Our ultrasound revealed that baby has an enlarged tummy and that fluid doesn't seem to be moving through it. Everything else looked good, so the tech sent me to my appointment with Dr. Libby and then had me come back afterwards for a second ultrasound to see if baby's tummy had gotten smaller. Libby said that often her experienced ultrasound techs look at everything very closely and since everything else looked good that she wasn't worried yet. So, i didn't worry when i talked to her--in fact, i didn't even ask her what an enlarged stomach could be symptomatic of (mostly because i didn't want to expose myself to any unnecessary info that's going to make me scared). When I went back for my 2nd ultrasound nothing had changed so the tech sent the scans to radiology and said that Libby would call me in a few days if she thought we needed to do anything other than another ultrasound in 4 weeks (which is so long to wait!) The nurse recommended that I call on Friday just for peace of mind since surely Libby will have talked to the radiologist by then.
I know i can't do anything but pray for this little one. unfortunately i also just looked up "enlarged fetal stomach" on-line and now I have a lot of questions i wish i'd been able to ask this morning. Most of what i've read says that 50% of the time everything is normal. Otherwise it could indicate down's or cystic fibrosis (and probably a lot of other things but i decided to stop my search there since it was making me anxious rather than surrendered). i did also read that it might be a symptom of gestational diabetes, which obviously be something we could manage.
I felt so grateful for a window of time i had this afternoon to be sad on a day that i got up and got dressed for with grateful enthusiasm--baby's first picture day. i think i needed to be sad as the rain fell and my older two treasures slept safely upstairs. perhaps the best, though, was the sweetness of watching them play in the puddles in their rain boots and belle meade hand-me downs (ruined, i'm sure, and for the first time ever i didn't care if they ruined something nice because nice just doesn't matter in the big picture). i've never had more fun in the mud.
libby got my scans and looked at them before she left the office tonight. she called me on my cell phone and said that she really feels like the baby's enlarged stomach is something we will watch but that without any other markers showing up on the ultrasound, she thinks it is best if we follow up with an ultrasound in 4 weeks and move on from there. i asked her about each of the conditions an enlarged tummy could indicate, based on what i read on the internet, and she said, again, that each of those come with other markers or genetic history (though she did say that down's is hard to rule out on an ultrasound). i was grateful for her eyes on my scans and for her comforting knowledge. she was cautious to say that though she can't say with certainty that this will fix itself, she has also had patients who have presented similarly and she's never seen it become something of consequence. I was relieved by that and was so glad she called me. i wish i had thought to ask her what causes an enlarged stomach, so i may have jeremy call her back later and ask.
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