Kidney Problem ?

Your MW should be able to help you with the pead and what it might mean, or at least be able to point you in the right direction for finding out the relevant info.

Our midwife just reffered us to a hospital Paed. Aiden had a dilated renal pelvis on the 20 week scan. We saw the Paed when he was 2 weeks old, had an Ultra sound scan the same day. The problem had resolved, but he referred us for a follow up scan at 3 months, which we have already recieved the appt for.
You shouldnat have to pay, she should just be able to refer you now to the hospital. You shouldnt have to organise it. I guess it could be different in different areas tho. Here in Gisborne there is only one hospital and no private Paeds anyway!

Like the others have said, your midwife will be able to arrange to have a paed present at your baby's birth. He/she will then most likely refer baby for an ultrasound, which will give them a better idea of what is going on.

My Sienna was diagnosed with a dilated right kidney/renal pelvis at 30-something weeks, and the paed at the birth referred her for a scan, which she had to have at 7 days old. They don't generally do it earlier as feeding needs to have been established in order for the urinary system to start working after birth.

From that 7 day scan, they picked up that her kidney was still dilated, and the degree had gone from mild to moderate, so she was referred to a renal surgeon/paediatric nephrologist, who ordered an MCU, which is where they put a catheter in and run dye thru the kidney while taking x-rays to see if there is any urine refluxing back to the kidney. If there is urinary reflux, it can cause kidney damage so it's important to pick it up early. Sienna had her first one when she was about six weeks old. If there is reflux, the first step is usually prophylactic antibiotics to prevent infection.

I won't go into more detail here as kidney reflux varies hugely, and Sienna's was at the extreme end of the scale so I don't want to scare you or make you worry uneccessarily, but if you do want more info, feel free to PM me. Bottom line is that she's now 3 and you wouldn't even know she is a Kidney Kid, other than that she has to take her antibiotics every day. Kidney Kids have some great info on their site that is easy to understand too.

No, they don't have to be actually present at the birth - ours arrived in the 3 min interval between Sienna and Mercedes lol - usually, your midwife will call the on-call paed once bub is delivered and he or she will pop in to see you. Ours visited every day that we were in hospital postnatally too.

I know what you mean about it being hard not to worry - it's part of being a parent . I guess I was lucky with Sienna, my OB and midwife were really laid back about it and kept saying it would resolve itself so they almost had me believing it wasn't a big deal, and even the paed never let on how serious it was. It wasn't till the renal surgeon called me at 6pm on a Friday night after her MCU to tell me he needed to see us ASAP, and then she had surgery a few days later.

The good thing about kidneys is that we have two - Sienna's 'sick' kidney has impaired function, but her 'good' kidney picks up the slack so her overall function is good.

Probably the best advice I've ever been given is:

"DR GOOGLE IS NOT YOUR FRIEND!"

Lol - I still Google everything

Not scaring you or anything but I was not diagnosed with it as a young kid and never had the UTIs asociated with reflux, when I basically collapsed at 11 they checked me over and I ended up having to have my kidney taken out at age 13 cause of impaired function and it was pushing my blood pressure dangerously high. (It was scarred from reflux)
So its lovely to know that they can actually see it in the womb these days!!! I find that really reassuring.

Hi. My DS had the same thing. He was on antibiotics for the 3 months after birth has had scans and we are waiting to see the paed again and his right kidney was still dilated at his last scan. Our hospital down here has taken care of everything. They run a renal clinic on the last Friday of every month and I always take the opportunity to discuss any other health questions when I go. I see you are from Gore so I don't know if you will be referred down to Kew for the clinics but if you are they have been great. And it hasn't cost us anything except the script for the ABs.

PS. when it was picked up at our 20 week scan we were told that we were the 5th couple that week to have the problem so it is quite common. Try not to panic (I know that is easier said than done!).

Edited by Nicola_1975