Babies with single umbilical artery do not always present with growth restriction, and even if they do, the timing cannot be determined.
The single umbilical artery is only used as a soft marker for fetal malformations, not as a gold standard for diagnosis, but only as a hint that other tests may be needed. There is also a good chance that a baby with a single umbilical artery is a normal baby.
A normal embryo develops with one umbilical vein and two umbilical arteries. A single umbilical artery means that instead of two umbilical arteries, the baby has only one umbilical artery. However, this abnormality needs to be combined with other ultrasounds. If it is simply a single umbilical artery and no other ultrasound abnormalities are found, non-invasive DNA can be done to rule out the underlying chromosomal abnormality disorder.
For fetuses with single umbilical artery, if ultrasound shows other malformations, such as cardiovascular malformations, neurological malformations, gastrointestinal malformations, etc., we should further investigate whether there is any chromosomal abnormality, and we can consider amniocentesis under the guidance of the doctor.
Therefore, for pregnant women with a single umbilical artery, it is important to have regular labor and delivery checkups and not to make all kinds of hasty decisions.