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Hello everyone! I posted awhile ago when I was 18 wks. pregnant and found out our baby had an EIF on her heart. I wanted to give an update as well. She was born just perfect! No downs, no heart problems, nothing. I know how difficult it is not to stress out, but try to think positive thoughts for your baby and enjoy your pregnancy. I wish all of you currently going through this the best of luck. Thank goodness for this site because it provided my husband and I a lot of rea__surance during the pregnancy. Please let me know if there is anything I can do for any of you. I still check in on the site from time to time.

hi everyone i am30 weeks pregnant and when i had my 18 weeks u/s they found 2 soft sign one EIF and another choroid plex cyst cpc and they told me that possible the baby has down's syndrome and i was about to faint they arrange another u/s on 9 november 2006 and i did amino test too despite the proffesor refuse to do amino i am 30 years old and this is my fourth pregnancy i got amino result which is was normal 46xx but still i am afraid and depressed but when i read this side it gives me some comfort my due date is on 31 of march 2007 but till that time despite amino was normal still i am scared i will keep praying to god and good luck to all ladies .thanks hosna.

my son who is soon to be six years old had this same spot while i was pregnant. i could not sleep i was so worried so i went ahead with the amnio and it came back normal and he is a perfectly normal little boy. Now I am pregnant again and went for an ultrasound wednesday and this baby has the same spot. I am freaking out. I know that i shouldn't be worried since i went through this before but i am. has anyone else had this happen to them twice? I am still trying to decide if i am going to do the amnio or not. my appointment with maternal fetal medicine is february 13.

I too am glad that I found this site. It was awful to read the other articles on the web. Most were very uninformative and negative and my worrying became worse until I found this site. I am 20 weeks and 29yrs old w/ my first baby boy. We got a call today from our Dr. telling us about the EIF as well as a low lying placenta. I immediately began bawling and pretty much cried all day until now. We are scheduled for another US in 5 days. I am curious about the few people that mentioned Asians having more tendency toward EIF. Where did this info come from? It would certainly relieve some of the stress since I am full Asian. We did the AFP which came back negative so now I am wondering what's next. Even if we get our 2nd US, how much can they tell us to end our worrying w/ out an Amnio ruling out DS totally?

I posted in August and wanted you all to know that my little girl was born in November. She is perfect in everyway :) Wishing you all well.

I am 19 wk pregnant and i got my first ultrasound done 4 days back.i got a call from my doctor today that my ultrasound is fine except there is a shadow over babys heart...i really freaked me out...and she said that it may be a sign of downs syndrome..i also had quad test done ,,but they were normal..and the doctor said acc to the results a have 1 in 1500 hundred chance of downs....still i am very much confused.im am 27 yr old ...whick makes me a low risk...but my husband is 38 so...could this be a factor??i am so much confused after hearing about this shadow...please share ur experiences.thanks.

Firsttime, I was told by maternal fetal medicine that dad's age has no bearing on down's risk. If your quad screen was good, that is a good indicator. I am an NICU nurse, and we see many more pts now where these spots have been noted, and alot of Drs think these spots have always been more common, but ultrasounds are better now, and they are being noted more often than they used to. An amnio is only way to know for sure, but you sound low risk, and I'm sure another US will be planned to check heart again. Good luck, I hope everything works out well for you.

I got in to see the maternal fetal medicine today. They did not make me wait until the 13th. Good news is that they did the level II ultrasound and said that everything looked perfect. That white spot is still there but the doctor told me that he doesn't even think it is calcium. He thinks that it is just the way the sound waves hit off of that particular muscle and makes it look brighter. He offered me the amnio to ease my mind but I declined. He said that he sees about 30 patients a day and in a day he sees at least one bright spot in the heart. He also said that he has NEVER had a baby with only the white spot and no other abnormalties have Down Syndrome. That made me feel a lot better. Not to mention this is the second baby that I have went through this with and my first one to have it is almost 6 and perfectly healthy. I did go ahead and do that AFP test since he said it wasnt too late to do since I am only 19 weeks. Hopefully that will come out negative and I will be at the peace of mind I feel comfortable at. I am a big worrier. He also told me that having just an echgenic focus does not increase your risk any for down syndrome. He said dr's like to make a name for themselves and that is all that is. He said somethinng was released just last year stating that an echogenic foci alone is not an increase of down syndrome. He said he was over 99.5 % sure that my baby if just fine. I hope that maybe that eases your minds.

thanx for ur replies.ill call my doc tomm to schedule for a level 2 ultrasound...whats the difference bw a regular and level 2 ultrasound?is it safe to get two ultrasounds a week apart.

