Anyone with SUA (single umbilical artery)?

[madiesmommy]

I had sua with my ds. My doc's office treated as if we had been diagnosed with down's. I then switched to a home birth at 28 weeks...and that is exactly what I did at 41 week 3 days - a home waterbirth. DS is perfectly healthy, no defects, no problems. So...remember these two things

1) SUA is not a diagnosis of something wrong with your child. It only increases the percentages of something being wrong. We did do additional scanning at the local hospital to check for defects around 34 weeks, with a follow up at 37 weeks, but denied an amnio. They came up with nada, so we felt safe doing a home birth with a trained mw. She also was comfortable as she sees SUA more often than docs. My mw had seen dozens in her 30 years of practice, and I was the 2nd for my OB in 15 yrs of practice.

2) keeping in mind my last statement above...the SUA studies you read about online are reported by docs...when there are additional problems. They do not include the many many many women who birth at home, whose SUAs go unmentioned. Do not believe the %s you read online, they are grossly skewed. What you can do is do some additional investigation about your babe. Make sure your mw is comfortable with and SUA...which usually lends to heart or kidney defects if no diagnosis of Down's. My mw was comfortable that whatever would be wrong, she could give ds oxygen and we could transport if necessary... That ended up not being the case - thankfully!!

PS, my ds was 8 lbs 13 oz and 21 1/4" long. We do believe he took an extra week and a half to grow. My labor was longer than anyone expected - 7 hours 43 min. We feel this was because of the sua, his long cord (40" long!) and he had a true knot in his cord. My body knew how to birth him. Slow and steady...

The hospital where we had our scans at recommended stress tests 3xs a week for the last two weeks and induction before 40 weeks. I don't believe my son would have endured an induction with a knot in his cord and the sua. I also denied the stress tests...with approval from my home birth mw.

You have to do what you are comfortable with, and what the professionals serving you are comfortable with.

[kel_seewhite]

New say and closer to my c-section.

I had briedfly considered a home birth, but after learning about SUA and now since finding my baby is a footling breech a home birth is out of the question for us.

It's safer for baby and me to be in the hospital wehre we can both be monitored and taken care of for a few days while testing gets done on baby of course and I have a few days of help after my surgery.

I pray I do not go into labour and can baby can wait until Dec. 5th for the c-section. His abdomen and head are both measuring behind so I will be insisting that certain tests get done when he is born to cover all basis and have some peace of mind.

I feel positive that he will be fine and may be just a little smaller than expected which is no problem.

We are excieted to meet him and hold him soon.

[mrspnut82]

Well my update: I went for an appt today and apparently lost a pound Don't know how that could be...thanksgiving dinner... Anyway, she measured me and I was measing small too, like 27 (or 28) weeks and I'm 30.3 weeks. Soo...they want me to go for my next us next week instead of my scheduled one in two weeks. Needless to say it was a little upsetting. He's moving around fine and his heartbeat looks great so I don't know what that means, but I'm trying not to worry about it. Can't wait till next Thursday though, I hate waiting...

[madiesmommy]

Measurements can vary for many reasons. Try not to worry. Also, I measured behind at 28 weeks or so, and was measuring ahead by 36 weeks, so it can change!!

[Fuzzi Fannies Creations]

I have no advice, but am looking for info on this. I was just diagnosed with this and my doctor want's to brush me off too. I just want to make sure everything is ok... ugg!!

[Fairychilde]

Hello Mama

My Bradley instructer was pregnant with her 7th child when she taught our class and she was diagnosed with SUA. She did not even plan to get an ultrasound but did b/c she was so big they thought it might be twins. Anyway, she went through with her planned homebirth and everything was fine and baby was perfect. Her husband is a Dr though and she did her research. I understand that you would be paranoid to not have the baby in the hospital and I hope that you can come to a decision that you feel comfortable with and that you have a satisfying birth experience and baby is healthy.