echogenic bowel

[anonymous]

Hi,
I was just wondering if anybody has had experience with an echogenic bowel during pregnancy. During a recent ultrasound, the dr. said that my baby's bowel was a little bit lighter than he expected. He was quick to put out that it did not qualify as an echogenic bowel (not bright enough), but that he wants me to come in for more ultrasounds as the pregnancy progresses to keep an eye on it. I guess my question is, if it truly is an echogenic bowel, doesn't that require immediate surgery at birth? And will that entail lots of hospitalization time? I will go see my OB on Feb 1st and ask him too. But to be honest, you guys on here seem a lot more knowledgeable and helpful than any of the doctors I have come across in regards to CF. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"> Thanks so much for your input.

 

[JazzysMom]

Is there any known reason to believe its connected to CF? Echogenic bowel can be connected to CF, but it is often just an immature intestine that can take care of itself or sometimes it appears bright from the baby swallowing blood while in the womb. The swallowing of blood does not normally hurt the baby. I am "assuming" they want to keep an eye on it to see if it does rectify itself which would greatly reduce the chances of it being CF related. My sis had this problem with one of her children. That is how I know of it. However; with us there is no family history until me so they ran on the asssumption it was CF. Turns out it wasnt, but it could have been. Good Luck & keep us updated!

 

[ashton2005]

Welcome to our site.. I read your post and I will give you my experience, although yours may be a lot different.... Ashton started showing an echogenic bowel during pregnancy which they followed very closely. They also testes me to see if i was a carrier for CF which came back that i was so i had my husband tested.. We were not aware of this prior to the testing.. It ended up that we were both carriers.. So i elected to have an amnio done due to me wanting to know and smewha prepare myself.. the amnio came back positive for the DF508 gene of CF.. Of course it was devistating but we delt with it.. When ashton was born 4 weeks early not only did he have a blockage but his bowel where it was blocked his bowel wasent formed all of the way which did require 10 weeks of staying in the NICU but he is home now. Of course we are still trying to figure out his poop issues but other than that he is great and doing good. He is now home and sleeping in his swing as we speak.. HAHA... hopefully this dosent scare you to much but its good that they are keeping an eye on it.. and hoepfully it is just blood that the baby swallowed.. keep us up to date.

Christi
Ashtons mommy 11 weeks old w/ CF
Abbis mommy 5yo no CF

 

[anonymous]

Hi there,

I can also give you some personal experience but each individual pregnancy is different.

When I was 5 months pregnant with my daughter(over 3 years ago) a routine ultrasound showed an echogenic bowel. I think it was pretty obvious. My OB stated she wanted to do a Level 2 ultrasound a few days after with an experienced perinatalogist( I think this is the term for this type of doctor) It's a type of MD who is experienced in looking at ultrasounds of high risk pregnancys and women who may be pregnant with babies with genetic diseases , heart defects, etc. They did the ultrasound again (the Level2) and yes the echogenic bowel was there. The docs were not sure of what exactly was wrong with my daughter but one thing they mentioned is that it could be an indicator for CF or perhaps nothing at all was wrong with my baby. I was referred to have genetic testing(my husband and I had the CF carrier bloodwork and lo and behold we both were carriers. It was a total shock to us. We had already had a healthy little boy and no known history of CF in our family. After much consideration I did have an amnio, and found out my daughter had CF. My older son does not have CF.

My daughter is now 3 years old and did require surgery to fix the bowel obstruction at birth froma meconium ileus. However, not every baby with CF needs to have surgery at birth for this. Each child with CF can have very differnt experinces.

I know of another women whose son had an echogenic bowel while she was pregnant and it turned out to be nothing and he was totally healthy. And I know another woman who was pregnaant and had an echogenic bowel on ultrasound , her dauhgter did have CF she found out but was able to pass the meconium after she was delivered and did not require surgery.

If you have the Cf carrier bloodworkdone on you and you are not a carrier your baby can not have CF. Both you and your husband have to both carry the CF mutation to have a baby with CF. I guess the bloodwork is something you could ask you OB about so if you are not a carrier , your baby could not have CF.

Rebecca(mom to Sammy 7 no CF and MAggie 3 with CF)

 

[anonymous]

Welcome! Hopefully, your stay will be short and your sweet baby's bowels are fine. I had a daughter with cf when the ultrasound showed echogenic bowel with my son when I was 24 weeks along. I found a good perinatal doctor who followed the pregnancy as well as an excellent surgeon. The surgeon was key to educating my husband and I and he recommended that we give my son 10 days to pass his meconium after birth. The surgeon was the doctor who closely followed my son after he was born and made the decisions about his treatment. They gave my son enemas as well a medication that allowed him to pass his all of meconium on day 10, the morning of his scheduled surgery. My son came home two days later and has not had any bowel problems since. What a blessing we knew ahead of time! Most of the time surgery occurs when the meconium plug comes at a surprise for the parents and doctors exploratory surgery is needed. Surgery is also performed when doctors can tell the intestines are not connected or they are twisted and the baby is not able to pass meconium at all. Your OB will probably not know a lot about bright bowel or cf. that It is best to go see a perinatal doctor, they are the experts (like us parents on this board!). I do have more info about echogenic bowel to pass on to you if you want to e-mail me at sdelorenzo@sbcglobal.net
Sharon, mom of Sophia, 4 and Jack, 2 both with cf

