Ultrasound images

Praise God for what appears to be a healthy boy!

Our ultrasound last week showed what appeared to be an abnormality*, necessitating a more detailed ultrasound this morning. The same finding was confirmed today, but there were no other abnormalities, so the perinatologist was not concerned. (Read below, after the images, if you want more details)

Certainly, you never truly know if your baby will be healthy, but we are thankful that so far baby boy appears to be so.

His sweet face with the left arm up by the head. The umbilical cord is in front of the mouth. The placenta is to the baby's right.

Sweet little feet! He has all of his toes, and his feet look nice and normal.

This picture is probably my favorite. You can see his right arm and hand plus a little glimpse of his left foot.


And some video of baby moving!

* The "abnormality" found last week, and seen again this morning, is called a choroid plexus cyst. Our little guy has one little one in one ventricle of the brain, and a larger one in the other ventricle. The choroid plexus is the structure that makes cerebral spinal fluid within the ventricles of the brain.

When choroid plexus cysts are seen with other findings, including a cleft palate, heart defect, clubbing of the feet, perpetual clenching of the hands, and other abnormalities, they can be associated with a chromosome problem called Trisomy 18. When they are seen in isolation, as they were confirmed to be today, they don't mean anything. In fact, 90-95% of choroid plexus cysts go away on their own later in pregnancy. Also, choroid plexus cysts have been found in healthy, productive members of society on autopsy who never even knew of their presence during life.

The doctor today gave us the option of helping confirm a healthy baby with blood work or an amniocentesis, and we are deciding not to take any more steps as an abnormal finding would not change anything we plan to do. We will love and cherish any baby that God gives us.