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to ashlie i was in the same situation about a few weeks ago i can understand that you were upset and what you were going through as a mother thats how things are we worry about everything when it come to our children and especially a first time mother we dont know what to expect i am a first time mother too but my advice to you is that for you not to worry you are only putting stress on yourself and thats not healthy everything is going to be ok if they didnt see anything else wrong then chances are you will have a healthy baby just pray about it and continue to take good care of yourself and your baby those cyst are nothing at all when i had my first ultrasound there were two and when i went back for the second ultrasound one of then were gone and the other one was really small from the week before. just dont worry about it

Ashlie, I hope you are feeling better. Your feelings right now are totally normal. I spent Saturday night worrying about this and now I have realized that I have to hope for the best. Like Sade mentioned...as mothers it is normal for us to worry. I am hopeful that since everything else at the 18 wk u/s came back normal that this will eventually clear up. The waiting is the hardest part. Please let us know how things turn out. I have to go for my 2nd ultrasound on Sept. 13th. This is going to be the longest 3 weeks!!

I found another WONDERFUL web-site that is geared completely to CPCs. Please check it out if you have not found it already. It is so GREAT! http://www.choroidplexuscyst.org

Tania and Sade, thank you so much for the support!! I appreciate both of your kind words. I've calmed down somewhat. It has really helped to to read more on the subject, and there seems to be a lot of happy endings and healthy babies. It seems that these cysts are quite common. Well, I go for my level II ultrasound on Aug 30 and I will let yall know how it turns out. I hope everything turns out okay. Tania, please let me know how your second ultrasound turns out. I will be thinking of both of you! Thanks again for the support.

Gretchen, thank you for the website, I will definitely check it out. Ashlie, I am so happy to hear you are feeling better about this. I will let you know how things turn out. Good luck with your u/s. I agree, I have heard more positive than negative outcomes with this. Have a great day.

Hey girls, i just wanted to let you all know i went in for another u/s the cysts are still gone, and the fluid in the kidneys have lowered, and yet they still couldnt get the picture they needed of her heart but said theres nothing to worry about but sending me to a pediatric EI. so they can look at it! i went from feeling like i hit rock bottom when i thought everything wasnt well with my baby girl, but just keep hope! As i am with mine.

Good news Lace!! Hope all goes well from here on out. I see my midwife this week and I can't wait to hear my little ones heartbeat again. No matter what is happening, it is always so nice to hear that sound.

Hi girls, well, I had a terrible day yesterday. My doctor called and told me that the results of my triple screen came back at 1 in 111 for Downs. Which is still less than 1%, but she wanted me to go ahead and have my level II u/s. When I got there the nurse working me up noticed that they had my race wrong on the triple screen test, and she said that affects results, so she supposedly had it reconfigured and it came back 1 in 121 which was a little better. Upon having my u/s the sonographer looked at the head forever and finally said I just dont see any cysts. She was like are you sure thats what they saw on your other u/s and not shadows and I was like I have no idea. So then the doctor comes in and they look and look and he finally says oh, I think I may see a small something on the left choroid plexus, that may or may not be a cyst. They commence to measuring all of her bones, checking her organs, and all he could find wrong was an echogenic focus on the left ventrical of the heart-- a small bright spot. Then I also found out that my doctor had me a week behind what I actually am, so that also affects the triple screen test. So then this doctor starts offering a amnio, which I just dont feel like there's enough for me to take that risk. This has really ruined my pregnancy and has me just frustrated. Do they not think about how they are upsetting us as mothers with all of these half baked statistics and tests and theories?? Does anyone have any advice for me???? I ve read that the bright spot on the heart is common in babies, Does anyone have any info. on this. I would appreciate any info anyone has!!!!

