just said we'll monitor you with more ultrasounds and this could indicate low birt weight, but he was not too clear. He also said not to worry, but how can you not when you have lower #s than 99% of the population. Obviously something is not right! After reading your stories I have more information and I thank you! I have to hope for the best. My 1st son was born with a cancerous tumor so I thought I had paid my dues- I guess this is test #2!
All the best Jackie. Holly is on the small side but is otherwise in good health :pray:. I really hope everything works out well for you and your family. Please feel free to ask any questions.:pray:
I have been reading this thread word for word and reading and sharing with hubbie thank you for all the updates, it gives us some hope.
I am 12 weeks pregnant had my nt scan last week was put back 1 week here are my measurements
nt thickness 1.1mm
hcg 1.590 mom
papp-a 0.282 mom
1 in 140 chance trisomy 21
We decided not to have any extra tests as any risk is to high for us, so we are going into this blind and in faith:pray:
is anyone going through this now?
i will be getting a closer scan for the 18 week scan but im so scared and nervous and have not told family as i dont know what this could mean. What did you say to family did you tell them how did you tell them? My family are all VERY far away and we dont see them so we dont want them to worry too.
Hi Squidipa,
Your results sound simalar to mine. Please be positive although I know this is hard. There seem to be several people who had low PAPP-A and their children did not have Trisomy 21. I did tell my family as I am very close to them and had to get it off my chest, although I feel it did worry them.
All the best for your pregnancy, please feel free to ask any questions.
Emma
i emma you might just regret saying that lol:
does a low papp-a mean u could miscarry or deliver to early in other words mean loose ya baby?
How is your daughter now was there any long term effects of having a low papp-a? Has this changed your mind in having another baby? if so how and why if ya dont mind me asking.
SQuidipa - generally the problems with low papp-a don't commence until after 20wks and generally after that from about 24wks. Pre-term labour is one of the risk factors but most of the risk is with the baby being small and/or stopping growing and therefore the baby has to be delivered. This is what happened with my DD at 36wks they believed she hadn't grown in 2 weeks so was delivered at 37wks.
Like Emma said feel free to ask any questions.
Thank you heaps,:
with a risk of pre term labor was anyone or could you even be put on bed rest? if so what stage of pregnancy is that bed rest at home?
i should list my previous pregnancy problems hey and current
im anemic
negative blood group
varigous veins on uterus
i have had a ventro suspension and prostierior repair (uterus lifted)
and i get spd i pregnancy
1 vb
3 c sections
i have 4 children and are 29 years old.
Hi,
Like Bridee said, there is a risk of pre-term labour but that didn't present itself for me, thank goodness. Same for me as Bridee, our baby was quite small, 2.7kg so, fingers crossed, that seems to be the only thing that low PAPP-A has affected.:pray:. She loves her food now though and has put on 200grams in 2 weeks.
However, it is a waiting game, they cannot tell how growth is going until later in the pregnancy. Dr Kenneth Trofatter has some articles on the net (google them if you like) about low PAPP-A and the effects it can have on your pregnancy.
As for whether I will have another baby, I would say definately yes, in all hope, the low PAPP-A hasn't meant anything for our baby. The genetic counsellor i saw said that people who had a lot of eggs retreived on IVF (which was us) commonly had low PAPP-A scores. So we will try to fall pregnant naturally next time, hopefully we can avoid that.
All the best, will update you if I can find something more.
Emma
Hello guys
Just wanted to say that I had a low PAPP-A when preg with baby #2, I was 33 at the time, I had a risk of 1 in 270 I think it was.. I had a CVS which showed no chromosomal abnormalities... I went on to deliver a perfect baby at 38 and a half weeks, she was 3.3kg and I had a fabulous, normal pregnancy.
Now I'm 33 weeks with baby number 3 and this time at my nuchal I had a one in 5000 ratio, much better.
Best of luck to you all - it's scary but the outcome will most likely be fine. x x x
It has been great to read this thread and see the positive results!