 

[anonymous]

Wish I would've known ahead of time. Either it didn't show up on DS's ultrasound or it did and they didn't think it was an issue. DS was born two weeks early and the OB thought he maybe stooled in the womb right before birth. He was covered in green when he was born and they had to suction out quite a bit of stuff. He spent the night in the NICU. Next morning he was fine, ate well, several doctors looked him over -- about 4 p.m. he started hurling green goo. They did a bunch of xrays and finally determined he had an intestinal blockage. Had to be lifeflighted to the City for surgery -- had a twisting, rotation, blockage and while undergoing surgery a section of his bowel burst. He spent a month and a half in the NICU. He recovered from the surgery after about 7 days; however, he kept getting infection after infection that required IV antibiotics.

 

[anonymous]

Hi,
I had an ultrasound at 15 weeks that showed an echogenic bowel, I already knew I was a carrier so we did the amnio on the same day.
Four weeks later we were informed he indeed had cystic fibrosis.
I continued with regular ultrasounds to monitor his bowel, which eventually began to dilate.
31 weeks- 1 cm dilation
34 weeks- 1.6 cm dilation
36 weeks- 2.6 cm dilation
Doctors did nothing but sit and wait to see what would happen, he was a large baby weighing 10 lbs at 37 weeks gestation, and 11 lbs 2 ozs at birth.
At 38 weeks gestation his bowel ruptured and nearly killed him, he stopped breathing and moving, I went to the hospital and he was delivered four hours later via c/section. He went through 8 long minutes of resusitation and was taken to the childresn hospital two hours away. He is doing well now but suffered severe brain damage from the lack of oxygen at birth.
My reason for sharing this with you and anyone else going through this is to inspire you to DEMAND doctors take this seriously. The perinatologist informed me during my pregnancy that if my babys bowel ruptured he would be fine because it is a "sterile" environment" and that is bologna! The pediatric surgeon whom performed my son's surgery said babies born with meconium peritonosis (ruptured bowel) are NEVER fine.
I hope everything works out and your baby is fine, sometimes an echogenic bowel just resolves itself and is no cause for concern. But if your baby does have CF do NOT let doctors push you around, they always made me feel like an overreacting mother and I bowed down to them. Now, I live with regret with all of the "what ifs" and things I could have done.
Jen

 

[1princess]

Okay - here is my question - the last time we had a level 2 ultrasound was back in October and I was 23 weeks pregnant - they didn't see any problems with the bowels - they were clear. Anyway, I am now 37 weeks and I have asked my OBGYN if I should have another ultrasound to check the bowels and he said no. Wondering if I shouldn't insist on one more ultrasound just to make sure - reason is where I am delivering there is no NICU so she would have to be taken to another hospital away from me if she is born with meconium illius. I am having a scheduled c-section Feb. 1 and the last month I have been getting really nervous about everything. We choose not to do the amnio to find out if our baby has CF, but now of course I am wishing we would have just found out.

I go to the doctor tomorrow morning so I am going to ask again - maybe he hasn't even read my darn file since I have seen several doctors throughout my pregnancy and he wasn't really involved in the beginning when we found out we were carriers.

 

[anonymous]

Did they test to see if you were a carrier??? That should have been done, IMO. Just to be on the safe side, I mean what harm would that have done???

And yes, if you feel another ultrasound is necessary DEMAND IT!!! I learned the hard way, don't let them tell you what you need, because truth be known you know better what you need then they do most of the time.

On the bright side, if it wasn't present that late in pregnancy it probably just resolved itself, but that doesn't mean you haven't got the right to be concerned and you deserve to have an u/s if that is what would make you feel better.

Jen

 

[anonymous]

Deidre,
I re-read your post and you must already know you are a carrier, I thought you were the op at first.
I would still demand an u/s. I have always been a very passive person, but after this pregnancy nightmare I went through, I have become very aggressive when it comes to my baby. I wish I would have developed this attitude a lot sooner. You would not believe how bad they disregarded my concerns, its dispicable. I don't care how small or big the issue is I DEMAND doctors give it their full attention. And its ALWAYS better safe than sorry.
Jen

 

[1princess]

I went to the doctor this morning and they have agreed to go ahead and do another ultrasound. This time we are just doing a regular ultrasound and not a level 2, but he said if there was a bowel problem that it would definitely show up at this point. We go Thursday morning. My doctor was really great and he understood my concerns - I just don't want to be at one hospital if my baby is born with a problem and has to be transferred without me.

