Rollercoasters are NOT SAFE...

during pregnancy. Unfortunately I've been on one the last couple days - and not in the literal sense of the word.

It started yesterday morning - I came back from the restroom and the receptionist told me "I just put Dr. XX (my ob doctor) through to your voicemail." My heart kind of sank a little. I asked if she said what she wanted, of course she hadn't. I had just had my 20-week ultrasound on Friday and my appointment with Dr. XX wasn't until the following week, I couldn't imagine what it could be. I had a co-worker waiting for me to walk up-town to grab lunch, so I asked him if he'd mind if I checked my voicemail real fast. Dr.XX just left a message saying "This is Dr. XX, I was wanting to talk to you about your ultrasound results, give me a call back at XXX-XXXX." I grabbed my cell phone, asked my co-worker if he'd mind if I called during our walk up, he didn't. I called, the doctor's receptionist put me on hold to get the doctor. And I was on hold for what felt like a lifetime.....in reality it wasn't more than 5 minutes.

The Doctor came on the line, first apologizing for having to leave me a voice message and hoping she didn't scare me, she went on to say that the ultrasound came back looking good EXCEPT there was a spot on the heart where light was shining through that shouldn't normally be there. What did I hear?! I heard that the baby had a hole in it's heart. I FREAKED OUT. I started crying, she asked me if I had a pen to write down when my high risk ultrasound was and who it was with. I didn't but said I'd call her back as soon as I got one. I immediately called Chris........in tears, nearly hysterical. I didn't know what to do, say or think.

I went into Subway and got an application and a pen (no, not to apply for a job, to write on!) I went out to a park bench and called the doctor back. I got the info. I needed - I was scheduled to see a doctor in a nearby town and have a Level II ultrasound the following day...at 2 p.m....over 24 hours later.

I then called my mom (during which time a sweet older lady came to me and hugged me, asking me if I was okay.....very nice gesture considering she had no clue what was wrong with me, other than I was pretty much hyperventilating on an uptown park bench), told her what I knew (which was still not a lot, that there was something wrong with the babies heart and it was in the left ventricle...).My mom reminded me that she had lost a sister and a niece at birth due to heart conditions - which I had known, but temporally forgotten, but hearing it made me that much more scared. I went to call my husband back and during the call with him the doctor's office started to call me- I answered and it was the receptionist asking if I could pick up my ultrasound results and paperwork to take with me the following day. By this time my co-worker came out of Subway and we started the walk back to the office. I was trying to control my tears, but it wasn't happening.....

By the time I got back to work it took me nearly an hour to calm down and feel comfortable enough to leave work (there was no way I could work) - when I left I headed to my doctor's office to pick up the paperwork. While I was there I asked if I could talk to my doctor for a minute, I got to see her within a couple minutes. I wanted to remind her about the heart conditions that ran in the family - she quickly informed me that this was NOT the same thing as having a hole in the heart. She again explained what they seen on the ultrasound, the 4 chambers - all filled with black, except the bottom left chamber had a spot in it - she gave me the technical term and told me that most of the time it was really not a big deal and to feel free to research it when I got home.

The ride home was horrible - I was still so confused and had no clue what to think or what was going on. The minute I walked in the door I was googling the term - intracardiac echogenic focus - and here is a short summary of what I learned:

An echogenic intracardiac focus (EIF) is a small white spot (as bright as bone) seen in the baby’s heart during an ultrasound examination. These bright spots appear to be caused by small deposits of calcium in the papillary muscle of the heart. EIF are most often a normal finding and have no significant effect on the development of the heart.

Some studies have shown that a baby is is more likely to have Down syndrome when an EIF is seen if the mother is over the age of 35 years old, has abnormal serum screening, or additional ultrasound findings. These babies may be about twice as likely to have Down syndrome when an EIF is seen.

If an echogenic intracardiac focus is found on routine ultrasound then a
targeted level II sonogram should be performed to

1.distinguish an EIF from a fetal cardiac tumor. Fetal cardiac tumors are most commonly found within the cardiac muscle or septum. Cardiac tumors tend to be larger, multiple, and are not as bright as the typical “echogenic focus”.

2. identify additional markers for Down syndrome if present.


So, I knew the Level II ultrasound would provide more insight as to whether it was a lone "marker" or if there were additional markers that the baby could have Down Syndrome. I researched a little about what some of the other markers would be and learned things like, the length of the nose, length of the arms and legs, abnormalities with the lip, hands or feet - and several other things. I was assured by the research that it was not a life or death situation for the baby - so I was relieved a little - but still very shaken up and nervous. It was a long night.....I couldn't relax, I walked to try and keep my mind off of it and sleep DID NOT come easily.

Day 2:

I decided to go into work until 1 p.m. - I was pretty much in a fog all day and the day seemed to take forever. Finally though it was 12:45 and Chris and my mom were there to get me - and we were on our way to the doctor (about 35 minutes away from where I work).

The ultrasound started and the nurse doing it was very nice. She told us the things she was measuring and we got to see Baby Zachary yawning, kicking the crap out of my bladder, touching is boy parts (several times!) and getting a little crazy with his movements! She also showed us that he was NO DOUBT a boy - and printed off a ton of pictures for us. She left to get the doctor so he could explain the ultrasound to us and let us know what was found.....

He came in, went over the ultrasound pictures - showed us the little spot on the heart - but announced all the other indicators (markers) for down syndrome were normal, and explained what this means for us......Here is basically what he said:

A normal 28 year old (my age at delivery) has a 1 in 800 and something chance of delivering a baby with down syndrome. Since we have one of the markers it increases Baby Zachary's chances by only 1% more than a normal 28 year old pregnancy - so his chances are 1 in around 400.....but, since he doesn't have any of the additional markers it's not very likely he will have Down Syndrome. He also pointed out that they were 99.9999% sure of the gender (we also got a lovely ultrasound picture to show he's a boy!). He said I wouldn't need to come back to see him (a high risk doctor) and that I have a healthy little boy and everything looks great.

I'm soooooooooooooooo relieved. After finding out I just felt exhausted from relief, if that makes sense.

We are so lucky and keeping our fingers crossed Mr. Zachary comes out a healthy, happy little boy.

**Sorry for such a long post - I wanted to document this for myself and at the same time share the story with you all**