Single unbilical artery.... who else has had this?

Hi there:)

Today I was informed by a registrar OBS at my appt that it was found during my 20 week scan, that my baby only had 2 vessels in her umbilical cord. She told me it was a soft marker for downs. Anyway, that's not a drama at all.
I am not stressed in the slightest, and have every faith that my little girl is going to be AOK, but was just wanting to hear stories from others who have been through this?

I am not googling too much (hehe), but from my readings on this site, it 'can' be associated with some heart/kidney problems, although I was told that no other abnormalities were found during my morph scan, and that they would probably perform some growth scans later on in my pregnancy.

I would love to hear from anyone who has info/experience with this. I like to be as well informed as possible with these things;)

Thanks in advance:)

Hi

Friend of mine just had twins. One of the twins had only one umbilical artery. I put a post here

https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...-one-twin.html

It only got one reply, but there was another thread about it after mine. Maybe try a search.

The twin also had another soft marker for DS, but they decided not to have further testing. Both babies were born healthy.

Take care,

Kate

Niadla - BW's little Samuel was a SUA baby - they monitored his growtha bit closer and checked kidneys and heart at subsequent scans, but he is fine

hopefully she'll see this when she next comes online and will give you more info...

Thanks guys.
yeah I'm not too worried at all, there was nothing else found and I will be having growth scans to keep an eye on things.

My pregnancies can never be 100% smooth. LOL

I think I started a thread about this a few months ago. We also found out at our twenty week scan that we had a SUA, but given that there were no other indicators of foetal abnormalities (I hate that phrase!), there really wasn't anything to worry about. We had a repeat scan at 22 weeks to check the heart and kidney function, and everything looks great.

Our OB originally told us that it was possible that she might be a little on the small side owing to the condition, but I'm 33 weeks now and apparently she's a bit of a giant! Though, I'm a bit skeptical about fundal height and third trimester growth scans as a reliable indicator of size. It's great that you aren't worrying about it - unless it appears in combination with something else, there's no need to, I think! I'm sure your baby will be perfect.

my DD had this with no problems presenting afterwards she is 14 now

Excellent thanks guys:)
I have a feeling this one will defy the 'small' stats and be a biggin like her bro. LOL

Just bumping in case there are some who haven't seen this :)

Hi,

I had my 19 week ultrasound today and although the baby looked fine in all areas, it only has a single umbilical artery.
Please keep posting, i'd love to hear stories about how things turned out for others with the same issue.
Did anyone else have this in conjucntion with low PAPP-A or after IVF with multiple egg retreival? Just wondering if there is any correlation?
Thanking you in advance for your response.
Also, I am new to this. Does anyone know how i can contact a member 'Bridee'? There is no 'email' button on her posts. I don't even know how to start a new thread/post!!

Stella'sMum

Hi there, My neighbours best friend is pg and has this. She is gettibg close to popping so will let you know how she goes. So far no problems though. They keep a closer eye on her.

As BG said, Samuel was a SUA baby... I just didn't see this thread until now!

As mentioned, SUA can be an indicator of chromosomal abnormalities, kidney defects and heart problems. Most of the time, these will have been ruled out at routine 12 week scans (chromosomal problems) and the 20 week scan for the kidneys. They will usually do further scans in pregnancy to monitor growth and heart problems. Of course, they don't tell you that most of these problems will have already been ruled out and you'll come home and google and freak yourself out in a huge way...

SUA can also lead to low birth weights and early arrivals.

For those who are hearing predictions of monster-sized babies... At 18 weeks when our SUA was diagnosed they were predicting a tiny baby. At 24 weeks we'd caught up and were right on average. At 32 weeks they started talking monster baby... At 36 weeks I gave birth to Samuel and found myself with a 2.48kg tiny baby in SCN for 10 days! Take all the predictions with a grain of salt.

As for the early arrival thing - I have a friend who also had a boy with a SUA - he was also born at 36 weeks.

The only issues after birth relating to the SUA that we've found is that we were sent for a routine kidney scan just to double check that there are no problems. The paed didn't expect to find anything, but it's just something they do, apparently.

I hope this is helpful - just remember that just because it can mean something doesn't mean it will.

BW

My DD also had a SUA found at the 20 week scan. They performed another scan about 2 weeks later but found nothing else wrong so told me not to worry. She's 4 now and there's nothing wrong with her at all. She was also born 1 week late and weighed 9lb 7oz. So even though a low birth weight can happen, it doesn't always. Most of the time things are fine.

Yep so far all is going well here. I'm nearly 32 weeks and will be having fortnightly scans from next week onwards to keep an eye on things.
Bubs is measuring spot on average which is great as I have big babies... but yeah I take all that with a grain of salt anyway.
Very active bub. Everything looks fantastic. I don't feel that there will be any problems at all.

Niadla,

I was diagnosed at our 19w u/sound with SUA - our DS risk was already increased, at 1:117, but from the articles I've found, SUA isn't a marker for DS at all. It can be associated with T13 and T18, and "chromosomal abn" in general, but I couldn't find any medical article linking it with DS. We also have increased risk of urologic/renal problems as my DH had congenital urologic problems (ectopic ureters).
We have another scan at 26w to check growth and cardiac stuff again (with the SUA and increased down syndrome risk), but no-one is overly concerned as there are no abnormalities showing up so far.

More watching and waiting, really. Glad all is progressing well for you and your little one so far!

Tricia