Short Femur and Humerus bones at 20 weeks

[Exangel]

I am 34 years old, pregnant with my 3rd child. I went in for my 20 week ultrasound and was given that paired with the result of my quad screen where the risk for Down syndrome was 1:2200 and the fact that my baby is also measuring with both a small femur and a small humerus bone that my risk is now significantly higher. Has this happened to anyone else? Is there reassurance that you can provide? Every website I go to basically has a ton of numbers and I get confused, so plain english would be nice. Having a child with Down syndrome is not the end of the world and I know this, I am just trying to assess my risks and find appropriate care for my child in a very very rural community without the use of invasive testing.  Thank you for your answers.

[slidell2020]

I'm 33, 20 weeks along, had my OB tell me last week that the femurs were measuring about 9 days short. Went to the US specialist this morning, was told they were behind by 3 weeks, arm bones were short too but I can't remember by how much, everything else looked fine. When she started throwing around words like Down's Syndrome and Dwarfism, the sobbing and freaking out started and I had an Amnio soon after. I've spent the last 5 hours crying and surfing the net looking for similar stories. Will take at least 2 weeks for the test results to come back and I truly have no idea what we will do if it's bad news. I'm still just trying to wrap my mind around the idea that this is actually happening. Also trying to find a tiny flicker of hope! Good luck to everyone!

[momindc]

We are in the same situation at our 20 week ultrasound we were told that our baby's femur and humerus were both just shy of 2 weeks short.  Everything else was normal, blood tests, other measurements etc.  I'm tall but my husband has shorter legs and I wondering if this is the cause.  I'm worried it's something more serious.  Our radiologist seemed concerned, but then when we told our OBGYN she was not concerned and said that many normal, healthy babies have shorter legs and arms in utero and turn out to be perfect.

We don't want to have the amnio for the same reason but it is killing me not to know.  We took our OBGYN's advice and are going to come back to get a sonogram in three week to see if the humerus and femur increase - fingers crossed!  I feel your pain and wish only but the best for you and your baby.  

[shandre629]

I was diagnosed on my 20 wk US that my baby has short Femur and Humerus bones.Both were off by two weeks. Everything else is fine. So my OB recommended to have a level 2 US which the specialist would be able to determine if the baby has problems or not. They got the same results---Femur and Humerus were off by two weeks. I'm so worried that something is wrong. I'm 30, first baby. I'm only 5'2" and husband is only 5'3". Could this be just because we're short? They couldn't find anything else.Everything is normal except for the measurement of femur and Humerus. So doctors couldn't really give me exact answer except for the recommendation to have an amniocentesis. But the risk of miscarriage for amnio is 1 is 200,which kinda high for me. And when we had the US we caught the baby thumbsucking and yawning. Something that he's telling me not to do amnio because he's fine. So i guess, im just gonna go with my faith that my baby is fine and perfectly healthy.

Please let me know if any of you had your baby already with the same diagnosis but came out healthy. That would make everyone else here feel better and will give hope that nothing is wrong with the baby. I wish everybody the best here and I know it's not easy if someone tells you that your baby is not growing the same as everybody else.

[sunflower34]

Im so sorry to hear your story Mavis. I too, hope you come back and let us know how you are doing.

First of all, I'd like to say this forum is exactly what I needed to find and I thank all of you who have posted for doing so.

I am 35 years old (will be 36 by EDD) and I am 17 weeks pregnant. Last week the hospital called me and informed me that I needed to come in. After doing a triple-screening test they informed me that my 1 in 200 chance of having a baby with Down's had increased to a 1 in 10 chance. I was rather unprepared for this and it shocked me very much. Luckily they were able to do a Level II Ultrasound for me right then and there and they determined that I had some soft markers.

The femur length of my baby measures at 1.95cm and the humerus at 1.98cm - putting the GA at 15w6d for both HL and FL while the rest of the measurements on my baby came in at 17w0d to 17w5d. I was also told they had a hard time seeing a third bone in the pinky.  They said based on the ultrasound combined with the triple-screen test, they know put my chances of having a Downs baby at 2 in 10. Considering that 24 hours prior I thought I had a healthy baby, this kind of threw me into a stressful panic.

Luckily they were able to do the amnio right then and there. The amnio was painful - more painful then they told me it would be - mostly the puncturing of the uterus wall more than anything else. But an ultrasound of the baby showed he was fine and there was no risk of a threatened miscarriage. Now is the waiting time - which is the worst time for any mother to be I am sure.

However, in the meantime, I have been on the internet these last five days and researching all I can about the triple screen and the measurements that babies are to be measured for. I found MANY, MANY women posting that they had positive tests results on the triple screen and got back negative tests after the amnio. Some sites said the triple screen had a 5% false positive rate but I have also read on many other sites that the false positive rate is as high as 80%.

I have read about many women having short FL and HL measurements initially and not opting to do an amnio and having healthy babies and I've read a story about a woman testing short on HL and FL length, getting a positive result for Downs in amnio and then having a perfectly healthy baby without any signs of Downs.

My husband is smaller than average I would say at about 5'8" whereas I am 5'6". But also, I have a longer torso than legs as I seemed to have inherited my mothers legs (she's 5'0") and my fathers torso (he is 5'10"). I am hoping that this is what has contributed to the shortened FL and HL measurements.

I empathize with any women who are stuck in the holding pattern waiting for tests results. It can be absolutely grueling whether you plan to follow through on the pregnancy no matter what or whether you choose to terminate in case of genetic disorders that could be very difficult for a child's health or life. The doctors and my family told me I shouldn't be on the internet so much reading about this all as it could stress me out more but I am finding that the more facts I have and opinions and stories like the ones above, I have found more hope that all will be ok. I have my fingers (and toes!) crossed just in case.

I wish all of you in limbo still the best of luck and hope you return and keep sharing your stories. And Mavis, I sincerely hope you have a support system near to you but if not there seems to be plenty of wonderful people out here on the net - some in the same boat as you - and I hope that you find those folks and outlets if you need it.

[Exangel]

Sawoin, How is your baby doing?  

Mavis, please come back when you deliver and let us know how things are.

[si_di]

Hi there, i was wondering what the outcome was?
How's your baby doing?

Hugs
silvia