After our 20 week visit I vaguely mentioned that Owen's kidneys showed some concern on our anatomy ultrasound. At 22 weeks, we went to see a Perinatologist and have a more detailed scan done. Really the scan itself wasn't the most important part since our OB office actually has the machine to do the level 2 ultrasound, but we needed to have a specialist watch the scan and diagnose the baby. So we had a pretty good idea of what the problem was, we just had a lot of unknowns about what exactly that would mean for the baby. At our visit with Perinatal, they told us that Owen has Pyelectasis in his left kidney (meaning that the area of the kidney where the urine collects before it exits the ureter,the renal pelvis, was dilated a little more than it should be). This is really common, especially in boy babies and often doesn't need any kind of intervention. It typically just fixes itself. Owen's biggest concern would be his right kidney where he has really severe Hydronephrosis. This is where the renal pelvis is dilated like I mentioned before, except that because the urine isn't being eliminated out of the kidney like it should, the kidney begins to swell and the urine can begin to spread into parts of the kidney it shouldn't. The longer this goes on, the more the kidney is damaged and if left untreated, the organ tissue will begin to be damaged and he could loose complete function of the organ altogether. SO, obviously this was really overwhelming to process and is really scary to see on the scan because it's a very large difference that even someone like me, who has no medical knowledge, can see plainly. Most of what you read online or hear about stories of Hydronephrosis, it always resolves itself during pregnancy. I had read a bunch of this before my second scan and had several people tell me "oh don't worry, that goes away on it's own, my son/daughter/cousin/whoever had it"... so I was feeling pretty optimistic that this was just a little hiccup. Unfortunately the Dr. we are seeing feels like Owen's case is one of the extreme ones that can't just fix itself. There's still always a chance! (I'm a cup half full kind of girl), but we have been told repeatedly to prepare for the fact that this needs intervention and wont be something that goes away. So that was a bummer. But we really love the Doctors caring for us! They are all wonderful and super professional. We completely trust their recommended plan for Owen so we're just taking things one scan at a time.
Basically what all of this means for now is that I have been seeing my OB on a regular prenatal schedule to check all of the usual stuff and then every 4 weeks I have an ultrasound at the hospital and see the other Doctors (the Perinatologist) who are watching over the baby's kidneys. I will have my next scan there on the 28th and then after my 30 week scan in January, I will also add to this list some visits with the Pediatric Urologist who will take over once Owen is born. This Doctor will most likely perform a surgery on Owen to repair whatever's needed or put a stent in to help it drain, but he wont know exactly what needs done until Owen gets here and has an ultrasound after birth. For now he will help inform us of the different scenarios and try his best to make tentative plans.
At the 22 week scan they had also given Owen an increased risk of having down syndrome, but only because this kidney issue is common in baby's with downs and also Owen's head is measuring larger than "normal". The Doctor told us that she personally didn't feel like he was at any risk since he didn't have any of the other clear downs markers, but that she was obligated to tell us he was at a greater risk. We went ahead and had some genetic blood tests drawn that came back giving Owen a 1 in 17, 000 chance of having DS and even adding his other two markers still put his chance at 1 in 11,000. So this is not really an issue any more. Not that this would have even been a big issue to us. We have actually talked many times about the possibility of adopting a child with Down Syndrome just because we both really have a heart for people with downs. They have the most contagious joy and loving personalities, in my opinion. But definitely a relief since adopting a child who is already here and struggling with this is much different than having to see your own baby being born with so many health complications. We obviously want Owen to be as healthy as possible!
So one last list of some specific ways to pray for Owen and then pictures :)
*The first, most obvious would be that Owen's kidney just "spontaneously" starts working the way it happens for so many other babies. This would just eliminate the whole issue ;)
*Pray that the kidney doesn't get any larger. Since his is well above what's considered "extreme", it is a big concern that his kidney is going to suffer a lot of damage.
*Pray that the left kidney doesn't get any worse since it is carrying most of the work right now and Owen may be dependent on that one if the right one is damaged.
*Pray that my fluid levels stay nice and normal (so far they are totally fine). If the kidneys function goes too far down, my fluid levels can begin to drop since the kidneys circulate the amniotic fluid. This would be bad since Owen's lungs need the fluid to develop. We haven't had any trouble with this and are also getting closer and closer every week to being far enough along that if this happened they could intervene and he could be safe. Still, it's always nerve wracking since there are four weeks in between each time they check.
There's lots more, I'm sure. But we're basically just praying to get him here safe and as healthy as possible!
Here are a few pictures of Owen at 21 weeks 5 days:
I wanted to end this post with a song I was listening to off of some friend's pages on Facebook today. It's so easy when things in life get hard to start questioning what God's plan is in all of this. I think this was particularly hard for me this pregnancy because we have had so many struggles this past year and a half just trying to have another baby. When I got pregnant with Owen it was a countdown the whole time to just survive the first trimester. I was almost afraid to even get excited again since we had already been through two loses that were so disappointing. Just when I thought we had made it to the "clear" we find out all of this stuff at 20 weeks. It seems like we have just had year after year of it always being something that comes up. We've also seen a lot of friend's go through some hard pregnancies lately or even sadness from lack of pregnancies and it just always seems unfair. I had to have a couple of "Seriously, God?!" "Have I not proven myself faithful in every other way I have been drug through the ringer?!" moments. But, I was quickly reminded that in life we face all kinds of difficult circumstances and trials and although it's easy to want to question God's plan for us, we have to remember that God would never purposely hurt us. He might allow bad things to happen to us, but it's always because His greater plan is for our own good. As crazy as it might sound to some of my friends who have never experienced a true relationship with God, I really do trust him with good and bad. I may have moments where in my prayers I let him know that I just don't understand what he's dong ;) or I may let him know that I don't like it! But I always, ultimately trust whatever He has in store for me. Because I really believe that the God I love is a caring, loving, generous, God who only wants the very best for me and my family. So much so, that he would allow me to go through tough times because the final outcome and shaping of my life is that important to Him!
"I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world." John 16:33
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