Tuesday, January 10, 2006

A Friend's Baby

So, I posted about being thankful last week. I have a friend who is pregnant right now, due around the same time as me. She had to have a 2nd ultrasound because they only found one artery from the umbilical cord (babies normally have 2 ateries and 1 vein.) They have to have a 2nd ultrasound right away at Mayo Clinic to look again. They only found one.

Only 1% of single births have one artery in the umbilical cord. And 25% of those with one artery have birth defects, which is comforting to know that 75% develop into healthy babies. But that is still a high percentage of a risk. They can do an amnio to check for birth defects.

The good thing is that her baby appears to be developing normal in every other way. She will have to have ultrasounds at every appointment now and will have to be hooked up to some special machine when she delivers and won't be able to walk around at that time.

I have seen a lot of posts online about women who had children with a single artery and were born without complications and are healthy babies. That makes me feel better.

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