Any mummies experience after detailed scan and find out baby only got 1 kidney?

Makeawish1314

New Member
Hi all mummies,

I just came back from detailed scan today. At first doctor do scanning for baby's organ etc. Everything was normal until the last step to check for baby's kidney. Doctor check his kidney very long until she told me only can see the left side of his kidney and its functioning normal. Whereas she can't see the right one. She say abit blur. So she refer me to specialist to confirm whether does he has 2 kidney. Anyone experience this? Pls advise. It really sad to hear this.
 


Hi @Makeawish1314:
I can feel how you may be feeling right now.

Can I know where you did your detailed scan?

You may want to consider getting a 2nd opinion (do another scan in another place / see another gynea). Sometimes not able to see / seeing more white patches than normal (which is in our case) - may not necessary mean that there is an issue.

Our first detailed scan at KKH showed that there are white patches on baby's kidneys, the junior doctor told us things that freaked me out, made us worried a lot about baby (she mentioned about pre-mature risk of baby dying inside!?!).

Then, we did another detailed scan on another day by a more senior Gynea (who is expert in this area, according to my gynea) - he gave a more detailed, objective and reassuring analysis of the situation and told us to just monitor the baby's condition. (So far, we had rescanned in 28 weeks & will be doing it again in 34 weeks & when baby's born).

My gynea told me that ultrasound scan is like taking a photo - sometimes we see "red eye" on pictures of people we take photos of, but in actual fact these people do not have red eyes, but it's the refraction/reflection of the eyes due to light.

Our gynea (who is in private practice now) does not think there is an issue for our baby currently as well - given that other aspects of the baby is doing fine (though in the last 2 scans the white patches continued to be seen on kidneys).

My gynea did mentioned that he has came across baby with only 1 kidney and baby turned out healthy & fine after birth.

If you want - You can PM me, i'll text u that KKH expert doctor's name & my gynea name for you... u try to get an appointment with them & see what they say?

I pray that your pregnancy will be smooth & baby will be healthy too!
take care too & hugs!
 
Hi MFSY,

Thanks for your concern. I feel sad for your situation too. Hoping your baby will be fine and healthy. I'm doing the scan at TMC. Yesterday I did the scan with the young lady doctor who look quite experience, and this is the 2nd time I got her for doing the scanned for me.

Everything was fine until the kidney part, she did ask a lady who look senior to me. Like auntie age. She also can't see the right kidney. Therefore they had arranged another scan with specialist.

Felt so miserable, and this is my first baby.
 
Hi Makeawish1314,

Yes, good to get another specialist scan else where to scan another time.

If you can, get another gynea opinion too. (Prof George Yeo Seow Heong from KKH - my gynea said that he is the expert in this area of antenatal diagnostic clinic)

http://www.kkh.com.sg/services/women/maternalfetalmedicine/Pages/Home.aspx

Thankful to know that the left kidney of baby is working fine (my gynea told me he has seen some babies with tumour / other illness in the kidneys) - when the baby's born, some may need additional medical intervention, while some actually are rather healthy too.

Not being able to see on ultrasound scan may not mean that baby really does not have the right kidney - afterall, it is a scan technique that has its set of limitations. (There are many cases where people mistook the genders for baby, down sydrome baby, having tumour in the baby's body, etc, but when the baby is born, he/she is perfectly normal & healthy)

A friend had her detailed scan in Novena Medical earlier - it showed that baby had some enlarged part in brain, but another scan in KKH shows that baby's perfectly normal & she is almost due now.

I saw on some websites that babies with one kidney can still sufficient kidney function to grow & develop normally while some may need to take some precautions.

http://www.kidney.org/atoz/content/detectkid.cfm

http://www.circleofmoms.com/welcome-to-circle-of-moms/found-out-our-baby-has-only-one-kidney-418492

Do ask your Gynea for more reading materials online ok & look on the bright side? (there are alot of web info that may not be necessary accurate as well, so sources from your gynea will be better)

For our case -
Though the scan looks like our baby's both kidneys has more white patches (indicating that they could be possibly polycystic? which if it does happen, baby may not be able to produce urine at all, and could possibly lead to baby not able to survive through pregnancy as amiotic fluid is partly made up of urine from baby as well).

