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Hi everyone.
My Aunt is in her early 40's and pregnant with her second child, she is
approx ~19-20 weeks pregnant. in her most recent ultrasound it was revealed hat the baby was in the breached position and upon further inspection they were able to identify a "spark?" or "bright spot" near the baby's heart, which is an indicator for downs syndrome. she went in for further testing and even had an amnio(sp?) test done..the test said the baby doesn't have downs syndrome and tested negative for chromosome 13 and 18 i believe..so essentially nothing genetically wrong ..right? so what has the doctors and my aunt baffled is why the baby has retained excess fluid all over it's body; all limbs, and the head...the doctor said that the baby is essentially giving up on life and that if it were to survive the pregnancy it would only have a year max to live. They advised her to terminate the pregnancy but knowing that there is nothing wrong genetically she is extremely confused. so, i was wondering if anybody experienced the same thing or knows of somebody who has..i would really appreciate some insight on the situation. since there is a slight language barrier between my aunt and the doctor I feel like she's not understanding the diagnosis.
Thank you..anything will be helpful
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First off, I would never presume to know what exactly is going on with your aunt, but here's one possibilty I've heard about.
A fetus w/o any chromosome abnormalities can retain fluid through its entire body if the kidneys are not functioning properly. In adults, a kidney transplant could help, but in a fetus/newborn nothing could be done except dialysis which would be HARD to impossible.
Can you go to the doctor with your aunt and try to get the doctors to explain exactly what is going on? I don't think anyone should have to make a decision to terminate or not based on an unclear diagnosis.
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