I had u/s number four yesterday and one of the EIF had disappeared. The other was still there but had appeared to fade dramatically since last u/s. I am 35 weeks pregnant and sonographer was able to have an awesome look at babies features, limb lengths etc...and she said everything is sweet so try to enjoy the last 5 weeks of pregnancy! I have been feeling ok with the EIF but am recently beginning to feel anxious again because delivery date is nearing. I think I will be feeling this way until my baby is finally in my arms! I too was concerned with the amount of u/s I was having but was a__sured the u/s do not harm mother or baby in any way. X-rays on the other hand are not as safe if pregnant. Will check in again soon. Chin up ladies xx

Don't worry about how many u/s u get or how close they are. They use soundwaves and not radiation. A close girlfriend runs a hospital radiology dept and a__sures me there are no dangers. As for my EIF, we went in for our Level II u/s last week but opted for a 2nd opinion. Our Dr. said our spot was larger then he's seen and the baby measured smaller then my date. This was most likely due to a larger reflection of the muscle in the heart and the babies size was most likely due to a wrong date of my last period (I wasn't exactly sure). But, the Fetal Med specialist was awful. He explained barely anything, then dismissed us. This is just a reminder to anyone who doesn't feel comfortable w/ the way their Dr treated them to def seek a 2nd opinion. Our case is probably nothing but the Dr. actually made us feel worse rather then better and as a mom to be I want relief not maybe's. I had to prod him for answers when he was ready to leave the room.

hi i wanted to thank all the people writing on this, as it is the only encouraging site i have found regarding the echogenic heart focus which was found on my baby a few weeks ago. i am 23 weeks along, and was extremely disturbed when told this. my midwife very casually mentioned it at our last check up, so when i went home i looked it up online and only saw the down syndrome possibility. i met with people in genetics and all they did was give me a sheet with a number circled on it...i have a one in 380 chance of an abnormality. i was terrified. this site has been my only real rea__surance, i pray to deliver a healthy baby and will certainly post back when my baby comes around june 3rd.

This is my follow-up post. I was pregnant with twin boys, and at my 20 week level II ultrasound, I got "the call" from my doctor. Apparently 1 baby had pyelectasis and the other baby had an echogenic foci (calcium spot) on his heart. To my doctor's credit, he really did not scare me and told me that without any other markers, he is not worried, and does not recommend doing anything. Well, it was easier for him to say, I was the one pregnant with them, and of course I researched both problems to death on the internet and scared myself silly. I honestly believe that there is just too much information out there, the joy of my pregnancy as I knew it up to this point was over. On January 30th, my 2 sons were born, both thank God the perfect picture of health. Both weighed in at 6 lb 1 oz and they are the most adorable and precious bundles you could ever imagine. I feel truly blessed, and now realize that I should not have worried so much, and should not have read so much stuff online. My Sis-in-law is an ultrasound tech and she told me that she sees this EVERY day and cannot remember ever a woman delivering a baby with DS or other problem from EIF alone. She said she has even stopped putting it in her ultrasound reports, it only scares mom's for no reason. It is such a weak marker that half of doctors don't even consider it a marker at all. I will not tell you all not to worry, because I know it is impossible, but I will say, worry less! Have faith and try to relax, pray and know that everything will be alright.

So, here is another question for everyone. I went to a Pediatric Cardiologist to look further into the EIF problem since my Fetal Med Dr. said it was larger then he'd seen before. She found that the spot was larger b/c there are actually 3 spots and not just one. In her 20 yrs of practice she has never seen three of these spots in a row. Has anyone or anyone else's Dr ever heard of this? She was a great Dr, and we were very comfortable w/ her but b/c of the uncertaintly of 3 spots Vs. 1 we are still worried. She said that she still believes the risk of Downs is low but the decision to do an Amnio is up to us. If it were only 1 spot she would dismiss the case totally but b/c it's 3 she can't say it 100%. Should I get the Amnio for peace of mind?

Wailing, I had an abnormal quad screen result, but so far no u/s markers after 2 level 2 u/s. I had decided after the first one that I would not do an amnio unless a defiinite diagnosis was needed by my OB for delivery. She said it was irrelevant whether she knows or not, but the important thing in making the decision to do/not do the amnio was whether I thought I could wait until June without driving myself crazy. To ME the small risk of a complication from doing the amnio outweighed confirming does she/doesn't she have DS. I felt that I could wait and not drive myself nuts. BUT you should do what is best for YOU. Being pregnant is a time to be happy and hopeful, if doing the amnio will put your mind at ease, then by all means you should do it. Everyone is going to have their own opinion about what you should do. Do what is best for YOU and don't feel like you have to justify your decision to anyone. Good luck and know that most of the cases result in a perfectly healthy newborn.

I had the white spot on my son's heart. we found this when i was 18 weeks pregnant and also he had a cyst. So with two marks, i was so worried and i went for amnio. The result of amnio came good. My son is about 7 months old now. He is very healthy boy. I would tell everyone not to worry about it. Enjoy your pregnancy. It is the time for enjoy. I really appreciate the emotional support i got from this forum. Thanks for all the moms who have given me the strength. The medical is getting more advanced but there are more studies to be done about these marks. The ultrasound machines they have now is very advanced but they have very little studies about the marks and how much they contribute to DS. I am sure all of your baby will be healthy. My prayers go to all of you.