4th Prenatal Appointment - 21 Week Ultrasound - Two Vessel Cord

We've made it through the 21 week ultrasound seemingly unscathed, but with some minor bruises....

The good, no, let's rephrase, great news is that the baby boy is indeed a boy and healthy as far as we know!  At the 75th percentile,  he is above average in growth, organs are looking good, and limbs measuring well [Note: we were not able to analyze his heart chambers or measure legs because he wouldn't cooperate by uncrossing his legs, so that remains to be checked off at the next visit. However, Dr. said from what she could see it looks fine, but they just can't clear it without a better picture].  

BUT (there is always a but these days isn't there....?), the umbilical cord has two vessels instead of three.  Most babies, 99% of babies, cords' have 3 vessels: 1 vein to bring in nutrients, and 2 arteries to take out toxins.

My baby has only 2: 1 vein to bring in nutrients and 1 artery to take toxins out.

This means his one artery is working overtime to take the toxins out of his body.

My doctor says that she will monitor the baby more closely in the 3rd trimester to make sure he is growing, but that there shouldn't be any complications as long as he is closely monitored.  In the old days with less monitoring, there were severe complications...   But I'm not going to go there since we are in the new days now.  If he stops growing in the last month or two, it means he might not be getting the nutrients he needs to grow and therefore the doctor will need to induce me early to get him out...   However, my doctor said that she has seen lots of normal pregnacies with this complication resultingwith the baby growing all the way to the due date with no complications, and that we can think optimistically that will happen to us.  However, I will still need to be seen nearly 2x a week the last month to make sure the doctor monitors growth and doesn't  miss any signs.

At our screening today, everything we could see was growing fine, better than fine, above average---so, he looks healthy and good and it seems his artery is working fine.   "They" used to think that a two vessel cord also meant greater likelihood of genetic abnormalities like Down Syndrome and Trisomy, but thats recently under scrutiny as there is no evidence.  Plus, we already screened for both of them already and were given very optimistic results that the baby did not have either. The more recent article below states optimistically, "More recent studies have shown that babies with isolated SUA do not appear to be at any greater risk of poor growth that the fetus with a normal three vessel umbilical cord."

It will also be very important to screen the heart chambers at my  next ultrasound since we couldn't clearly see it this visit (not to worry, its best seen at 22-24 weeks so I went in a little early).  If the heart chambers look good next visit, I will feel much better.

Apparently 1% of births and 5% of multiple births have this anomaly and they almost always result in healthy births with no side effects afterwards.  So, I believe that given this baby is already above average in growth, his little artery is kicking butt and performing twice as well as other ordinary arteries.   This kid is not only a survivor but reaching his maximum potential even in utero!  We've got a winner on our hands.

Some new glamour shots:

Baby Mac looking directly at us.

Looking at baby Mac's bum from below.  So you see his right leg extended out and his little man part in the middle. 

Some articles on Two-Vessel Cords:
http://www.obfocus.com/high-risk/birthdefects/single%20umbilical%20artery.htm
http://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/ask-heidi/two-vessel-cord.aspx
http://www.babycenter.com/400_2-vessel-cord-and-delivery_3035643_918.bc