Hellobee

I had a pretty uneventful pregnancy. I was lucky. There were a few ‘things’ I had to deal with like gaining a lot of (too much) weight, ‘almost’ having gestational diabetes and dealing with pregnancy induced hypertension toward the end. Each of these things never manifested in a negative, life threatening way, for which I am grateful.

It seemed that the same ‘boring’ status would apply to the baby in my belly – until 34 weeks into my pregnancy. At my regular, routine visit with a midwife, she noticed that the baby’s heart sounded…different. My partner was with me at the visit (he attended about two thirds of the visits with me, which was awesome), and we both listened to the doppler as she tracked the baby’s heart rate. After a few thuds, it sounded as though the baby’s heart did a little skip or mini-double-beat. Our midwife was really calm, and I wasn’t really worried.

Then she said it would best to get it checked out, and placed an order for us to visit the maternal-fetal medicine specialist (MFMS) for an in-depth ultrasound. My heart seemed to skip a beat but I tried to match the midwife’s calm. She noted that fetal arrhythmias are somewhat common – and many go unnoticed because they resolve on their own, in between appointments. Even if they are found, if no other indicators can be detected, most disappear at birth because birth and cutting of the umbilical cord serves as a ‘restart’ for baby’s brain and jumps the heart into regular rhythm.

This all gave me comfort, but there was still some fear. I held off on looking anything up online for a solid few days – and then I gave in. What I found matched exactly what my midwife said, which was calming. I knew I just wanted the ultrasound with the MFMS so that I could know exactly what next steps were, if there were any.

We visited the local maternal fetal medicine team less than a week after my midwife found the arrhythmia, and we had a really long, wonderful appointment. The ultrasound technician engaged in an in-depth, forty minute ultrasound, taking lots of video, audio and still images. The baby was being very active, which made a bit of an issue for measuring his brain and such, but with patience and lots of maneuvering on my part, we got what was needed. The doctor reviewed the results, and popped in to review them with us. It was a Friday afternoon before a holiday, and she had some spare time. She plopped some more gel on my belly and took another in depth look at our little guy.

Everything was fine. They couldn’t even detect the heart irregularity, and everything measured the way they’d expect at my point in my pregnancy. I think Mr. M and I finally let out our breath. The MFMS noted that she’d had dozens of cases like this over her career and only one – one – that resulted in a true heart abnormality after birth. And even then, the parents and child worked to manage the issue. I was relieved, and elated – we had some great 3D pictures of our little person-to-come, which I wasn’t expecting!

In case anyone else is facing this news, I’ve rounded up a few numbers and stats for this kind of pregnancy complication:

• Fetal arrhythmia occurs in 1-2% of pregnancies.
• There are three types: irregular heartbeat, bradycardia (heart rates below 100 beats per minute) and tachycardia (heart rates greater than 180 beats per minute).
• When arrhythmia is detected, a detailed ultrasound and/or fetal echocardiogram is typical.
• Of these arrhythmias detected and sent for further evaluation, fewer than 10% have sustained arrhythmias. So, most go away on their own!
• Irregularity can be caused by fetal distress, maternal illness like fever or structural abnormalities.
• There may be a link to caffeine a mother drinks – but it’s unproven.
• More information can be found here, here and here.

After Will was born, I was particularly interested in the baby nurse’s and pediatricians’ evaluations of his heart. He passed with flying colors – and I was, once and for all, relieved.

Did you have an unexpected medical scare during your pregnancy?