I'm in a similar situation. Papp-a was around 0.15 MoM and we have since found out that we are also dealing with a single umbilical artery.
I'm just wondering if anyone has had issues with blood flow to the placenta? An ultrasound showed notching, but an OB said that it's probably normal at 15 weeks.
I met with a genetic counselor last week and she assured me that anything they do is a precaution and I should not worry. She said that a low Papp-a could be a flag but in her 19 years she had never seen any real correlation between the low score and major problems. It made me feel a little bit better. I have to go on Tuesday for 16 week blood work which adds to the nuchal for even more accuracy. It is so scary this time. I am so apprehensive to tell people that I'm even pregnant. I go back to work on Tuesday (I'm a teacher) and I don't even want to tell anyone there just in case. It's such a shame that such a happy thing should be so clouded!
Squidipa: A low PAPP-A alerts to placental function which when compromised affects the baby's growth. I have seen this frequently with low PAPP-A - however conversely I have seen babies with no growth issues with a maternal low Papp-A.
It is a waiting game and as another poster accurately said - the problems don't generally present themselves until after 20 weeks.
You do need monitoring and you do need it with a specialist. I would highly recommend you get some assessment at a fetal medicine unit. Knowledge is empowerment! :hug:
Holly,
This is so unusual! Bridee and I both had single umbilical artery's with our babies, and guess what we called them? Holly!! With my pregnancy, there was never any restriction in the blood flow from the placenta through the cord, so we assumed the artery was just larger to make up for the other one.
Emma
Holly - It is a little early to use notching as an alarm bell as it is sometimes just artifact at this early stage.
A single artery happens sometimes with no other problems - sometimes it is due to other issues with the baby (sometimes cardiac). All of this though is an unknown quantity right now.
Right now your litle one is growing and in another month or so a more detailed u/s will give a more accurate picture.
Wishing you lots of support along your journey - remember we are here to support you. :hug:
Holly - as you may have read in previous posts we did have restricted blood flow through the cord at times and then the next week it had corrected itself, this happened around the 28wk mark I think. It was a case of just regular monitoring. My ob said that with these issues (low papp-a and single umbilical artery) problems don't happen quickly so if something was picked up in an ultrasound it would be rechecked in 1-2 wks to see if it had got worse. In my case the repeat scans when issues had been detected, showed the problem had eased.
Just to let you know as well my DD is doing fabulous (could sleep better during the day but that is any baby). She put on a lot of weight early on - going from barely on the growth charts to know being in the 25th%, so in my experience they do catch up in there own time.
Hi Emma, Flowerchild and Bridee,
The similarities between our situations and names is pretty interesting.
The blood flow problem is actually between me and the placenta, not along the cord. Good to know that problems with this don't happen quickly though.
Flowerchild, your response is reassuring that it is too early to see notching as a problem.
The blood flow issue I would suggest it's a bit too early to say that definitively at 15 weeks honey...:hug:
I will be thinking of you on Friday - know we are here holding your hand... :hug:
HollyC wishing you all the best for friday:pray::hug:
Okay thought I would add my 5 cents from my experience thus far for what its worth. we have a papp-a of .28 and a combined risk due to age etc of a 1 in 2 risk for downs and 1 in 16 for trisomy 18/13 so extremely high risk factors...needless to say many sleepless nights and turmoiled days ensued. We chose to have a CVS done last week and the early FISH result says no downs or trisomy 18/13...so yay for us on that score.
We have since met with our specialist obstetrician today and had a very long chat about all the possible implications of the low papp-a and what we can do to minimise the risk of issues later in the pregnancy. Now our specialist is the Head of Fetal Medicine at Monash Medical Centre so has dealt with these sorts of issues before and she came up with some interesting new research in this area that you may like to ponder.