Ashlie, i know how you feel! Its awful to rely on such tests that are always going back and forth. I found out that im 20 weeks and im one week behind. But my doctors said they dont worry about that unless your a about 2-21/2 weeks behind. I to had a cpc in my babys head, but luckily 10 days later the cyst had gone away. Then they told me my baby had a 5.0 mm of fluid in the kidneys which is almost to the level of needing surgery when the baby is born, and found a bright spot in the heart as well. When i found out all of this i got really upset. I looked up all the information i could find and yet i finally called my doctor again and asked questions. Because the doctor that i saw for my level 2 u/s offered me an Amnio. I declined because to be honest the back and forth tests of having down syndrome or not didnt matter to me because i knew that i would be having this baby regardless of the outcome. Because they told me all of that and that my tests came out "normal" but they say most babies that come out with down syndrom have a "normal" screen. And then they told me that i was a 1/5500 chance of having a down syndrom baby. I went 14 days later and the cyst was still gone, the fluid in the kidneys went down to about 4.6mm and they checked the heart again and said they still couldnt see the whole heart like they wanted because the baby was in a bad position again, but were going to send me to a pediatric heart specialist to see all of it and he believes there most likely isnt anything wrong. So i would see a pediatric heart specialist because they can spot problems with with babies heart right away. I denied the amnio as i said but if it makes you feel comfortable to know then take it. But to be honest even with all of those soft markers it still wasnt enough of a reason to take the test and submit my baby to the chance of having a miscarriage. I know how you feel its very frustrating and to be honest thinking about it and getting angry about it doesnt help believe me! i cried for like two weeks straight and was really upset and its not good for the baby. So i think ask a lot of questions, get the answers you need, think deep down is this okay? and if so let it go... take this pregnancy and enjoy it! my doctor said that i had about 1% chance of have a down syndrome baby, from all the tests, and being only 21 yrs old and etc and to be honest her information and telling me she'd pa__s the amnio with all the soft markers i had was enough info. to just let this go as it is and enjoy it and ive been happy since and have had a lot better news lately. But try to relax because in most cases its just all this high technology and most cases the baby is fine, but my cousin had a pregnancy where she bled the whole time and offered an amnio and bed rest, she declined the amnio and has this perfect chubby baby girl! not to mention her son who is now 3 yrs old was born with a very serious heart condition that they didnt see when he was in the womb but guess what he had surgery and now is running around like every other little boy. Im sorry i cannot give you the best information. But to me with everything i thought it was enough hope for me. And i know if problems dont get worse and they see that the baby wouldnt last i wouldnt take the amnio and id let life happen as it would. I wish you the best!

Ashlie, I wondered myself if these ObGyns even THINK what are they putting mothers through when they tell us about CPC diagnosis! I am 27 weeks pregnant with a boy and approximately a week ago my doctor told me that the ultrasound I had done 3-4 weeks ago showed bilateral (on both sides) CPC. Ofcourse I freaked out! I don't even know how I got home.. She did tell me not to worry, that she will send me to a high risk doctor. I mean.. is she crazy?!?! How can I NOT worry?? As soon as I was done I called a friend of mine who had twins a year ago, and one of the twins was also diagnosed with CPC; little girl is just fine! My friend also told me that her co-worker had a daughter who is year and a half (also diagnosed with CPC), and the little girls is just fine. That calmed me down a little bit.. When I got home, I looked up CPC and it didn't sound as bad as I was affraid it will. It seems to me that with these new ultrasounds, they can see much more - sometimes they see things that haven't even been researched yet and are not big deal! I heard the cysts disappear usually by 24-26th week, and I won't know if my baby still has it until I go to my next ultrasound. Actually, I'm not sure if I want to go.. how can it possibly be good for a baby if they x-ray him 3-4 times before birth?! I'm still mad with my doctor.. I think if she had a baby, she's have a completely different approach with mothers with this diagnosis!! :-/

