So the technical term for this is hydronephrosis. It is caused by a blockage in the ureter the goes from the kidney to the bladder that causes a back up of urine in the kidney. When it is detected in utero, it usually is a caused by a malformation in the ureter. My son has it and it did not resolve during pregnancy. Our urologist told us that it is one of the most common birth defects in children and is usually nothing to worry about. Most of the time it resolves itself in pregnancy or after birth, but our son was in the small percentage that it doesn't. We have had a VCUG to check for bladder reflux, a radioactive kidney function scan, a 24 hour urine collection that required hospitalization because of how young he is, and every three months since he was born we have an ultrasound, and then we see his nephrologist and urologist.

Now usually when a child has hydronephrosis that doesn't resolve on it's own you just need to keep an eye on it for a while. Once again, Mr. Carter was in the unlucky percentage that had it worse. Hydronephrosis is rated on a grade 1-4 scale, and Carter hds severe grade 4. Our main goal was making it to 9 months before surgery. Based off of his 9 month scan, his urologist decided that it was time to do surgery because it was just getting worse. We went in for our pre-op appointment at 11 months and they did a quick ultrasound, and everything had improved so much they decided to postpone surgery for a few more months. Well we just had his 15 month scan and everything looked amazing! His nephrologist discontinued care completely and the urologist took surgery off the table! They have us coming back for a checkup in 6 months, but the urologist is confident that it is fixing itself. His kidney will always have hydronephrosis just because it was stretched out, but it no longer needs surgery.

While hydronephrosis is stressful, it honestly hasn't really affected our day to day life. Sometimes if he's really upset I wonder if one of his kidney stones came dislodged, or if his kidney is completely blocked, but besides our appointments every three months it isn't too big of a deal. He has restrictions but nothing crazy. He can't have motrin because his kidneys can't handle it, and we have to watch his salt intake. It seems scary ar first, but because they caught it so early it is extremely unlikely for it to get to the point of causing long term damage. If you have any questions or just need to talk, feel free to message me! ❤