Echogenic Bowel - Murfreesboro,TN

I wouldn't panic as you don't know that there is a problem. Here is a link or two to check out and I would wait and see what happens.
http://www.uptodate.com/contents/fetal-echogenic-bowel

http://www.ehow.com/about_###-###-####_echogenic-bowel-sy...

http://community.babycenter.com/post/a1787945/echogenic_b...

I would just enjoy your pregnancy and whatever happens you said you will love the baby. So don't make yourself sick over it as so many times they say there is something and all is fine. God is forming your little one. Psalm 139. It's in his hands.

Hi J. - What a difficult thing to hear! I can understand how upsetting this would be, and it doesn't sound like your ob-gyn gave you very good information. I hope you are doing ok. I have no personal experience with this, but I did some reading online, and found that in 65.5% of cases, an echogenic bowel does not really indicate any clear problem at all. So in 2/3 of cases, the baby is born healthy and ok, and actually, in most of the other cases, it is either something treatable (like an infection), or challenging but manageable (like Downs syndrome). You can take heart in that.

Echogenic means that the bowel is bouncing back the ultrasound waves just as well as the bones and other hard structures typically do. Usually the bowel shows up as a dark area in the u/s, because it is just soft tissue that is hollow inside. But blood is very echogenic, because of all the iron in it. It makes the bowel show up more.

If you had an isolated incidence of bleeding into your amniotic fluid (which can happen for a lot of reasons), it can take up to 3-4 weeks for that to go away. I would imagine they want you to have a repeat u/s in 2 weeks just to make sure that the bleeding is not continuing. The blood itself cannot harm your baby in any way!

This is the website I got good research-based information from. It's pretty technical, but I would be happy to help if any of it is confusing. Just message me!
http://www.fetalultrasound.com/online/text/2-042.htm

I'll be over here wishing for the best outcome for you and your little one. Read up on it.

Hi J. - I have been through this. My daughter had both echogenic bowel and heart at 17 weeks. The doctors told me not to worry too much (as if!). In the long run, the echogenic heart resolved itself, but there was always a little something showing up in her bowels. She turned out just fine and she is 7 months old now, doing wonderfully.

Please be careful what you read online (NOT a dig at the other moms' helpful links), but you know sometimes online research can have you convinced you're having an alien. :) Pray for your child. I did this constantly. If you would like a little more info on my particular situation and/or a list of scriptures I spoke over my child every day (it was scary!), I'd be happy to give them to you.

Take heart that a great many of these issues either resolve themselves or turn out to be of no consequence. Keep a positive attitude. The fact that you tested negative for chromosomal abnormalities is a BIG positive!! Best wishes to you and your family! And do feel free to write to me if you'd like further support. My daughter changed my life ~ this baby will do the same for you!