2 vessel cord/ single umbilical artery

[toutsuite]

I searched but didn't see too much about this.  Can anyone share their experiences with this or know someone who went through a pregnancy with this?  As of right now it looks like ours is isolated but we won't know for sure until a fetal echo in a few weeks.  Heart/kidneys/face all look fine.  We aren't doing an amnio because we did the verifi test where major anomalies and some micrdeletions came back negative.  Spina bifida test was also negative.  

i was hoping for a smooth and non-stressful pregnancy...if there is such a thing.  Ugh.

[katiescarlett]

No personal experience but one of my friends had this with her daughter. She is now 4.5 years old and has been perfectly healthy the whole time. No complications whatsoever.

[savan]

My BFF had a 2 vessel cord with her DD. She had a perfectly normal pregnancy that resulted in a healthy daughter who is now 5.

[jorja]

My daughter had a two vessel cord.

The fetal echo was clear, but she was born with a significant murmur, which turned out to be a small VSD (a hole between the ventricles of her heart). It wasn't picked up on the echo, because it's normal for the septum to not be completely closed at the fetal age which the echo was done. The good news is that it's small and it will likely close on it's own. It has not caused her any problems.

Other than that, she's had absolutely no issues.

The fetal echo is almost 100% accurate at picking up severe issues with the heart, so if you get the all clear after that, it will likely not be an issue for your baby either.

As far as my pregnancy, I had weekly BPPs and monthly growth scans from 30 weeks on. There is an increased risk of IUGR with a two vessel cord, and a very slight increased risk for stillbirth, so I was glad for the extra monitoring.

Good luck, and stay away from google. I caused myself SO much unnecessary anxiety. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions!

[candc]

I had this with DS1, he is now a healthy, happy 5 year old! We had increased monitoring in case of IUGR, but he was born at 9lbs 4oz. He also had a kidney ultrasound at 4weeks as a baseline but has never had an issue.

[toutsuite]

Aug 5, 2015 20:52:39 GMT -5 jorja said:

My daughter had a two vessel cord.

The fetal echo was clear, but she was born with a significant murmur, which turned out to be a small VSD (a hole between the ventricles of her heart). It wasn't picked up on the echo, because it's normal for the septum to not be completely closed at the fetal age which the echo was done. The good news is that it's small and it will likely close on it's own. It has not caused her any problems.

Other than that, she's had absolutely no issues.

The fetal echo is almost 100% accurate at picking up severe issues with the heart, so if you get the all clear after that, it will likely not be an issue for your baby either.

As far as my pregnancy, I had weekly BPPs and monthly growth scans from 30 weeks on. There is an increased risk of IUGR with a two vessel cord, and a very slight increased risk for stillbirth, so I was glad for the extra monitoring.

Good luck, and stay away from google. I caused myself SO much unnecessary anxiety. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions!

It's to late - I have already googled it to death at this point and am all spun up!. I was so excited because this pregnancy seemed to be going surprisingly easy and well especially in comparison to my last and then boom.... High risk. Reading about all the anomalies sucks. How did you find out about the vsd post birth?

[Poppy]

genet313, IIRC?

[pinotgrig]

I can't comment on the cord issue, but G was diagnosed with a vsd while we were still in the hospital after delivery. I think they heard a murmur via stethoscope and did an echo to find out more. We followed up with a peds cardiologist at 3 and 6 months where they did another echo.

His hole is getting smaller, because as the heart grows the hole becomes relatively smaller. The peds cardiologist was not concerned at all and we follow up again when he's 2 years old.

GL!

[jeaniebueller]

One of my friends had this while she was pregnant and has a healthy 18 month old.

[auntie]

My neighbor's DD had this. Mom was on bedrest for the last month because of elevated BP, but I'm not certain that was related.

Baby was happy & healthy. She's a 21 year old nursing student now.

[luv2rn4fun]

((hugs)) and prayers. So sorry you are going through another eventful pregnancy. So not fair, especially after all you went through with your last pregnancy. Hope that in spite of this things continue on as normal and your DS is perfectly healthy throughout pregnancy and birth.

[bk1]

My daughter had a two vessel cord.

It was actually a surprise to me. I was not told about it until I had her. Scary to give birth and then have a doctor I just met (my doc was out of town) tell me about it and what it could mean.

My daughter is perfectly healthy. She just had her 6 month check up and no murmur.

[genet313]

Poppy, thanks for the tag.

OP, yes, at my 19 week scan DD was measuring about 9 days behind and they saw echogenic bowel and a 2-vessel cord.   Cue panic mode!!!  Did a bunch of testing on DH and me for genetic diseases, did an amnio on her, started talking IUGR, cystic fibrosis, etc.

By the next time we scanned, maybe around 23 weeks, the echogenic bowel "disappeared" and hey, looky there, they saw 3 vessels!   Such BS.   Probably a bad machine, bad technician, who knows.  

However, DD was small the entire time (usually measured between 10-18%) and I was monitored with bi-weekly ultrasounds and NSTs 2x/week the entire time.  I was induced at 39w5d, she was 5.11 at birth, no NICU time, 8/9 APGAR scores, went home 2 days later.    She did have some trouble gaining weight in the beginning and latch and transfer off my huge, huge boobs than anything else I think.   Once we resolved that, she's been totally fine.  Was back to birth weight by 3 weeks.

She's now 6 months, has been steadily moving up in percentiles for height and weight and is totally healthy.  

Honestly the worst thing I did for DD was letting myself get anxious by all of this.  I know it's hard not to do that, believe me, but I spent the second half of my pregnancy in an abundance of stress and anxiety and that was miserable, both for me and for her.   In my heart I knew there was nothing wrong, but all the testing and monitoring and Googling and doctors appointments, it was just all too much.  

Sometimes there truly is nothing you can do, if there's an issue, there's an issue.  But until you get confirmation of an issue, try to let it go and just be kind to yourself and your baby.  

[snshne322]

A friend of mine had a two vessel cord. She was monitored a little more heavily, but her delivery was perfect and her daughter had no complications.

[dcrunnergirl52]

DD had this and another soft marker, and was born perfectly healthy. She did get some extra monitoring but I was already being monitored a lot b/c it was twins.

[toutsuite]

Thanks for the stories. Everything I have researched seems to be so negative. I feel ok about everything because nothing significant came up on the anatomy scan and because all previous genetic testing we had done came back all clear. As long as the fetal echo goes well then I will feel a lot better.

[coribelle26]

My son had this (now 5 months old) and I was a googling basketcase for 16 weeks. He is 99.999% healthy. Here is what we experienced:

1. Everything else in the anatomy scan was completely normal so they did not order a fetal echo for him. Our only extra monitoring was weekly NSTs starting at about 33 weeks and monthly growth ultrasounds to make sure there was no growth restriction (there wasn't).

2. I did go into labor at 36 weeks (water broke, no contractions) and ended up needing a c-section because the cord was a little long and wrapped around him. The c-section itself was beyond uneventful, and the early labor probably had nothing to do with the SUA. He had one night of low blood sugar and a tiny bit of jaundice but no other complications from being born early (well, he sucked at breastfeeding).

3. He does have some manageable congenital heart issues, pulmonary valve stenosis and a PFO that's super small and getting smaller. The stenosis will always be there and may require a (minimally invasive) surgery at some point in the future, but from what our cardiologist has told us, it's fairly small potatoes in the world of heart defects. Whether he functions without the surgery or does need it to open up the valve, his activity and lifespan should be totally normal. I honestly don't know whether this is something they would have caught in a fetal echo, but it wouldn't have made a difference anyway. Because the heart and the cord form at the same time, it's possible that there was a correlation, but that's just the way it shook out for us. It could have just as easily been an isolated SUA with no other issues at all, and that's what it is for most people.

I know it's scary and the information on the Internet is especially terrifying, but please try to remember that even the "bad" stories are rarely even that bad. Our OB was shocked DS had any issues at all because usually the SUA babies she sees have no complications at all.

[jorja]

Aug 5, 2015 21:41:25 GMT -5 toutsuite said:

Aug 5, 2015 20:52:39 GMT -5 jorja said:

My daughter had a two vessel cord.

The fetal echo was clear, but she was born with a significant murmur, which turned out to be a small VSD (a hole between the ventricles of her heart). It wasn't picked up on the echo, because it's normal for the septum to not be completely closed at the fetal age which the echo was done. The good news is that it's small and it will likely close on it's own. It has not caused her any problems.

Other than that, she's had absolutely no issues.

The fetal echo is almost 100% accurate at picking up severe issues with the heart, so if you get the all clear after that, it will likely not be an issue for your baby either.

As far as my pregnancy, I had weekly BPPs and monthly growth scans from 30 weeks on. There is an increased risk of IUGR with a two vessel cord, and a very slight increased risk for stillbirth, so I was glad for the extra monitoring.

Good luck, and stay away from google. I caused myself SO much unnecessary anxiety. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions!

It's to late - I have already googled it to death at this point and am all spun up!. I was so excited because this pregnancy seemed to be going surprisingly easy and well especially in comparison to my last and then boom.... High risk. Reading about all the anomalies sucks. How did you find out about the vsd post birth?

Sorry, I'm just now seeing this...I'm always on my phone.

They heard a loud heart murmur with the stethoscope after she was born and the pediatrician ordered an Echo, which is how the VSD was diagnosed. We were seen by a pediatric cardiologist in the hospital, and then at 1 month, where they did another Echo. We will follow up again at one year, but the pediatrician says the murmur is going away, so hopefully that means the VSD has closed.