Two Vessel Cord, Single Umbilical Artery

Updated on March 02, 2013
C.C. asks from Everett, MA
6 answers

At my most recent appointment with my midwife she said at my 20 week ultrasound they only saw one artery in the umbilical cord, there are normally two. This is my 3rd pregnancy, both of my other kiddo's are healthy and we had pretty uneventful pregnancies with them and vaginal deliveries. My placenta is also anterior, so in the front of my belly not sure if this puts me at risk for anything else? I am going to see a high risk doctor and having a Level 2 ultrasound on Tuesday morning. Everything I have read online has scared me to death... UGHH! I know most of the time SUA babies can be born with no complications and healthy but the what if's worry me... My AFP blood work came back normal so that's good, just worried about our little girls heart and organs and if she will grow properly. I am also terrified of possibly having a c section. I was planning to give birth at the birthing center which is attached to the hospital. I wanted some advice from other mama's on some questions I should ask the high risk ob on Tuesday I want to be as prepared as I can be so I am making a list of questions etc over the next few days.. Thanks in advance for your support and answers I will deff post an update after Tuesday.

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So What Happened?

So I went to see the high risk OB on Tuesday (yesterday) From the ultrasound they think the baby looks good no heart problems that they can see right now although she wasn't in the best position to see her heart but her kidneys look good. Placenta placement it ok and I opted to not have an amnio or further genetic testing because my risk is 1 in 10,000 for down syndrome etc. Thank you all for your support and kind words :) I am trying to enjoy this pregnancy as it will most likely be my last and have it be stress free!!

EDIT I gave birth to a beautiful healthy baby girl all natural 1 week before her due date and she weighed 7lbs 5oz... :)

More Answers

V.K.

answers from Minneapolis on

Never ever ever... EVER... Look on the internet for stuff like this.

At my 20 week ultrasound the tech noted that my son looked like he was growing asymmetrically. My Dr told me that the tech had noted this, did not seem concerned, and we pretty much moved on without further discussion. Well the next day I got curious as to what that meant and googled it. Dear God!!! Within 5 minutes I was 100% positive that my baby wasn't going to make it and 80% sure that I was also going to die. I was a crying blubbering frantic mess!

I called my doctor in tears and she assured that it was nothing to be concerned about, but she set me up with a Dr at the university who did a 3D ultrasound. I also had 1 regular ultrasound every other week for the rest of my pregnancy.

Everything turned out fine!

4 moms found this helpful

S.A.

answers from Chicago on

I don't have much to offer as far as information, but I have had two friends who have had this situation and both of their babies were born perfectly healthy and normal. Think positive!

4 moms found this helpful
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A.S.

answers from Dallas on

My daughter is a happy, healthy almost 4 year old that had a single umbilical artery. They recommended that I see a specialist for high risk pregnancies which I did and he told me that he will recommend more stringent growth monitoring (more frequent ultrasounds for the remainder of my pregnancy) but to otherwise not worry about it because all of my screening tests were normal. They said she may be smaller at birth but that was about it. I had an ultrasound every visit and she might have been about 6 ounces smaller at birth than my oldest but otherwise perfectly normal pregnancy and baby.

3 moms found this helpful
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B.F.

answers from Dallas on

I don't know anything to ask but make sure they have a great NICU in whatever hospital you deliver. Neonatal Intensive Care.

1 mom found this helpful
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A.K.

answers from Bloomington on

I think since your AFP came back normal, that should take a lot of worry away.

1 mom found this helpful
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K.G.

answers from San Diego on

I had the exact same thing with my youngest and also had the placenta in front. The only thing my doctors did was more ultrasounds just to keep checking on things. I was already high risk because of being diabetic so not sure if I would have been considered high risk just because of the two vessel cord. I was SOOOO SUPER scared even when the specialist told us that this is actually pretty common. The worst thing I did was go online to read about it because that just scared me more. This was 7 years ago and my daughter was born super healthy and always has been super healthy and she's very smart. I did have a c-section but that had nothing to do with my placenta or the two vessel cord, she was just too big to fit through the birth canal and after 18 1/2 hours of labor and getting to a 9 1/2 dilation, she started moving back up. Hugs and positive thoughts to you.

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