Yesterday, we received a mom in el parto (short for L&D). She came in with an X-Ray of her thorax. A doctor who sent her was thinking she was having twins because she was large for her gestational age. Nope, not quite.
Mama had polyhydramnios because her baby has what we call "Anencephaly". The Central Nervous System fails to develop completely (see the wiki link for more). In the States, women of reproductive age are encouraged to include folic acid in their diets. Folic acid has been shown to reduce the risk of Neural Tube Defects. The prenatal care down here is inconsistent. Sometimes the moms are able to get appropriate prenatal care, but in this case she wasn't so lucky. One of the residents told me that anencephaly is common down her, but not sure why.
Pretty sad day. I was thinking of how I couldn't begin to fathom how the mother felt. After carrying this baby for almost 9 months and to not bring her home. That is the rough part of this field. It can go from one extreme to another- the happiest of moments to the most heartbreaking.
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Wow sounds like you are seeing things that aren't that common in the US. I've been reading the Wikipedia links like a big nerd. I bet they have a higher occurrence of NTDs because of lack of folate supplementation. I'm pretty sure there used to be a much higher incidence of NTDs in the US too before they started supplementing flour.
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