Friday, February 25, 2011

16 Week Ultrasound & Appointment

I had my level 2 ultrasound and follow-up with my OB today.  My appointments started down in u/s.  Baby was nicely tucked away and relaxing – not as much movement as the previous u/s.  I’m sure it’s because I hadn’t had breakfast and my bladder was nowhere near full.  With ankles crossed and one arm resting on it’s forehead the tech took all sorts of measurements.  Several were put aside until my 20 week u/s simply because the baby is still so small (a mere 6 ounces) at this point.  After we discussed why I was there, she took a lot of time looking over my cervix (nice and long still) and placenta.  Because of the positioning at this time, she did a trans-vaginal u/s to look at the bottom of my placenta.  This is where I noticed her doing a lot of measuring and what appeared to be an abnormal spacing (to me) and I knew something had to be up.  Unfortunately, u/s tech’s don’t tell you much so I knew I would have to wait until I saw my OB to start asking too many questions. 

We didn’t get a lot of great pictures, but we did get this nice 3D shot of the baby.  With no body fat yet, sure does look pretty skeletal and “alien-like.”

16 Weeks

We also attempted to peak at the gender, but baby had it’s legs pretty tight and the guess we got today is simply a guess.  I’m pretty sure I saw the same thing the tech was, so I’m going to say I’m 90% sure we’ll be welcoming a little girl into our house in August.  :)  It would only make sense that a girl is the one keeping mommy on her toes and making things a little bit complicated!

After getting done in u/s, I went up to see my OB.  He did the usual weight, blood pressure, tummy, and heartbeat checks.  Then we went over my u/s results.  The cause of my bleeding was due to a placental hemorrhage.  It is healing according to what the u/s tech saw, but I still need to take it easy and let things continue to heal.  With that, I’m stuck on “limited activity” still and counting down until my next appointment.

I go back in 4 weeks on March 22nd,  to have my 20 week (WOW, I’ll be half way done with this pregnancy!) u/s and see my OB again.  I’m sure the gender will be confirmed at this u/s and we’ll have LOTS of fun pictures of the baby.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

When Cravings Turn Bad...

Tuesday I worked late and my plan was to go home (to my quiet house because the tornados were out with their dad) and just eat a sandwich and enjoy the quiet.  Well, my co-workers were chatting up about food before I left and Little Caesar’s came up.  I'm not a huge fan of their pizza, but there is something about their Crazy Bread!!  So, what happens when a pregnant girl talks about food?  She gets an immediate, must-have craving for it!!

I ran through the drive-through just as they were pulling fresh Crazy Bread out - if any of you out there are bread lovers like myself, you know how wonderful just out of the oven bread is!  Needless to say my goal of only eating a couple pieces turned into devouring the ENTIRE bag!  Oops!!

The rest of the night, all I felt was misery as my body tried to digest the lump of bread sitting in my stomach.

The next morning rolls around and I have my usual gag-reflex problems trying to brush my teeth in the shower (unfortunately, this is an almost every morning problem) and end up throwing up.  Ugh!  Who knew your body has that hard of time digesting bread because I'm pretty sure the disgusting-ness that came out was hardly digested from the night before AND to boot just as garlicky.

Pretty sure I won't have any cravings for Crazy Bread in the near future.  :(

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

As usual...

I'm behind on updating on here from my last appointment (by almost a week - gasp!).

I did finally get in on Thursday morning last week to see my OB.  Although, he was not aware at all that I was there due to bleeding.  He seemed pretty miffed when I asked him if he knew I was there for follow-up and not just a regular prenatal appointment because he didn’t know.

We went over everything that I experienced prior to the ER visit and while I what happened in the ER.  In his (30 year) experience, he said bleeding at this stage is related to one of four reasons.  His best judgment is that the bleeding was caused by the placenta growing and continuing to need to burrow into the uterine wall.  As it's doing this in my case, it's most likely disrupting vessels and causing the bleeding.  He also said that in his experience, he's probably only seen 2-5% lose the pregnancy after bleeding of this nature.

For the time being, I'm going to be watched closely and he wants me on limited "bed rest."  Never had a "high risk" pregnancy before, but hopefully I won't stay one.  In his words, if this is related to the burrowing of the placenta, I should "grow out of it."  The limited bed rest currently only entails a few things - thankfully!!  So, no lifting (even the tiny tornados), no exercising, basically just keep it mellow!  Even though my OB didn't say anything regarding intercourse, my husband and I have decided to stay away from it for awhile (as much as that is driving my pregnant libido insane, I'm willing to agree if it keeps the babe safe).

I definitely felt a lot better after seeing my OB – I completely trust his experience and it helped calm a lot of my fears just to talk things out with him.  I know I have no control over what is going to happen at this point, but it’s nice to know someone with a LOT of experience is keeping his eyes on me.

