Can an ultrasound tell you if your baby has cranio before they are born???

[Carmen77]

Okay,so as you all know, i'm about 6 1/2 months pregnant,and i had a question?? Since I found out Mateo had cranio I am really worried about Lucas having it too!! I seen a mom post on FB that her babies sutures are normal when she had her ultrasound (she is also prego). I didn't know that they can tell about sutures through your ultrasound, has anyone heard of this!!

[Mama Musica]

We're probably due at close to the same time!

I'm planning a homebirth, but want the reassurance that we have normal sutures. The OB that I've seena couple of times wrote an order for the regular ultrasound at 20 weeks, then a follow up at 32 weeks, just to check the sutures. I was told it's extremely rare to detect cranio in utero, even at 32 weeks. I know my son's metopic suture was fused at birth, and would like every opportunity to know if we're dealing with that again (because if we were, I'd probably head to the hospital) but I have to accept as well that we probably wouldn't be able to detect it either way.

[Gretchen]

In our case they were able to tell on an ultra sound that something wasnt quite right with Brandons head because of his profile. Brandon is Bi-corinal so in the ultrasound his profile clearly showed frontal bossing with a depressed nasal bridge. I believe the only way they would suspect anything in utero is by visual abnormalities.

[melsch]

I'm in the same boat!

At our 20 week u/s we made sure to look at the head extensively. While you could def. see the sutures and tell they were open, it was still pretty early in the pregnancy. They also said that it is hard to pick up via u/s, but if they were looking for it, it was a little easier to find. The Drs. then decided to do another at 28 weeks (Sept 13), and I would venture to guess they'll want one more closer to the actual due date. I am hoping for a VBAC and hoping that if cranio is an issue, that we can detect before I try. With Logan, I think the radiologists saw something, but didn't know what the saw. They said something was wrong with his face, that is was measuring slightly smaller, but were not overly concerned. Hindsight...

[fitmomof2ae]

I agree that they may be able to tell if they know what they are looking for when they do the u/s. Good luck to all the pg cranio moms!

[Nay]

I know someone that had a baby w/ sagittal cranio, and with their 2nd, they were able to tell that the 2nd one also had sagittal cranio with an ultrasound. Both babies had surgery at 3 months old. I thought that was amazing that they were able to tell.
Hope everything goes well & your baby doesn't have it.

[yummymummyto2]

looking back, they said isabelles head measured small ( across from ear to ear) but not to worry as an ultrasound is not 3d and cant measure round. but thinking about it she has sagttal cranio and therefor a long head front to back and dmall ear to ear, so the signs something wasnt right were there, but theres nothing that can be done about it inutero, so maybe thats why they are not fussed at foinding out before birth x

[MBSzafranski]

I had a high resolution ultrasound at 36 weeks because Bens head measured so large at 32 weeks. They said everything looked fine, and I wonder if they could have seen if they were looking for it. I have considered writing the doctor a letter and telling him what the outcome was- we paid $1200 to get the answer of - "just a big baby with a big head." I am kind of glad we didn't know then- I would have been a mess, but I think it should have been picked up.

I think head size, shape and proportion are telltale signs of cranio on ultrasounds.

[Nichole]

they say the weight and everything based on the head size, they thought JD was well over 9 pounds and was 7.9 at birth - a big head!! Thank God we were in a hospital and the vaccume saved this baby's life! He got stuck!! I think if i am ever pregnant again, Im sceduling a C Section. The birth was really hard on me. And him being in the NIC U after AND I was really considering having a home birth too. Now we know why he got stuck, these heads are somewhat harder to deliver our NS told us.

[roetik77]

Both my boys had big heads and hard deliveries. Devin (no cranio) had to be vac'd out after a long labor. Cameron, I thought would be so much easier, My water broke but I never got one single contraction on my own. They gave me pitocin to start it. The whole time I kept thinking this is too easy! But, after trying to push him out for so long I insisted on a c-section. They didn't want to give me one!! Finally they tried the vac and said "oh he's stuck"....no shit! They said he "failed to descend" but he did descend...his head just couldn't get through. They thought his head was sideways. IDK...but he came out via c-sect with severe trama to his head from all the pushing they made me do. I don't think they can tell on US if the sutures are fused but I'd love to know for sure.

[craniomommynbaby]

I went regularly to a high-risk OB for Level 2 ultrasounds because of my history with cranio. None of the scans showed an abnormal skull, and the last was taken at 30 weeks. Yet, when he was born, I pushed for 4-1/2 hours and ended up with an emergency c-section because his coronal sutures were fused and he could not come out. The assumption is that the sutures fused between 30 and 38.5 weeks. So, yes, it is possible, assuming the sutures have fused at the time of the scan.

[Amy K]

We definitely saw Cam's sagittal head on ultrasound...so did our OB. We just didn't know what it was we were seeing.. I wondered to myself why his head looked so longish. I'm pretty sure the OB was suspecting something because he diagnosed Cam as soon as he pulled him out of me!

[janda]

After my son was diagnosed I looked back at the 3D ultrasound photos we have from 32 weeks. My son is metopic and it does look like you can tell from the photos that he has a ridge. We saw a perinatologist and nothing was ever said to us so I'm not sure if he noticed it or not. Honestly, I'm kind of glad we didn't know. But having been through it once, if I am lucky enough to get pregnant again I will definitely want a late ultrasound to check.

[Carmen77]

Oh wow, The birth of Mateo was my most difficult.. :thinkingHmmm now i'm wondering if it was because of Cranio!! Though it was the most difficult it wasn't that bad only 5 hrs.. but he wouldn't come down..i was at 9cm for 2 hrs and the baby was very high, so they started a pitocin drip.. ouch!!:uh But maybe it all makes sense now!! Well I hope that Lucas is a healthy baby, although they are are already telling me he might have clubfeet, so I hope he doesnt have to deal with cranio too!! :no

I'm just a ball of nerves :nervous.. I know I shouldn't worry to much for something I have no positive diagnosis for, but as a mom it's hard to know that you might have another child that will have to undergo alot and me with him!! :confused:confused

thank you everyone, I think I'm gonna ask my OB about getting another u/s for both things cranio/clubfeet!!!

I can't believe i'm amost gonna have him in my arms!! That alone will be worth anything that may come!! :heartbeat:heartbeat

[Sam Y]

how much longer have you got left now Carmen? I so miss being pregnant, I want another already, just want to skip the first 4 months of having a newborn