Although so much of my body’s time is spent using these things we call kidneys, it never occurred to me to be worried about Piper’s. Sure, I worried about her heart, her brain, her spine, even her feet! Did I think something would be odd about her kidneys? Nope!
Now, before you guys get all freaked out- the perinatologist said he sees this in about 8-10% of pregnancies, our little girl’s issue. Of course, he IS a perinatologist, so I wonder the percentage a non-specialty OB would see. ANYWHO. During our half hour long ultrasound (which is seriously the coolest thing ever), he was trying to get the measurements of her kidneys. It was so strange to see them, two little dark spots next to her spine. My daughter (!!!) has a spine. A beautiful, well-formed spine that looked akin to a strand of Mikimoto pearls. As he completed the rest of his scan, after pushing mighty hard to aggravate her enough to move her hand from the front of her face, he said she looked perfect, “Except for one issue.”
One issue? My baby girl has an ISSUE? As he explained to us, her kidneys showed too much fluid in them, meaning her bladder wasn’t emptying her urine correctly, causing some of it to flow back into the bladder then kidneys. He didn’t tell us the exact term of her kidney issue, but I’ve googled (worst enemy and best friend all in one) and found things ranging from Hydronephrosis (BAD), Vesicouretaral Reflux (can be bad depending on the severity of the condition) and Kidney reflux. The reflux part obviously makes sense, but everything else I read blurs into “KIDNEY PROBLEMS KIDNEY PROBLEMS- LET’S PANIC!!!”
Our doctor told us it’s not too uncommon, but it’s something he wants to keep an eye on, and to come back in eight weeks. Why come back? According to the doc, a lot of the time it resolves itself, and even if it doesn’t they can let the pediatrician know at the birth and have Piper get an ultrasound.
We have our u/s followup with my usual OB tomorrow, hopefully she can shed some more light on what exactly it is. I’m not going to lie, folks. I’m worried.