I go back in two weeks – Friday the 25th and will have a level 2 (hour long) ultrasound and then will see my OB afterwards.  Hopefully this will either tell us what is causing the bleeding or it’ll show everything is good.  I’ll be 16 weeks by then and am hopeful that we might get a shot at knowing the gender too! :)

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Tomorrow is a new day...

Thank goodness each day starts anew!

I was suppose to have my follow-up appointment with my OB today for the bleeding I experienced last Saturday.  I shouldn't have felt so confident with myself and the traffic on the way down to my OB office (from my work to the other side of town) because just as I'm about to turn on the last 6 blocks to get there, I'm stopped by a train.  I had to sit in the turning lane and wait and wait and wait (trains are really long around here), so as I saw the end of the train and my light was still green, I pulled out so I could at least turn left on the street I wanted.  As I was waiting for the traffic to clear before I could turn, the light turns red and I watch this car (without it's signal on) make a right turn right in front of me - she was just following the traffic in front of her, oblivious that the light had turned (on her cell as well).  I had to wait for her before I could finish making my left hand turn and as I'm doing it this car that wants to come across the intersection (because her light is obviously green) starts blaring her horn at me.  So my choice, would have been to be just as oblivious as the lady making the right on red and hit her or let the other lady t-bone me...thankfully I was paying to attention and screamed back at her (because you know she heard me)!

The parking is always terrible at the clinic, but thankfully there was a spot for me to sneak into.  I'm practically running towards the clinic - cussing the whole time over being late and it taking me 30 minutes to get to my appointment.  I get up to the desk and the girl looks at me and goes - "we don't have anything set up for you today."  I immediately felt myself falling apart emotionally, but kept it together to tell her specifically who I talked to and when.  She looks over to the girl at the next desk as the one I spoke to and her face drops.  To top everything off, my OB was not in at all today and they thought it was best for me to see him and not just the nurse practitioner who was there.  Guess who has the first appointment of the day tomorrow?!  You guessed it, ME!  They better give me an ultrasound and some answers tomorrow!

I do feel horrible for my husband though, I called him as I was leaving the clinic.  I don't think he really heard anything audible, as I was sobbing.  I'm sure he thought the worst at the moment, but thankfully I was finally able to get out what happened to him.  These clinics really should know not to screw anything up with a hormonal and emotional pregnant women - ESPECIALLY one who has been experiencing bleeding!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Fetal Heart Doppler

I fell for the craze on the WTE boards and bought myself a fetal heart doppler.  I have no idea what I was catching when I used it the first few times (I'm guessing my own heart beat, even though it was reading pretty fast), but I found the baby well last night.  Right smack dab in the middle below my belly button (I thought it was kind of weird to find the baby waaaaay off on my left side when I tried before).  I think I could have sat and listened for hours and hours.  We definitely have an active baby, as I was listening I could hear the baby's movement hit the probe of the doppler.  Pretty sure every time I heard that, I giggled.  :)

I'm still feeling a lot of emotions towards the unknown of this pregnancy.  I know I don't want to spend the rest of the time afraid of everything I feel, but I can't shake it.  I'm even having a hard time justifying twinges and pinches as something normal like round ligament pain.  In addition, every time I feel something "leaking" below, I want to run to the bathroom to make sure I'm not bleeding again.

Really hopeful my OB can give me some reassurance tomorrow.  I will be fine if I can't, but it would also be awesome if he said I was fine to have caffeine again.  I was daydreaming of Caribou on my way to work today.

"In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps."
Proverbs 16:9

Monday, February 7, 2011

Just as I published the last post, I got the phone call I had been impatiently patiently waiting for.

The OB who reviewed my case did not feel I needed to be seen today by her because the bleeding had subsided, but they did want me to see my OB this week and not wait until my scheduled appointment on the 17th.  I go in on Wednesday for follow-up.  Praying they have some reason for this and that it's something that will correct itself before baby gets bigger and the size of everything could cause further complications.
I keep trying to take deep breaths, but for some reason I can’t get rid of the overwhelming feeling I have consuming me.  Today has been filled with many more emotions than I expected.  It’s been a couple days since my last ER visit and it’s like it has all just sunk in.  I am supposed to be working and can’t get my mind off of the unknown.

What scares me the most is knowing there is nothing they can do for the baby if my body decides it no longer wants to be pregnant.  The ER doctor flat out said because I am less than 20 weeks, there is nothing they can or will really do.  Essentially, if my body decides to go into labor, I’ll just deliver the baby and it will die.  I know this is a horrible thought to have, but it’s in the back of my head and it breaks my heart.

