Today we had our 20 week appointment for our little Sprout to talk about her progress and how the ultrasound went the other day. We met with the newest addition to the Samaritan OB/GYN group, Angie Chisholm. She was very nice and very focused on her job. She hadn’t had time to go over the ultrasound results before meeting with us, so she took a few seconds to look it over while we were sitting in the room with her.
She said that everything checked out and looked good, and then came the “but”…the word that no parent wants to hear. Finnian has a single echogenic focus with her left ventricle. Angie didn’t really explain what it was, and didn't seem worried about it, because all the other test results were normal. She told us not to worry about it much. Yeah, right...according to some research we’ve done, here is what Wikipeadia says:
Echogenic intracardiac focus (EIF) is a small bright spot seen in the baby’s heart on an ultrasound exam. This is thought to represent mineralization, or small deposits of calcium, in the muscle of the heart. EIFs are found in about 3-5% of normal pregnancies and cause no health problems.
EIFs themselves have no impact on health or heart function. Often the EIF is gone by the third trimester. If there are no problems or chromosome abnormalities, EIFs are considered normal changes, or variants.
Researchers have noted an association between an EIF and a chromosome problem in the baby. Types of chromosome problems that are occasionally seen include Trisomy 18 (Edward's syndrome) or Trisomy 21 (Down syndrome). In the case of an isolated EIF, and no other ultrasound findings, some studies show that the risk for a chromosome abnormality is approximately two times a woman’s background risk. Other studies report up to a 1% risk for Down syndrome when an EIF is seen on a second trimester fetal ultrasound exam.
Considering little Sprout has had nothing but great results on all her other tests, I think everything will be fine, and she will grow out of it. But it doesn’t hurt to pass on some good thoughts and energy to our little Finny if you wouldn’t mind. We could use all the help we could get. It takes a village, after all, and we really need our village right now.
Finn’s heart and development are great. She just has this little hitch in there, that is most likely nothing, but it could be something we need to keep an eye on. We will go back in a few weeks for another ultrasound to check it out and see if it has corrected itself, which we fully expect it to have done so. If not, we will have more tests to do, and we will do what we can and what we have to and do the best for our baby and help her in any way we can. She is healthy and strong at this point, and we fully expect her to continue to be. It doesn’t mean we won’t worry about her, but we know she is a strong little nugget, and she will be just fine.
As we were sitting in the car, I asked Shannon if this is how it is going to be the rest of our lives—worrying about our little baby girl. It’s a 24/7 job now, and, though I know little Finnian will be just fine and dandy at our next ultrasound in 3-4 weeks to check on her little abnormality in her little tiny, strong heart, I am still going to worry about her health and wellbeing every day until I turn to dust.
I love my little girl. I can’t wait to see her in October. I gave her a little pep talk, and told her that if the Boston Bruins can make it to the Stanley Cup Finals, she can do anything she wants to do! We just have to concentrate on getting her solid and well and ready to meet the universe!
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