Anyone else dealt with or dealing with a single umbilical artery?

[Buggzter]

I'm wondering who many people around here have dealt with this issue, and their experience as well as anyone dealing with it now.

A few weeks ago we had the mid-pregnancy scan and found out it's a boy, but also that he has only one artery on his umbilical cord. I have another scan in 9 weeks to see if there are problems or if he's "normal" (or as normal as he can be with the parents he's got... )

Thanks all! Trying to not worry at all, but doesn't mean it's possible.

[PumpkinZulu]

I'm pretty sure one of my baby buddies, Harriet, did. I'll let her know about this thread.

[HotI]

do a search, cos there a few posts on bubs who only had one umbilical artery

[Harriet]

Hi Buggster - firstly... congrats on the little boy on the way!
I had this come up at my 20 week u/s also. You seem a heap better about it than I was at the time. Unfortunately my GP didn't know what it meant and so wasn't able to explain it to me for a few days. While waiting I looked it up myself and was an absolute mess! My thread should be somewhere here, I had a really really good response from BB.
Basically we had to go for an u/s at 23 weeks and 32 weeks. It was explained to us that this was to look for any other abnormalities. On its own single umbilical artery means nothing, but can mean something if there are other markers present.
Long story short - everything was fine! DD was born on her EDD and is absolutely perfect!
I think I was told that SUA babies can be on the small side -DD was 2.4kg/5lb7oz- but I think that was simply a coincidence.

[ella79]

Hi Buggzter,

A friend of mine found out at the 20wk u/s that her baby had the same issue. She is a Dr herself and was in a panic because she hadn't heard of it before, or know what it meant for the baby (I remember she called her OB to ask him about it because she was worried, but wasn't due to see him until a few days after the u/s and he didn't bother to call her back - how rude!!)... Anyway, her baby boy was/is perfectly healthy in every single way. He was born a little overdue, and a very healthy weight!

[Buggzter]

Thanks all. I appreciate it all.

I've looked into all the details online on various sites. 25% chance that there are complications, 20% chance there are more than one (wether growth issues or abnormalities/birth defects). But that still means 75% chance there is NO problem, and 80% chance there is not more than one. I think included in the 25% is the preterm birth issue, which in the US is apparently around 10% anyways (I bet from all the bad nutrition and weight issues we have in this country). So I'm focused on the good stuff.

My only trepidation is I also always have had bleeding gum issues, which is another chance at preterm labor... But, I've had two prior labors - one induced the day before he was due (see ** note below for why), and the other on her due date itself. So I'm doing all I can to help with that. I'm even using mouthwash that tastes nasty because a couple initial studies of prenant women with denal disease show an 80% reduction in preterm labor compared to the control groups.

I'm very very glad to hear of a couple other people who freaked out and still had perfect babies afterwards. My doc is only having me have a 29 week u/s to follow up (12 weeks after the first one), and she'll decide from there if I go on bed rest or not, although I'm guessing that's only about a 10-20% chance? I'll get to ask her in 2 weeks at my next appointment. Fortunately, my company I work for has a NICE disability insurance program, and I'll likely not need to save up more money than 1 month's bills if I'm put on bed rest at 29 weeks as I'll have full pay for almost all the time until the baby is 8 weeks old. So excited about that news, since it makes it a LOT easier to deal with the other stressors with this pregnancy.


**I gave my first born up for adoption - I was NOT ready to be a mom. His adoptive parents were at his birth, and since I was basically due anyways we planned the induction so as his parents could be there the whole time. Which they were - it was perfect, really. The last time I saw my son? His mother was holding him in her arms and smiling.