It is really hard to grasp why all this is happening.  The doctors have yet to come up with any kind of medical reason.  The reasons I’m coming up with on my own, really aren’t definite causes either.

I called into my OB office this morning to see what kind of follow-up they would like me to do.  My doctor is not in on Monday’s, but his nurse and I talked.  She is taking my situation to one of the other OB’s and was going to get back to me.  It’s been a little while now and I was hoping to hear from her, but I’m fighting back the urge to be one of those patients who doesn’t give them a normal amount of time.  I’m hopeful that they will have me come in and do an extensive ultrasound – to see if they can find an answer to all of this bleeding.  Part of me wonders if it’s better to not have an answer because oblivion is bliss (even if it’s filled with fear).  At least having the reassurance of seeing the baby would help my heart.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Complications...

I really wish I wouldn't have taken for granted how problem-free and text book my last two pregnancies were.  It seems like the time we actually plan a pregnancy - there have to be constant complications.  Yesterday was another long day spent in the ER.

The tiny tornadoes had spent Friday night with my mom so my husband and I could have a break.  My mom lives about 45 minutes from us, so we drove down yesterday to get them.  We had a nice lunch and then decided to make our way up to another nearby city for my nephew's hockey game - another 45 minute drive ahead of us.  About 10 miles down the road, I had this gushing feeling.  I thought I was peeing my pants - although odd to feel like I have no control over the feeling, I didn't put it past my bladder.  I asked if we could stop at the next gas station.  As I stood up to go inside, I had the gushing feeling again.  Totally miffed and kind of pissed at body for doing this to me already, considering there is not a 36 week fetus jumping on my bladder at this point.  As soon as I begin to pull down my pants to sit down in the stall, I see all the blood and realize what the gushing was.

Last week I ordered a fetal heart doppler - so, I've been listening to the baby's heart beat every couple days or so.  The only thing easing my mind when I saw the blood was that we had just listened to the heart beat the night before.

I immediately called up to the OB nurses station at my hospital and they told me to come straight to the ER.  Our really good friends met us at the ER and took our vehicle with the kids back to their house, so we didn't have to worry about what we were going to do with them in the ER.  We really don't know what we would do without good friends like them.

I must state that this ER visit, was nothing like the last as far as service.  Don't get me wrong, the doctor I had was really good, but the nurses weren't anything overly special.  The nurse that brought me back also had a student nurse - as much as I believe everyone has to learn, I really wasn't looking forward to being a demonstration.

They went over 50 questions and I continued to feel the "gush" of more blood while sitting there.  They then had to move me to a different room so the doctor would be able to do an internal exam.  The bed in the room I was in didn't have the stirrups.  Once we got to the other room, they started an IV.  This is where the demonstration side came in.  The student nurse "tried" on top of my right hand - she didn't get it.  So, the experienced nurse comes over and goes at it on my left forearm.  She got it in on her first try, but it BURNED like crazy when she put it in and it NEVER stopped burning until it came out.

Next came ultrasound - as soon as she put the wand on my belly, she turned the screen to me and showed us our ever active baby.  I didn't see the screen much after that because of how she had to be in the small room with her equipment.  My husband did watch and said baby was moving the entire time.

The doctor came at the end and went over all the blood work they had taken and the ultrasound.  Everything looked great, EXCEPT for the bleeding.  At this point, they're labeling it as a "threatened abortion/miscarriage."  Basically, there is nothing they can do for me regarding losing the baby until I'm past 20 weeks.  It's really hard not wanting to find a reason to blame myself for this, but the doctor did his best that there was nothing I did.  He put me on pelvic/bed rest for 48 hours and then I have to call my OB office tomorrow when they open.  I was pretty exhausted by the time we got home and fell asleep right before 9 pm.

Today, I'm still having really mild cramping, but the bleeding seems to have completely diminished (thank goodness).  I still feel kind of off.  I'm just really hoping that if things do get the chance to progress, I don't continue to have problems or possibly have premature labor.  As selfish as this may sound, we really cannot afford for me to end up on bed rest at home (even with the benefits I have through my work).
I've been meaning to write about our first prenatal appointment since I had it almost a month ago.  For time sake, I'm going to try to get out the shortest version.

My OB did an internal ultrasound where we got to watch baby moving around like crazy and even see the cord pulsating.  It's amazing how clear everything was with an internal versus abdominal ultrasound.  We discussed the bleeding a few days earlier and he figured it was from the baby implanting and the placenta attaching/burrowing into the uterine wall.  It's apparently fairly common, even if I hadn't experienced it with my previous pregnancies.  He is leaving my due date based on my FF chart and we will discuss induction at term due to my previous labor being so quick.

Here's a picture of our beautiful babe.

10 weeks 5 days