Level II ultra sound

Hello,

I am new to the site. I am prego with Boy/Girl twins. I am 21 weeks today! I just had my 20 week Level II ultrasound at the hospital and they found a calcification on baby A's heart and some sort of extra urine retention in baby B's kidneys? Both were "soft" signs. There were no hard signs found. I am 33 and the specialist say my risk of losing the babies in an amnio (which is 1 in 1,600) out weighs my bloodwork/combined ultrasound/age risk that either baby would be born with Down Syndrome is 1 in 7,450. But none of these facts makes anything easier to get out of my mind. We all want healthy babies..but I don't think at this point I could ever abort one of them anyway...no matter what the results would come back as. They are both babies now...not just little embryo's. And they are the "TWINS" to me now as well!

Has anyone gone through this..and feels this way? Or have any words of wisdom for me to make me feel better? Thanks again!

Lauren

 

I don't have any personal experience with it. But my cousin's DS had 3 soft makers for Downs Syondrome (one being on his heart) when she was pregnant with him. She was told by her OB to get prepared in case he was born with DS. He was born, 3.5 years ago, and was born without Downs Syndrome, so soft markers don't always mean the worst. Just trying to give you some hope. :hug: I can imagine how worried you are. :hug:


:welcome: to Twinstuff!!

 

My daughter had an echogenic focus on her heart at the 20 week anatomy scan. I had just turned 37 and she had passed her 12 week screening with flying colors. The dr was not worried. I went home and looked up some articles and felt better. All is well. My daughter is healthy.

 

First, welcome to TS and Congrats on your twin Pregnancy!! :woo: We actually chose not to do any of the genetic testing because it wouldn't change anything, we were not willing to abort. Also, a lot of times those tests come back with false positives in Twin Pregnancies and we just didn't need the extra worry. I wish you and your babies the best!! :hug:

 

Hi. Congrats on your boy/girl twins!
We are also having boy/girl twins and I am 23.5 weeks. I am 32 years old. Our level 2 U/S was at 17 weeks and they found 1 soft marker (in the heart) on both babies. No other soft or hard markers were found. Our doctor told us that since they both had the same soft marker that it may just be a heritary thing and that reduced our odds a lot. I can't remember what the figure was but it was only slightly more of a chance than if no markers were found.

I am like you and decided against further testing because I wouldn't do anything about it if I did find out one of them had Down's. It was on my mind a lot the first few weeks but it has gotten to be less consuming in the past couple of weeks. I try not to think about it and we have not told anyone in our family about it either. It is still always in the back of my mind whenever we have ultrasounds though. LIke I can tell from the 3-D pictures if something is "wrong"! I am hoping for the best and will definitely have a very big sign of relief (more so than with my son's birth) if both babies are born healthy.

Good luck with your decisions and worrying.

 

I think you need to see multiple "soft markers" in a given baby to really get worried. I wouldn't worry about either of your babies, I think they are perfectly normal.

 

My first had one of the more serious markers - thickened nuchal fold. My OB told me that her daughter had the calcification in the heart too. We both had amnios with normal results. My son and her daughter are perfectly fine.

 

:wavey: Welcome to Twinstuff and congrats on your babies!! :Clap:


:hug:'s about your worries. My two had two soft markers for Downs' and like you, I was told that the amnio was not recommended. That didn't make me feel any better. I came home that night and cried... and cried, and cried some more. :cry: I made the biggest mistake ever by googling it online (DON'T EVER GOOGLE!!) It got so bad that I had to drink a glass of wine to calm down. :blush: It is really hard to hear that something "could" be wrong with your babies, I know, but please try and not stress about it, please. :hug: :hug: It will only do you more harm then good... but I know that is easier said then done. My two are three now and perfect.

 

My youngest daughter had a soft marker in her bowels. She wasn't born with any genetic problems, unless inheriting stubbornness from both DH and I counts!

