My first appointment at the hospital was a full 12+ hour day from start to finish. I had a full body scan of my baby, EKG, MRI and CT. I met with a geneticist and multiple doctors and nurses throughout the day to find out what was wrong with my baby. By the end of this exhausting day we finally met with an OB to get some answers. She explained to us that on the MRI, they found some old blood staining in the baby’s brain from 12 weeks. At this point, they ruled out genetics and infection. The only explanation they could give us, was that she had a brain bleed in utero. They didn’t really have any idea how it happened but that maybe she pulled on her cord and flipped herself causing a capillary in her head to burst. The bleed caused a clot in the base of her skull where the cerebral fluid should drain naturally from the head. Since the baby’s was blocked by the clot, the fluid had nowhere to go and was slowly filling her head. My husband and I were absolutely devastated. I never in a million years thought I would have any serious issues during my pregnancy. Up until this point, I had horrible nausea that had literally started to subside about a week prior, and I thought that was the worst of it. I was told to continue my care at the hospital until my baby was born. I would be getting monthly ultrasounds to measure her ventricles and then weekly once it got closer to delivery. Part of the issue with the enlarged ventricles is that it causes the baby’s head to also enlarge and doctors were concerned her head might get too big for her to even be delivered. We were handed a stack of papers on mild ventriculomegaly and hydrocephalus, what they believed my baby had. Talk about overwhelming. I didn’t even know where to start as far as trying to read all of these documents. I still hadn’t processed what we were just told.
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I remember it like it was yesterday…
I was 20 weeks pregnant with my first child and beyond excited to find out if I was carrying a baby boy or girl. We went to the ultrasound appointment and were told we were having a little girl. I was thrilled and terrified all at the same time. We went home and the next day I received a call from the ultrasound tech. “The doctor wants me to get more pictures of her head.” I said ok and thought nothing of it. I just assumed baby hadn’t been cooperating and they wanted better pictures. I showed up to my appointment and little did I know I was about to receive some bad news. After more pictures were taken and the doctor was called in to look for himself, I was told to meet him in his office. At that moment, I knew something was wrong and I started bawling. I had my mom with me luckily since my husband had been working. The doctor began to explain to us that there are 2 large ventricles in the head and there is fluid inside the ventricles. They measure the amount of fluid by the ultrasound and my baby’s ventricles were measuring a bit over “normal”. Of course, he starts to explain what that could mean as far as her health in the future. I was told numerous things at that appointment including the possibility of Down Syndrome. I was told that it wasn’t too late to terminate the pregnancy. That was completely devastating to hear. I had been carrying this little angel for 20+ weeks and couldn’t at this point imagine not giving birth. I was referred to a children’s hospital from that point on and it only got harder from there.
Did you find out something about your baby at an ultrasound? How did you feel? I would love to hear how you handled the news and what your experience was like. Please leave a comment or email me directly.
