Friday, November 7, 2008

Ultrasound Findings

We went for another level two ultrasound yesterday. Our first level two ultrasound found a "downs syndrome marker” in the baby’s heart. My doc sent us to a specialist and yep – there it was clear as day. It’s called a echogenic foci spot. Whish is basically a small calcium deposit in the left atrium. There is only one, and it’s very small. These deposits never grow and will never hinder the hearts ability to work properly.

Doctors only started seeing these calcium deposits in the past ten years, so they wanted to find out the significance. Well, turns out that 3% of all babies have one and a very minute percentage of these babies have downs syndrome.

However, doctors do not take this marker into account UNLESS there are two or three additional markers for downs syndrome – small pinky bone, different shaped nose, small ears.

AND we were fortunate enough to have a first trimester screening which put us at a greater than 1 in over 10,000 chance for any chromosome abnormality, including downs syndrome.

The doc says that he sees patients every day with this marker and 99% of them go on to deliver an average baby. AND even if we did an amnio, our risk is 10 times greater of having a miscarriage than having a baby with downs syndrome.

Long story short, we are not worried in the least. We are not going for any further testing. We have every faith that the baby is fine.

1 comment:

erin said...

I am praying for your baby! No matter what, God created him in His image, and he is loved and cherished. (Even by me!) I'm glad you guys are finding out everything ahead of time so you can be prepared.
I can't believe you're half way done!