 

OMG EVERYONE!!! Thank you so much for all of your kind words and comments! I feel so blessed to have found this site! Like you all have said...I will try my best to be calm and not think about it much..but it is so good to know that other people have been where I am right now and come out shining! Thanks again!
Lauren :wub:

 

Lauren - I just noticed that you're in East Brunswick. Were you by chance at St. Peter's? If so, I'd trust the doctors there. They are excellent (I've seen Fisher, Guzman and Ranzini between 2 pregnancies) and not afraid to offer amnios (I've had 2 offered to me by them now). If they explained the risks that way, I think you can rest comfortably knowing that you got good advice.

 

Yes! It was St. Peter's and it was Dr. Guzman. Did you actually have the amnio? Lauren

 

I know its hard not to worry but 1 in 7450 is really small - your chances of having a baby with DS is really unlikely.

 

OH!!! And I forgot something that I found somewhat comforting. The sonographer (is that what they are calle? ) that did the u/s said that they think that the machines have gotten alot more advanced and are catching things like this that may have been on more babies but it wasn't picked up. :wacko: I hope that makes sense. :blush: It did when an expert explained it. :lol:

 

I have a 1 in 27 risk of Down Syndrome in this pregnancy based on bloodwork. I am 31 weeks pregnant with boy/girl twins. The boy has an echogenic focus on his heart plus he is slightly small for gestational age. DH and I declined amnio because of the slight risk of miscarriage (did IVF to get this pregnancy and have history of 2 miscarriages). Also we wouldn't have reduced the pregnancy with a Down Syndrome diagnosis so we are waiting until they are born. I belong to an echogenic focus group on Facebook...it is a group of women who are pregnant with babies who have echogenic foci. All have also declined amnio and are waiting until the birth. 4 of these women had their babies recently and NONE of their babies had Down Syndrome. Good luck to you and I am sure everything will be fine with your babies!!

 

That's the same way he explained it to me with my first. The other two doctors are different and if you meet them, you will know what I mean. Dr. Guzman did the amnio for my first pregnancy and he is the reason why I'm not scared to do it again with this pregnancy. He also did the fetal echo for my son and was wonderful in dealing with me even though I was a complete wreck. I'd trust any of the doctors to do it although I have a slight preference for Dr. Fisher or Guzman. My amnio this time is scheduled for Monday and I'm not worried about the actual procedure. Dana is the name of a Genetic counselor at St. Peter's and she's wonderful as well if you need to speak to someone for more information. Actually all of the staff at St. Peter's that I've met were wonderful - L&D and the NICU as well. (My son had a brief stint in the NICU for jaundice.)

I hope hearing of this doesn't sway you since it sounds like you already made up your mind. Again, while Dr. Guzman explained it to me in a similar way, I elected to have the amnio because it was one of the more serious markers and my brother, for whom I'm the guardian, has a serious disability. I also know myself well enough that I knew I'd torture myself and my family for the rest of my pregnancy. It turned out that my son is completely fine and is just built like a linebacker...fat neck and all.

 

Lauren-
Congrats on your b/g twin pregnancy! I am 14 1/2 weeks along with twins (hoping to find out gender in a couple of weeks) As far as the soft downs markers, I met with a Peri Dr for my nuchal and she warned me ahead of time that at the 20w u/s they often find soft markers for Downs (apparently more common with twins) but not to worry. She just wanted me to be prepared so I didn't freak out. Hope that helps!!!

Adrienne

 

Hello Ladies,

I thought I wrote something this morning..but I don't see it here! Still getting used to the site! In any case, I wanted to thank all of you so much for being so positive. I am so ok with my decision after hearing all of your experiences and advice and am very thankful for finding this site.

And...Kristinpa...I hear you! My husband and I have gone through so much to get here as well. We did IVF and that wasn't easy. I remember hearing from my doc in the beginning that she had had a patient that one of her twins tested for Downs..and she decided to abort the one. And I remember saying..I would do the same thing...but now...NO WAY! I will not even get the amnio test because "for me at this point" it doesn't matter what the results would be...these little guys are real..they are "The TWINS" now..and I feel them..and I couldn't do what i thought would have been an easy decision in the past!

So I am going to pray hard..and try to enjoy the rest of what (until this point) has been an uneventful..easy pregnancy!

Again..thanks for everyone's comments! You are all life savers!

Lauren

 

OH.....and all the profile pics of all of your twins are so cute! :hug: