update on the little princess!!

[aadam2009]

so i went to see the dr as i was worried i dont really feel her kicking as i went unfotunately the only dr in the practice was the horrible negative guy but there was not much i could do! he did me a very quick ultra sound thank G-d we saw her heart was ok etc and he checked the head and told me in the 3 secondsf he looked i had grown to 13mm from 11 is this normal? whats the biggest it can get before she is born im just just 6 months pregnant now he also infromed me that her left foot was beginning cleft foot how can this be corrected? as per usual he then called us into his office to ask if we know what we are doing keeping the baby and who we have asked for advice and if we have asked the right people hopefully today im going to speak the another guy to switch obgyns

thanks everyone for the support

[jveprek]

The clubbing foot is really no biggie. They will do serial casting that works, basically, like braces to change it slowly. Then your little one will wear an AFO to keep it in line. The hydro sounds totally normal. I think Madis got up in to the 20's before we had her, and her head is totally normal sized and I still had a vaginal birth without any problems. THey watched it then induced us early. Hang in there, everything WILL be ok :)

[Dodger67]

It seems like the Princess is doing just fine!
I hope you get a better OB soon.
Have you got a pediatric neurosurgeon on your team yet?

[LisaJoy]

Those numbers sound okay to me -- consistent with mild hydrocephalus. Even if they get a lot higher -- up into the 20s & 30s-- it's not really anything to worry about. The fetal skull is very soft, so even major hydrocephalus doesn't typically cause brain damage in utero. They'll put a shunt in when she's born and it will be okay.

Club feet - not a big deal; easily corrected.

You definitely need another OB.

Sounds like your baby is just fine!

[aadam2009]

so we have a neurosurgeon on our team he is so lovely and real he told us the worse case scenario best case and realistic view he is very sweet even gave us his personal mobile number to ask him anyquestions we needed!! how long after a baby is born are they generally kept in hospital for all the procedures?

[Makennasmom]

Makenna's measurements got a lot bigger than that too. My doctors watched it very close (I had an us every other week) but, they didn't try to make a big deal about it. She had a shunt put in when she was 4 days old. She didn't have the cleft foot, so I don't know anything about that.

I wish you the best. I hope you get a more positive dr, that makes all the difference!! The place that I went 2 drs were so nice and positive, but 1 had more negative things to say, I always asked for one of the nice ones. (it worked I didn't have to deal with that one anymore) Good luck!!

[excitedmom]

my daughters measurments were up to almost 30 by the time i gave birth to her. The skull is very flexible and it wont cause any problems until the baby is born, thats when pressure reallys starts to set in. Also as the other wonderful pepole have said, clubbing is nothing to worry about. It can be fixed with casting. Good luck with the remainder of your pregnancy.

[Dodger67]

As long as there are no complications the hospital stay is usually one to two weeks - most seem to be around 10 days. The spinal lesion closure is usually done within 24 hours. If the hydrocephalus is obviously high they might put in a shunt at the same time but often they wait and see for a few days as about one in five babies don't need a shunt at all as the hydrocephalus can sometimes clear up by itself after the spine repair, but it can also increase - it's a wait-and-see situation. (You're going to hear that phrase a LOT!)

I was born with "mild" hydrocephalus, my spine repair was only done on day 3 as I was born in a small rural hospital and they waited to see if I was going to live before flying me to the city hospital. My hydrocephalus dissapeared by itself over the following few days so I never got a shunt.

If the spine lesion repair is simple the surgery might take 2 hours or go up to 6 or more hours if it's more complex. A shunt insertion takes about one to one and a half hours.

[janjanwhit]

i think it took 6 hours to do Fergus's closure. He had clubbed feet that were quite bad so had a small op when he was one. took about half an hour. now he wears plastic splints to keep them in line and to help him bare weight.

[jveprek]

Madi's stay was 5 days. They did the shunt and back closure at the same time.

[jveprek]

Oh, and it took maybe 3 hours or so for both??

[ainemc]

I hate doctor's that are scaring the life out of you with 13mm hydrocephalus and pushing you to abort. It's a absolute disgrace! 13mm is mild hydrocephalus. My daughter's hydro went into 30's before she was born and they weren't even going to shunt her when she was born! It kept increasing until they did shunt her when she was 2weeks old. Not sure how much fluid was there by that stage.