It must be because I am no longer working and have more time to chat on my forums but today, I ran across a post from a worried expectant mother and she now has me worried. Ugh! I seriously shouldn’t worry about this as there is nothing I can do. This goes back to an ultrasound I had around 19 weeks.
The perinatologist found a fluid pocket on my baby’s brain. She assured me it was normal and even went so-far-as to tell me that if it wasn’t there, they would be concerned. She didn’t label it as any “soft marker” or anything abnormal. I was referred to go back in 4 weeks because we were unable to see a bunch of the baby’s parts because of positioning. On that ultrasound, the fluid was still there (may have been slightly smaller) and again, the perinatologist (a different one AND his student doc) did not show any abnormal findings. His report stated baby was “normal.”
So, this girl posts today that her baby girl was diagnosed with a “choroid plexus cyst.” I wanted to look it up in hopes to find something positive in order to help her. While much of the information was positive, I noticed the pictures of this cyst look just like the fluid pocket in my baby’s brain. No one ever stated that the pocket was a choroid plexus cyst. So, naturally, I am worried, even though most of the information was positive. Well…positive in that if I was under 35, this would probably mean nothing.
But…there is no information out there that discusses this finding in a mother who is over 35. All the research states that “in the absence of other soft markers, a choroid plexus cyst alone does not signify a genetic abnormality.” Plus, much of the information is confusing. Some say the cyst means Trisomy 18, others say the cyst means Trisomy 21. Both of which are very different. What I know of Trisomy 18 is that most babies don’t survive in-utero and are stillborn or are miscarried. Survival at birth is rare and a baby with Trisomy 18 doesn’t live very long.
Trisomy 21 (Down Syndrome) has a survival rate and while a diagnosis of Trisomy 21 could be worse, it’s not something anyone is prepared to hear or face. While my baby hasn’t been diagnosed as anything but “normal,” I am still worried. I didn’t do any of the genetic testing (all the numbers would be higher anyway since I am older) and I didn’t want an amniocentisis. I could still have some testing done but I only have about 7 weeks left so why worry for 7 weeks? Ugh!
I just need to leave this in God’s hands which is so hard for me sometimes. I did my best to reassure this mom that the likelihood that her baby is normal is very high but I can’t seem to reassure myself. Plus, why didn’t my perinatologist mention that this was a Choroid Plexus Cyst? Why did my doctor state this was normal when only 1% of baby’s have this cyst? Is my baby normal? Bottomline…pregnancy after miscarriage is full of worry. I don’t want to say that pregnancy after miscarriage sucks, but man…it’s hard not to say it when all you do is worry about every sign, symptom (even lack of symptom), scan, test, etc. 🙁