Mia, I completely agree. I am really considering changing doctors. I don't want to hear about all of these "statistics" and this "could" mean this,or "could" mean that. It has really practically ruined my pregnancy for me. Instead of being happy, relaxed and excited, Im a nervous wreck. If the doctor believes something is really wrong with my baby and has proof, than by all means, of course I want to know, but she's practically disecting everything on my baby to try to find something wrong. Apparently these cysts are more common than our doctors know, and like I said by my 2nd ultrasound, which was a level II, the cysts were gone....or were they ever there in the first place....this was 5 days after my doctor initially saw what she believed were the cysts, and from everything I've read, that triple screen blood test is hightly inaccurate and has a high false positive rate, but my doctor REQUIIRES her patients to take it, where as a lot of other doctors won't because they say its not reliable enough. I hope my baby is okay and there is nothing wrong, but my doctor has not been the least bit comforting to me, all she wants to do is spout off statistics and percentages and Im very angry right now and frustrated. Im glad you and I were able to vent about this!!!!! These doctors really need to start thinking about what they are putting us through as mothers.

I honestly wouldn't get too mad at your doctor although this whole "diagnosis" is very distressing. On the flip side, if you were to find out later that your doctor suspected a potential problem but never mentioned it I think you would be justifiably angry about it. There was a time when doctors didn't tell women anything about their babies and/or childbirth and I don't think we really want to go back to the way it was a few decades ago!!! Also, I don't believe that the cysts disappearing is the same as the potential risk the cysts might have indicated when they were there initially (sorry if that doesn't make any sense...I am really not an expert n this...just a person who has received the same diagnosis...) Plus CPCs aren't a marker for downs, they are a marker for Trisomy-18.

KJ, I thought I read that too about the cysts being more connected with Trisomy 18, not so much with down syndrome. But my doctors never mentioned Trisomy 18, only down syndrome. Did you also read this somewhere, or did your doctor tell you this?? I am so confused--It seems like the doctors don't know enough about these cysts, and they are just making stabs in the dark about them. Im not upset with my doctor about telling me about the cysts, I just feel that she didnt fully explain anything about them, except for to say they could indicate down syndrome. Instead of trying to comfort me in any way, she just scared the mess out of me and ran out of the room to the next patient. I guess Im just frustrated.

I know there are a lot of posts on this page, but I think you 'll see that most people have healthy babies with no problems after a diagnosis of CPC's. Statistically the majority of babies are completely healthy. As K.J. said, your doctor has to tell you about these things, or they'll set sued later by someone. I am currently studying genetic counseling and I can a__sure you that even with the finding of CPC's the risk to have a baby w/ trisomy 18 is still less than 1% (it is just alittle higher than it was w/o the finding). It can be really scary when doctors start talking about lots of percents and risks, but please realize they are just trying to help. Always remember that the majority of babys are healthy an CPCs have been shown to NOT affect the intelligence and development of the babies that have them. Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy and know that more that most babies with severe problems like trisomy 18 also have other findings besides CPCs. Your baby is mostly likely completely healthy. Megan

Megan, thank you so much for your support, and encouragement. They also found and eif on the babys left heart ventrical. Its and Echogenic Intracardiac Focus, or basically a little calcium spot that shows up as a bright spot on the baby's heart on the ultrasound. They said this could also be a "soft marker" for down syndrome. Have you heard of this????

Yes, we see those a lot too. Again, it is considered a very soft marker; meaning it has a connection to Down syndrome, but not a really strong one. I have worked in three high risk prenatal clinics so far, and 2 of them mentioned it as a possible "marker" for Down syndrome and the third didn't even mention it. We would actually consider a short femur (thigh bone) and humerous (arm bone) to be stronger indicators of Down syndrome than CPCs. Always keep in mind that markers are NOT birthdefects. The echogenic focus typically will go away and not cause any problems what-so-ever. As for the CPCs these are something researchers believe can come and go through out an individuals life. They have been found in children, adults, and even elderly people without any consequences. Please let us know if you have any other questions.