I thought it was interesting that all three doctors in that practice agreed with me that it was a smart decision to NOT have the amnio done early on. From this board it seems like I am one of the only ones that made that decision - it was a hard decision to make and I still go back and forth about whether we made the right decision. Oh well - too late now, our little angel will be here in 2 weeks and 1 day!!!!

 

[anonymous]

Hi,
I have 3 children and my 1 year old has cf. She was diagnosed at 6 weeks from here newborn blood screen that it was a possibility since she atleast had one cf mutaion f508.It took 3 more months to find her other mutation. It has only been seen 1 other time. Even if I had a blood test to see if I were a carrier it would never had shown cause the mutation is so rare. Even though having a cf child would I have an amnio. if I were pregnant again? No. I wouldn't have changed anything. God gives what he gives for a reason. She is doing well.
Katina

 

[anonymous]

I did not do an amnio when I was pregnant with Jack even though I already had a child with cf. I figured there was a 2% chance that I would have a baby with cf as well as the baby having meconium illues. WELL....it of course did happen. BUT the ultrasounds showed problems with his intestines and we were able to plan for his birth accordingly. The amnio wouldn't have changed anything for us. It would have been great knowing at that point in the pregnancy, but I wasn't going to risk the 2% chance of losing the baby due to the amnio either. I agree God does not give you more than you can handle.
Sharon, mom of Sophia, 4 and Jack, 2 both with cf

 

[anonymous]

If you and your spouse are carriers, or if you have a child with CF there's a 25% chance any other children you have will also have CF. That's a 1 in 4 chance that any subsequent children will have the disease. Knowing what we do now, I figure DD will have to be an only child. I realize people are getting PGD covered by insurance, but I'm in my 40s and my biological clock is practically done ticking.

 

[anonymous]

I chose to do the amnio because I wanted to prepare myself mentally. I didn't want to find out on the day he was born. I innocently believed that if I had the diagnosis so much more could be done to prepare for his birth and to monitor any problems in my pregnancy.
When we got the diagnosis at 20 weeks of pregnancy, I lost it. I left work and drove to my husbands job, he is a marine on Parris Island (where boot camp is). He was on the riffle range that week and I took my fat pregnant self all the way down to the riffle range where there were about 200 marines preparing for qualification. I couldn't find my husband, because of course they all look alike in those uniforms. I just found the first instructor and begged him to find my husband. When I found him he didn't have to ask, he knew what was wrong.
We spent that day together and I cried and cried, I cried so much for the lose of my healthy baby. My husband was so strong and supportive, I couldn't have dealt with it without him. But, after a few days of crying came acceptance. And I was releaved to have the chance to get it all out before he arrived. Of course I was ignorant to the horror that lay ahead.
I had an amnio with my daughter for the same reason and I knew there wasn't much to it. The statistics haven't been updated in over a decade and the chances are slim that there will be a problem.
I don't know about the saying "God doesn't give us more than we can handle" because I'm really in over my head right now. My son lost so much and with it so did my family. I can't give my daughter nearly as much attention as she needs anymore, I no longer have my career, my husband is not dealing with the diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy very well, our bills are piling up because we lost so much when we lost my income, our insurance sucks, the doctors suck, sorry can't think of a better word than "sucks", my husband and I fight constantly, divorce could be in our future, I feel like a slave to this house, so I just can't imagine how much more God thinks I can handle. I don't think God has anything to do with it, it certainely didn't give my son CF or CP, it just happened.
Jen

 

[DietRootBeer]

Jen,

I have thought of you and your baby often. When he was born and on the brink of death I prayed for you both and every time I come to this site I hope to see an update on Andrew. I am very sorry to hear you are having a hard time....how is Andrew anyway...the last time I read one of your posts you had brought him home but his future was uncertain. PLease give me an update....

If I am remembering correctly you have a step-son with CF as well. I also have a step-son with CF.

Marriage problems can arrive with a new baby healthy or CF/CP ..... lack of sleep and the major disruption to your families routine can drive the sainest people to the brink. It is always best to keep your family together if possible. Try not to sweat the small stuff and focus on the angel you have been given. I am married as well and have had my share of problems so if you want someone to talk to I am here.

Made in Canada<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">
DietRootBeer

 

[1princess]

Jen,
your family has been in my thoughts since you posted about Andrew being born and all the problems you had. I forget, are you in the process of filing a lawsuit for what happened? I know that won't fix anything, but maybe help with the financial burdens. Looking at the pictures of Andrew that you have posted - he looks like a normal healthy little boy. I can't even imagine how hard it is to take care of a baby who has so many special needs as well as a toddler - I am pooped with just my 3 year old! I hope you and your husband are able to work things out and stay strong for each other and for your kids. Do you have any family that could help out in anyway? It really sounds like you need a break.

Sometimes I just don't know how some of you do it - I come to this site and several others to find strength from all of you - you just don't give up, do what has to be done and are the best moms I have ever met. If we find out our baby has CF, I pray that I am able to have a good cry and then move on and get the best care possible for her - I am happy that this site will be here when I need it. Take care Jen and all you other moms out there!