But as baby's current bladder size &function, kidney function, structure & amiotic fluid volume is all normal, the doctors told us that baby is growing fine & we do not need to worry - we just need to monitor and check again after birth. (We do have to surrender our occasional worries by prayers to God for him daily)

p/s: Our baby no.2 was born with 2 small holes in the heart when he came - but after one year, God heals him as we continue to pray for him to be fully well. Even when he was still having those holes, doctor thinks that these will not affect him performing sports or doing olympics.

His reflux (often throw up after breast feeding, refuse to drink milk) was also gone after 4 months. It was tough initially!

Having a little life growing inside you is a miracle by itself - another amazing thing is that babies does not stay the way it is when the scan is taken as well. They grow & develop beyond what we can imagine or see.

Do take care there & stay on the positive side - as your emotions (stress/anxiety, etc) will very much affect the baby's growth & development...

Will be praying for you & your baby that he/she will be healthy and God's miracles will follow him/her!
Hope to hear good news in time to come! jiayou~!
 
Hi,

My baby girl is now a healthy 27mth toddler, extremely active and has a good appettite.

She is born with only one kidney. And it was during the detailed scan that her right kidney was found to be missing. Of course, we worried a lot, went for scan after scan and praying hard that it was just a mistake. She was born healthy at 39 weeks, weighing 3.4kg. An ultrasound scan at 1 week old confirmed that the diagnosed was true. We chose not to do anymore further testing except a yearly ultrasound scan and blood test.

Since she is now growing well, eating well and so far, no other problems, we are thankful. Alright, except that she has some food allergy, one fo them is egg white allergy but this has nothing to do with kidney.

I also know another parent who has a 10 years old girl who is born with also one kidney and yet, a healthy girl. So please don't feel so upset. Your baby turns out fine. :)
 
Hi Hop,

Tks for sharing your story with us, it's very encouraging for other mums to know your journey and that your gal is growing well! Really happy for you too!

We are just monitoring the baby's kidneys regularly at this point, not particularly worried abt it actually, and we are also trusting God to heal the baby even if there is anything at all. Just like how God has closed up the holes in our no.2 baby's heart after he is born.

Cheers!
 
It's always worrying after we have known our babies to have possibly certain defects. My #3 was suspected of possible heart defects, went to seek second opinion and was assured of a healthy heart structure but when he was 2 weeks old, he was found to have 2 small holes in the heart. Good thing it did not warrant any surgery.

Anyway just to share that I was born with one kidney too. Worse still, my mum didn't even know coz there was no ultrasound scan then. I found out only at 30 years old. I'm healthy and active and had three kids. My gynae took great care to ensure that my kidney can tahan each pregnancy. So I'm sure your little one will b fine.
 
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Hi,

I have a nephew whose born with only 1 kidney which is larger than normal. He's 13yrs old now and healthy and active.
Only that you have to watch his diet try not to consume too much fast food and salty food to protect the kidney.
 
hi, my nephew is 8yo this year and he was born with only 1 kidney too. My sister and bro-in-law were devastated when they found out about it after my nephew was born. But thankfully, he's growing well.. strong and healthy. So do not worry too much! Research has also shown that those who are born with 1 kidney will have a larger one, so that it functions as well (if not better) in comparison to those with 2 kidneys. So don't worry or stress yourself up too much!
 
Hi, i just found out my baby has only one functional kidney. I am devastated. Can anyone advise me how to move on or what i should do next?
 
Hi, i just found out my baby has only one functional kidney. I am devastated. Can anyone advise me how to move on or what i should do next?

Hi LYwee,
My friend's mum has only 1 functional kidney. She is now 75 yrs old. She lives a normal life, infact a very smart business woman. Has 2 children and everything is normal for her despite having one functional kidney.
 

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