Question about types of hydro

[Cristina]

Hi everyone!

Does anyone know the ventricle sizes for each type of hydro? What I mean is how many mm correspond to mild, moderate, severe and extreme hydrocephalus. I'm thinking there should be a chart of some sort containing this info.

[Dodger67]

I'm not so sure that it can be equated to such a simple linear relationship. The size and age of the fetus, and the rate of change must also be taken into consideration.
But before you can even do that you have to define the exact meaning of "mild", "moderate", "severe" and "extreme". Not a simple task at all.

[ainemc]

I wish there was a chart explaining it! Dodger is right i think there are alot of moderating factors like the size and rate of the fetus. Doctors will classify the same measurements differently as well. However, from what ive read I think up to 10mm is considered normal. When my baby was measuring 9 and 11mm at 20week scan she was considered to have borderline mild hydro. At 29weeks she was measuring greater than 15mm which that doctor considered severe but she didn't tell us the exact measurement. At yesterdays scan (30weeks) the doctor measured the ventricles at 19.6mm and she firstly said that wasn't severe then changed her mind and said prehaps its severe - ish but wasn't concerned about it. So I would think between 10mm - 15mm covers mild and moderate and 15mm onwards could be considered moderate - severe, it depends on the other factors. Im sorry i don't know anything about extreme hydro i would imagine it would come into play when the ventricles are measuring in their 20's or 30s.

[Cristina]

Man, it just gets to me how these measurements jump from one week to another.
Ainemc, my baby's head has had aprx the same ventricle sizes as your baby's (from what you've posted). A week ago, at my 27th week u/s, she was measuring 15.6 mm and they're growing about 1 mm /week. Now your baby's vt jumped to almost 20. It's scary how unpredictable this hydro is!

The lack of control really terrifies me. This whole "wait and see" situation becomes hard to handle. Knowing you can't do anything for your baby is one of the hardest things for a parent to deal with. I'm sure you must all agree.
I'm so scared she's gonna come out with a big head.

[ainemc]

I know its hard, and there will be times were you feel so helpless, i know i do but remember your dealing with all the usual hormones that comes with being pregnant, that alone alot of women find hard to deal with and you have your babies condition on top of that which is bound to make you feel down sometimes. Pregnancy is such a weird and wonderful thing - i can start crying because everything seems so tough then an hour later im a happy chappy who feels ready to deal with anything!
The whole waiting and seeing is a pain but just look at the kids and adults on this site - no matter what they have to deal with they are happy and don't let their sb stop them from whatever they want to do. In a few short months you will have a beautiful baby girl who you will love unconditionally - alot of parents say that when their baby is born their sb doesn't matter. Im sure itll be the same for us. What date are you due? We can compare baby notes! As for worrying about her having a big head look at the newborn babies on the site, none of their heads look really big, even with bad hydro i don't think the babies head will look too out of proportion.

[Cristina]

You are so right Ainemc, I can't help falling from time to time ( as all of us), but this site is truely encouraging and helps pick myself up again. The people are so wonderful and considerate. Funny, they're more supportive than family and friends sometimes. I am due around the middle of december ( don't know the exact date because my dr said I'll be having the C-section around 37, maybe 38 weeks) and yes, I'd love to exchange baby notes.

Thank you to all the wonderful people on this support forum. You're all in my prayers.
God bless you!

[leigh828]

I don't know if this will make you feel any better or not...but my son's vents measured 15 and 19 at our last ultrasound which was around 33 weeks, so I'm sure that they ended up getting much larger by the time he was born at 39 weeks. His head was not big. When he was born his head measured in the 85% and after his shunt was placed (at 3 weeks) his head measured in the 45% for his age. I hope that helps. But really, you are right, once your baby is born...none of this will matter!! :) Hang in there girls!!!

[ainemc]

Hi Leigh,
What does the 85% and 45% mean? Our cot arrived yesterday so we're spending today doing the nursery can't wait!

[Ziggy]

sounds like she's referring to percentiles. so 45% is just about average (bigger than 45% of babies that age and gender), 85% is a bigger than 85% of babies that age and gender, so a bit on the big side but still within normal.

Sweet pea was shunted at 10 days old when his ventricles crossed the (subjective) line between normal and hydro. At that point his head circumference was 60th percentile. Three months later, he was asymptomatic but over the 100th percentile and needing a revision due to corpus calossum that was stuck in the shunt catheter.

[lsanchez]

i know its hard to not worry because their really is no telling, but its usually not as bad as you think. I remember i had to see a different doctor tthan my normal one week b.c he was out and he told me my sons head was going to be extremely big and he was going to be mentally retarded..i was around 35 weeks. Way to scare the living **** out of me. He was shunted and the neurologist told me not to worry he was going to have a normal mentality. Reality is all babies have bigger heads than their bodies. Even though i know is hard, Try not to stress so much

[Dodger67]

Did you go back to the doc who scared you to beat him over the head after he was proven to be wrong? I feel if we don't "attack" their ignorance and pessimism with cold hard facts they will never get the message.

[Cristina]

I agree with Dodger. Although I'm not yet in the position to fire back, I also believe that it's important for these doctors to see the more positive outcomes in these situations and stop scaring future parents so much. Probably the rate of abortion would come down as well.

Ziggy, you explained a bit about percentiles. I must admit that it's not quite clear to me. For example, my doctor said about the baby's head size being under the 2nd percentile. Does that mean that only around 2 percent of babies her age and gender have this head size? Is that what it is?