Hyrdocephalus?? 30 Week Ultrasound

my dd had this also she was fine, I had to have a really extensive US done at the hospital and all was fine the dr was just taking precautions she was within range. she was born 3 weeks early I dont recall low fluid for me but I was in so much other pain not prego related that I may have missed that conversation. So dont worry its not uncommon. gl

Congrats on becoming an aunt!! THAT'S exciting!! :)

WELL, there could be a few different outcomes.

Most common (or so I've heard)... baby is born, usually via c-section to accommodate the large(r) head, and within 48 hours has a shunt put in, which drains the excess fluid.

There are many, many causes for this, but not all are serious. Sometimes, wires just get crossed, the fluid is drained, baby grows into a perfectly normal kiddo.

Worse case, baby's brain has been severely compressed by the fluid, so baby ends up with some form of brain damage (could be as simple as sight or hearing issues, or as severe as retardation)...

Babies are resilient... they are so much stronger than we give them credit for. Those that are 'perfectly imperfect', are lovable just the same! They don't have to be 'normal' like you and I; each child, regardless of how they arrive, are blessings, and are born absolutely kissable and lovable and cuddly!!

Be there for your sister. She's probably freaking out right now. Just be supportive; be her rock... and give her a big hug for me!!

Everything is going to be exactly how it was meant to be... have faith in that :)

Here are a couple of links that may give you info you need.
http://hydrocephalus.org/

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hydrocephalus/DS00393

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hydrocephalus/DS00393/DS...

Well, it could take several turns, but I caution you to not Google it anymore. Try to hope for the best!

I will tell you, I grew up in a small town, and there was a man there who had been born with hydrocephalus. Yes, they said he would die as a baby, but he lived into his 50s. No, he wasn't completely "okay" -but he was actually very high-functioning and could get along on his own. He memorized the ENTIRE phone book of a fairly large town near mine, and he identified everyone by their phone number! It was pretty amazing. Everything may be okay, so try to think of the best.

My 18mo old was diagnosed with hydrocephalus at 18wks during my last pregnancy, and a few other conditions were added to his list prior to his birth.
There are a number of things to look at here, and I hope her dr is being very open with her on everything they see-it makes the whole situation so much easier to deal with when you know as much as possible as far as what they can actually see. That being said though, u/s is only so good, and sometimes they can't see everything, or they think they are seeing something that turns out not to be the case.
The first thing to know is where the fluid is. If it is in the ventricles, then yes, you are looking at hydrocephalus. Although even then, unless it is above a certain level it is termed ventriculomegaly-excess fluid, but not enough to be considered actual hydrocephalus. They should give her measurements of the ventricles which will give an indication of just how minor or severe of a case they may be looking at. There are some very sobering cases of hydrocephalus out there-extremely delayed development, severe disabilities...and there are plenty of cases where you would never know that a thing is wrong at all! It is something that is very difficult because you just don't know-and not even that you don't know prior to birth, it's that you just don't know until you see each day as the child develops just what it's going to mean for the future.
Just because baby is measuring 2 1/2wks ahead doesn't necessarily mean that the head is measuring that far ahead, as usually for measurements they take into account femur length, abdominal circumference, head size, etc, and at this stage in the game 2wks in head size isn't *too* terribly big of an issue. People always thing that head circumference is the be all end all number, when in actuality when it comes to delivery bpd means a lot more. (bpd=biparietal diameter, or the measurement from one side of the head to the other, like if you are to put your hands up against your head, palms on your temples and measure the distance between your hands) As long as bpd stays within an acceptable range, vaginal delivery is almost always possible. My drs knew that avoiding a surgical delivery if possible was something we hoped for, so we monitored very carefully during the end of pregnancy to track his fluid increases (in his brain), his head measurements and his overall well-being. We also monitored very closely during labor to make sure that that wasn't too stressful for him.
Despite my son's hydrocephalus we were able to deliver vaginally at 37wks. Though the expectation was to place a shunt within a few days of delivery, he is now 18mo old and STILL has not had to have surgery. Though he still definitely has hydrocephalus and it is something we follow, his development has actually fallen well within the normal age for an 18mo old, so there has been no reason to operate at this point.
My pregnancy was terrifying-when you start hearing all these things are wrong with your baby's brain it is devastating. When you don't know-in our case from before you even hit the halfway point-if your baby will even survive, your whole world turns upside down. Drs who were willing to be very straight with us and keep us informed with every detail they knew were such a blessing. There was a lot of study on our end to understand everything that we were being told, but it was well worth it.
BabyCenter has a hydrocephalus board that is (usually) very helpful. Also Natl Hydrocephalus Association has some good information out there.
Please feel free to email me if you want more details, more information, or more of my baby's story, as I know that connecting with people who had been through it was very helpful to me when I was stuck in that stage of just not knowing much at all! ____@____.com

First I will say googling it is absolutely horrible. My baby had an enlarged posterior foci (sp?) also. They did not consider fluid on the brain though. But the concept was just frightening. If you do google, there is a link that comes up to a scientific research paper and it totally explained it and what can be done and outcomes. Very informative. Luckily, my son had his ultrasound after and is totalyl fine. he had a cyst taht will resolve itself, TG. He is almost 4 months and a very happy baby. BTW ,my fluid was also low and he was born 9 days early due to breech-could not turn around with low fluid-and the fact the fluid dropped even further.

My daughter was born at 27 weeks because of hydoceplaus. Before she had reached the age of 2months she had 3 brain surgeies with the final putting in a vp shunt. After the extremely never racking few months, she came home. Now she is a 2 year old with a big attitude and strong fighting will. Ever since the vp shunt was put in she hasn't had any health problems. Best thing you can do is be there for her. Good luck and many prayers for her.

I don't have time to go into detail..but it is def. not necessarily hydrocepholis. My son had us scared for months after he was born before we could find that the fluid in his head was in an area that was not of worry. I know that you and your sister and family will worry...we did their is no way around it...but it can be good in the end...or at least relieving information. Hugs

I did a lot of research and the good news is...if it is?! then the best thing ever is they cought it early! The earlier it is found the less long term damage is done cause they can get a stint in right away.