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Hi everyone. I am joining you again for the 2nd go round. I posted a month or so ago and retold my story. My son (now almost 14 months) had the focus and was born healthy and perfect. In fact, his focus actually "faded" by my 30 week ultrasound. I went yesterday for the 2nd ultrasound for my screenings for baby no 2 (which we also learned wa__s a boy yesterday). I am 18 weeks pregnant. Well, this time we have 2 spots. I went to ths same perinatologist as I did with my first son--it seems this time he played it down more than he did last time even. I am not stressed about it at all--mainly because my first son was healthy and I hear all your good news stories every day as well. However, I am back to join you all again! Let's keep our heads up and enjoy our pregnancies. Congrats STEFFIE92S!!

Mommatobabyv - I would suspect the "shadow" IS the EIF, sometimes I've heard they call it a shadow or spot. But of course you need to ask your Perinatologist if that's what your midwife was talking about. As you can see on this board, there are numerous positive stories of women whose babies have had EIF and were born completely healthy, even women who did not have any type of blood testing, Steffie92s is a good example, since she, like you opted out of any blood tests. Kbrewer1- Oh wow!!!! Second baby with EIF, unbelievable!!!! Well you now know what to expect and hopefully can enjoy your pregnancy more than the first time around!!! That's incredible!!!! ALL- I'm rarely posting here lately, but we do have a Facebook Group, created by Steffie92s, in which we are approx 27+ Moms whose babies have EIF's, we post there everyday and have created a great support system. We also have lots of information on EIF and even an email to one of our members from the famous Dr.Filly who wrote "The best way to Terrify a Pregnant Woman". If you have Facebook, know that its a secret group that cannot be seen on your profile, since many of us haven't told many friends/family. Anyways if anyone is interested in joining email me at eu_21"at"hotmail.com

Hi everyone, I am 22 yo and 18.5 weeks pregnant with my first. we did the ultrasound on tuesday where they saw the dreaded foci spot. everything else looked great. we had previously refused and genetic testing, so i don't have any numbers. i see that pretty much everyone that had only this one (sometimes two) soft marker came out fine. i ask, then why are they ruining our pregnancies by saying this is related to down's syndrome? my doctor a__sured me nothing would come of it, that give my age and background there is no need for further testing, and the losses a__sociated with amniocentesis are much, much greater than my risk of a down's child. the ultrasound we had had done was a "level II" as it was a full fetal anatomical survey. i've spent all morning comparing my unborn child's profile to that of a child with DS. i mean, really, it is just my luck to get a marker like this, that usually means nothing but could also mean SOMETHING. the hardest thing for me now is just knowing that it is out of my hands, that there is nothing i can do but hope for the best and try to forget about some stupid spot they saw on the ultrasound. thanks western medicine! also, the best of luck to all of you ladies (and dads). i'll be checking up on here frequently i'm sure, as it has been very soothing.

YEAH STEFFIE!!!!! SOOOOO HAPPY FOR YOU!!! I have been waiting to hear your good news and am so psyched for you. Can't wait to hear all the details. CONGRATS!!!!

Hi everyone, I am finally posting my birth story. I just had a healthy baby girl five days ago! After 32 hours of grueling labor Laila Jane finally arrived. I labored on my own for 28 hours and had only progressed to 4-5 cm. I was so exhausted because I hadn't slept at all in that whole time period and the contractions got so intense that I actually caved and got the epi. My birthplan called for a natural birth but I didn't think that it would be sooo long. It was actually the best decision because after that I progressed to a 9 in 1 hour! I was able to then sleep for a few hours and about 9:45 a.m. they wanted me to push. She progressed very quickly out of the birth ca___l but she had the cord around her neck and her heartrate was dropping so they told me they needed to me get her out quick. They were all ready to use the forceps if I couldn't. I do it but they did do an episiotomy on me (not in my birth plan either) but only because they needed her out so quick. She was very responsive as soon as she was placed on my chest and got an Apgar scores of 9 and 9.I asked the doc right away about the focus and down syndrome and he rea__sured me again that Laila was fine. I did check her palms right away though too after I looked at her face,but she was perfectly healthy. I still haven't slept at all since she is wanting to b___stfeed so much. My thoughts go out to everyone on this board and wishing you all lil miracles as well!!

Greetings all. Sorry to have been quiet on the board but for a while they thought my baby was going to be early (like 34 weeks due to low amniotic fluid) so I was scrambling to get set up. I posted my story around 18-20 weeks. I had two soft markers found - an EIF and a CPC (choroid plexus cyst). Of course, as for many of you, the finding of the one soft marker, not to mention two, gave me many hours of worry. We opted out of amnio and took my first trimester screening odds (1:931 before markers) as our source of information. I'm thrilled to say little Natalie was born this past Monday and all is well...we didn't know boy or girl so everything about birth was a surprise! I'll be continuing to think of all of you and will check back here. It's nice to be on the other side and soon you all will be there too! Best wishes.

