Risky business

There are several factors that make a pregnancy "high risk". Advanced maternal age (over 35)? Check. History of gestational diabetes? Check. Previous premature infant? Check. So we already knew we were up against a few odds. But apparently, that's not enough...to make sure that we solidly fall into the "high risk" category, we've discovered that we have something called Single Umbilical Artery (SUA).

A normal umbilical cord starts with 4 vessels: 2 veins (taking nutrients to the baby) and 2 arteries (removing waste from the baby). One of the veins closes up early on, so you are left with the typical 3-vessel umbilical cord. However, in some cases and for unknown reasons, one of the arteries also closes up. This leaves you with a 2-vessel cord, SUA.

SUA brings a host of risks along with it, including preterm labor, low birth weight, IUGR (intrauterine growth restriction), heart, kidney and GI defects, and stillbirth. It most commonly affects Caucasian women (1/2 yes), multiple pregnancies (nope), and women over 40 (nope), who have had 3 or more children (nope), or have Type 1 Diabetes (nope). It is more likely with female babies (not likely, but there's always a chance).

There is a decent chance that everything will be OK, but now we are on high alert. We will be having a fetal echo cardiogram to check the baby's heart and I will have more frequent ultrasounds to check growth. At 30 or 32 weeks, I will start going in for weekly (possibly twice weekly) non-stress tests (NSTs). I will be highly monitored during labor and delivery and we will have our fingers on the emergency c-section trigger at all times.

So that's where we stand right now. I have my next OB appointment tomorrow and this will be my first chance to talk with Dr. H after getting the results of my ultrasound. Dr. H is incredibly down-to-earth and pragmatic, so I'm looking forward to hearing her recommendations. I'm mostly hoping that she will tell me, "Oh calm down..."