Well. We went to Saint Marys for a scan by the fetal team last week. They confirmed that there is a hernia on Rubys umbilical cord. Unfortunately this can mean there is chromosonal problems such as Downs, Spina Bifida or brain problems. Obviously we were devastated as no one had told us this previously.
They offered us an Amnio to find out for definite if Ruby has any of these problems which we accepted. It was a bit uncomfortable for Amanda but she was so upset she hardly noticed. Anyway, once we’d had that they told us that the results come back in two stages. Within 3 working days you find out about the big chromosonal problems, then within 10 more days they have the results for the other pairs of chromosones.
On the following Monday we went back to the Royal Oldham where we met with a very nice Doctor. She explained that depending on the amnio results we will know what will happen to Ruby. I’m not saying here what they were, but they aren’t very nice options.
As well, at Saint Marys the doctor had noticed that on some snaps it looked like there was a problem with Rubys diaphragm maybe having a little hole in it. On other snaps it looked fine.
On Tuesday, Amanda got a call from Saint Marys to say that the 1st set of Amnio results had come back fine which is obviously a massive relief. I’m not getting too excited because we still need to know the other results (which should come in a few days). We are off to Saint Marys in the morning for a further scan to look at Rubys diaphragm/tummy problem.
If at the end of all this, she is left with just the hernia problem, that is apparently very common (Two people from my office know people who had it) and can be sorted by a little op when Ruby is born.
Anyway, I think thats all for now. Just to say, I have never felt so stressed or upset in all my life. Thankfully I have got a very brave wife and nice friends who are being very supportive. Even so, it doesn’t seem too fair.
Pip pip
Laird Doyle