Basically all this papp-a research has only been around for the last few years so research into the full implications is also quite new and not a lot is available, but what is coming to light is that a combined therapy of clexane (blood thinners) and low dose aspirin can be beneficial in helping to maximise the function of the placenta. After discussing this in great detail we have decided to to go down this track to give our baby the best possible odds.....we will be on 40mg of clexane a day and one low dose aspirin per day.
I feel so much better knowing there is something we can do to give our baby the best possible chance and just thought I'd share what we had learnt today. I think is also why flowerchild is recommending you see a fetal medicine specialist as really a normal obstetrician does not in all honesty have the training, knowledge or experience to deal with such complex issues.
Something she also mentioned which I found quite interesting is that the placenta has two main growths spurts, one has already occurred, one happens from 15-18 weeks and it is vital that you maximise the placenta's potential during these high growth phases to keep it going through the rest of the pregnancy.... that really cemented our decision to go the treatment route especially over the next few weeks of vital placental growth.
All food for thought....hope my experience adds to the discussion in some way..... :)
Mel I am glad you came & shared your experience - thankyou... :hug:
As you probably know I was on the regime you mentioned but for an autoimmune condition that caused multiple deaths for my unborn babies. I too have read this research and found it interesting. My fetal medicine obstetrician also uses a similar regime on some high risk women.
It makes sense doesn't it? When placental function is not optimal it has to work harder - thinning both the maternal supply and the placental supply (asprin crosses the placenta) aims to make the placental job easier.
Know Mel that the regime you are on is used frequently by high risk women - you will become adept at injecting yourself and your tummy will be battered for a few months - but in the end it will be worth it all!
I just cant reiterate more loudly what Mel said about a specialist. It is imperative. I have had lots of personal and professional experience with this and I have to say this is a time you need the big guns! Some obstetricians are quite unsure about this type of issue and only those very studied in the area are truly helpful (of course some will happily call in the big guns!)...
Good luck Mel - if you need any "pointers" let me know... (scuse the pun :lol:)
hun....I have had type 1 diabetes for 30years and have calculated I have already doen somewhere in the vicinity of 25,000 -30,000 injections...a few more is soooo not an issue.....LOL!!! I am also on Gavin Sack's protocol for immune based miscarriages/nk cell issues as I think you were so am already on clexane just a lower dose....
I just want to add - a low PAPP-A is thought to occur when implantation of the placenta is a bit iffy... Most often the placental position etc appears fine - but remembering that the formation of the placenta - just like that of the fetus is an intricate miracle!
A bit lke building a house - if the foundations are not strong it can make the house a little less stable. One house may be fine and stand 200 years - another may need extra fortification so that it stays strong. REally that is what the low PAPP-A is saying... You might need a little help here, then again you might not!
This is the business of babies - most of the time all goes well - but it's all an unknown - Faith in the outcome and strength in the process is important... :hug:
:redface: I remember now about your Diabetes... Sorry my love...
Did you do the prednisolone as well? If so how did that go with your diabetes?
Yup have been on 25mgs pred...am weaning off now...down to 15 at the moment....in a strange twist of irony the prednisone has balanced out the first trimester lows that most type 1's get so the net increase in insulin dose has been zero....which is awesome...At the moment with me weaning off the pred and still being in that window of hypos I am actually taking less than pre pregnancy insulin doses.....this will swing the other way in the next month or so...but so far so good!!!
thanks mel, you been a good help.
unfortunately i think that when your a public patient and cant afford private it really does matter:wall:
Squid you will still get a rebate from Medicare - many many many people without private health access a private fetal medicine specialist. Also if you are on a low income and once your expenses exceed $500 you will get 85% of your out of pocket expenses back.
It is worth one appointment that you will get a rebate for - the more knowledge you have the better informed decisions you can make...:hug:
Hun, even as a public patient you can request a referral to the fetal medicine unit at the closest large hospital to you.......they are all medicare funded........
i got one to Royal brisbane but have to wait till 18 week scan as i refused to do the other two tests due to risks.: