update to my level III w/fetal specialist, not great

[Guest guest]

well ladies, i left the fetal specialist very melancholy. first off,

the afp screens came through all with flying colors. after meeting

with the genetic counselor, i was so pleased with the results, i

thought there were no worries.

the ladies in the ultrasound room who prepped me all recognized me

from when i went in a year and a half ago when i was pregnant with

my son who is now 14 mos old. they recognized my face but said i

look different! i told them about my surgery and how i didnt even

know i was pregnant untill last friday! everyone was pretty amazed

at my story as are all of us still!

the ultrasound was going well. no nueral tube defects, heart and

body parts all where they are supposed to be. but then the fetal

specialist said my baby has something in his brain called a "

CHOROID PLEXUS CYST. " so this is where it was all down hill -- at

least for me. I did amnio right there and then on the table. I know

nothing at all about this. does any one on this board know what it

is?

the doctor then dished out some news to try to keep me from freaking

out knowing my history with nueral tube defects and our painful

experience with our 2nd pregnancy.

he said that this condition provides for a 1 in 100 chances of

having a baby with a chromosomal condition. the amnio is to find out

what that condition might be -- if any. the other 99 in 100 usually

are born completely normal. so that is why he was trying to calm me.

I slightly lossed it in the car on the way home because it brings

back so much painful memories. i do not want to have to be in a

situation again where i am told my baby's dx is grim.

with my 2nd pregnancy, my baby had a large 38mm opening in his

spinal collumn -- a condition called spina bifida in the

thoracolumbaric area (thats pretty high up, right between the

shoulder blades.) had the opening been much lower, his dx might have

been more promising. he also had enlarged ventricles in the brain, a

lemon shaped head, and hydrocephalus. I had to consider so much

before I came to the painful decision to terminate. and at 20 weeks,

it was truly a disgusting, painful, resenting, awful, time in my

life. i hated having to give up a baby i wanted so desperately. i

cried so much and saturated my pillows -- they started to smell of

my fathers sent and that made me feel like he was with me during it

all even though he had passed away three years before.

my husband was so afraid of making any decisions and forcing me to

make a decision against my will that even though we talked and held

each other a lot, i had to make it ultimately on my own.

so even though this dx of a cyst in the brain looks to be in our

favor, the whole thing just leaves a nasty sour reminding taste of

what i had to go through before.

BTW, he also had a hard time trying to see the sex of the baby. he

was indecisive because of the position and said if he had to guess

it was a girl. ultimately, the amnio will determine all. the health

of the baby and the sex.

So now I have to wait a 10 to 14 days for the amnio results. its

like torture. please pray for the health of my baby.

thank you so much,

kimberly