Yay texasmom!!! I am soooooo happy for you! Keep us posted on how Natalie is doing. It is nice to be on the other side isn't it!

Congrats texasmom!!!! Enjoy your baby girl!!!!!! - As for me, I'll be 33 weeks this upcoming week, so 7 more to go!!!!!

YAY texasmom!!! Huge congrats, I know how relieved and excited you must be! WOW there are many girls being born lately!

Texas mom! Great to hear from you. I hope I'm not posting this twice, but I don't think my last comment saved. I love the name Natalie! Sorry to hear it sounds like things were stressful towards the end. Again, great to hear all is well as we were/are in the same situation with the EIF and CPC. JUst want to see her little face! I'm 39 wks and 1 day so we are just waiting! Enjoy your girl! Are oyu on Facebook? If so, let's connect I would love to see pics! Jen Repenshek

JEN REPENSHEK- HI!!! I haven't seen you on the Facebook EIF Group for long time!!!!!!! Wow 39 weeks already.... almost there!!!!! Good luck to you and my best for a healthy baby girl!!!!! Please keep us posted!!!!!!

Hi Jen, I'm still a Facebook holdout. Thinking of you...happy birthing!!!!!

I just received the call that many of you have - there was an abnormality on our ultrasound, a spot on our baby's heart. I am currently 21 weeks pregnant, 29 years old and my husband and I have attempted to take a pretty natural road during this (our first) pregnancy. I did not get the earlier offered genetic testing and we were actually quite hesitant to get this ultrasound done (which was ordered after my inital 18 week ultrasound did not give enough clear pictures of our baby's heart). We're currently in the mental/emotional process of weighing our doctor's desire for a level 2 ultrasound with our worry regarding "over-ultrasounding" our baby and the potential risks that might hold. From what I've read here (and was told by my midwife), these spots seem somewhat common and often lead to nothing. And even if something does result from this spot, my husband and I will accept the cards we are dealt. So, I guess my question is, are we crazy to forego the level 2 ultrasound and just let nature take its course? Or should we go with the medical instruction and get the (additional, potentially risky?) ultrasound, knowing that our plans will not change regardless of the outcome?

I've only posted on this board a couple times, but I wanted to make sure to give an update when I had one. I delivered a healthy baby boy on May 28! He had an isolated EIF on his left ventricle...my quad screen was negative. This board has been so much help in seeing that you should remain positive about your pregnancy with an isolated EIF. I'm thankful that I found the facebook group through this site too! Everyone was so supportive and it really helped me feel that I was not alone on this journey. I wish everyone the best of pregnancies and enjoy them!

Hi Etoile - I can see your dilemma. I had twins 20 months ago and as a result, had to withstand numerous ultrasounds. Then, after finding that our boy twin had two soft markers (two dilated kidneys and a spot on the heart) we decided to have the level 2 ultrasound to try and put our minds at ease. It did, somewhat, b/c they also measure other markers, like limb length and the nose plate, etc. So knowing those things were developing normally were a great comfort. However, watching his kidneys continue to dilate until te day he was born was a bit stressful. But the u/s left me feeling quite prepared and also allowed us to have extra doctors on hand in the delivery room (especially since it was twins) should we need them. Anyway, I am still drawn to this board b/c I want to put minds at ease if possible. Given my age, the twin-pregnancy factor, and the number of soft markers we had, our odds were not great. But I delivered two healthy babies who will be turning two shortly. Yes, these markers can be quite common. An often time don't result in the worst-case-scenario. Best wishes.

Hi everyone. New to this forum, though I've been reading it constantly for the past few days. I'm 36 and about 20 weeks preg. with baby #3. Nuchal test, quad screen, and penta screen all came back negative and I thought I was in the clear as far as having a healthy baby. At my 20 week u/s yesterday the tech found an EIF and didn't explain much about it. I'm both a fact person and have a hx of anxiety disorders and I've had the most terrible two days. I called my OB when I got home from the u/s and he didn't call for two days. I've been in agony trying to figure out what this might mean without an MD's interpretation. My quad screen said that my chances of ds were 1 in 254,000, the u/s tech said to divide that by two (1 in 75K?) but MD just said my chance would be 1 in 300. They can't squeeze me in for an amnio for another week, and with my almost constant panic I don't know how I'm going to make it through another week. Does anyone know if it's even possible to have very negative bloodworks, nuchal tests, quad screen, etc. that would miss ds? I'm not coping very well and am feeling like a terrible wife/mother to my family because I'm overcome with anxiety. Help!