Filling in the rest of the blanks as to why my posts have been so late.
At my second ultrasound we were faced with more then just finding out the gender of our baby. I knew something wasn't quite normal because the scan lasted well over our appointment time. The technician spent a great deal of time measuring an "abnormal spot" behind my placenta, along with the blood flow through our baby's brain. Laying on the table, watching the images of our baby up on the monitor was such an amazing experience, but in the back of my mind I couldn't help but wonder what was wrong. We waited for so many years to finally have this precious child, how could something be wrong now? I knew that I could not ask the technician what was going on as they are not allowed to really give much information, but she was really good at giving us as much as possible.
She explained that the "spot" behind our placenta appeared to be the most likely source of our bleeding episode. She told us that sometimes the placenta can detach slightly from the uterine wall and when that happens, it often causes bleeding and in my case the majority of the bleeding has resulted in a pool of blood that is trapped. The "spot" will be monitored at each and every ultrasound to make sure that it does not grow in size which could indicate more detaching.
When I asked why she was spending so much time on her brain, she said she was just checking to make sure that the blood flow was at a normal level and that everything looked alright. She then stated that since we are labeled as a high risk pregnancy, that more measurements would be taken. High risk, why are we high risk? That was the first time that day that I would hear those words, but no the last.
After we finished with our appointment we were told 2 things. 1 that we would need to be rescanned in about 2 weeks because they were not able to get good photos of her heart. This happened with our son so I was not nervous about this at all. Baby was just laying in a bad position to see things clearly. The 2nd thing we were told was that we had a video conference with a specialist from Portland in the next room. I knew we had a consultation, but I had no idea it would be like this.
Jeff and I sent Tyson off with my Mom while we waited in a small room for the phone call to come through. As we were sitting there I had a thousand bad things going through my mind. Was she going to be alright, was she going to have T18 like my niece, was she going to come home with us. My heart was in my throat as we sat there waiting for the doctor's video to come on the screen.
After about 20 minuets the monitor finally came to life. There on the other end was a doctor from Portland who had a thousand questions about my medical past. Because I have had close to 19 surgeries, the background info took forever! Finally after everything was scrutinized he explained that because I tested positive for a blood clotting disorder (the Thrombus Factor 2 gene) and had already experienced a blood clot, I would have to be placed on blood thinners and monitored very closely. I will have to inject into myself once a day starting at 22 weeks until about 36 weeks when the injections will go to twice a day. Thankfully the medication will NOT pass through the placenta to the baby. The major problem comes from the possibility of her also carrying the mutation and thus also having the possibility of having a blood clot in utero. This could lead to a number of problems, most of which I can not allow myself to think about.
We were also told that the "spot" behind my placenta could and most likely will result in some bleeding again. As long as it is a dark brown color (old blood) it is not that concerning. However if it is a bright red, that could spell trouble.
It wasn't until our follow up with our doctor that we were given another
huge blow. Apparently the reason why they were so concerned with the
"spot" is because I have a complete placenta previa. A placenta previa
is best described as a placenta that is lying unusually low in your
uterus, next to or covering your cervix..
There are three locations that a placenta can be. As in the picture shown it can be a normal placement, meaning it is high on the top or sides of the uterus. A Marginal placenta previa is a low lying placenta that is partially covering the cervix. A complete previa is when the placenta is completely covering the cervix. If it is just a low lying or marginal placenta it has the ability to migrate, thus removing the risk factor. A placenta doesn't actually move in the uterus, but as the uterus expands, it pulls the placenta to a new position. The doctor explained it as drawing a dot on the bottom of a balloon. If you blow up the balloon the dot will move, but instead stretches to a new spot. In our second ultrasound it appeared that our placenta is in fact a complete previa. In most cases a complete previa does not have the ability to migrate to a safe position.
Because of this, on top of my blood clotting disorder, I am now considered extremely high risk. To try and avoid any complications I have been told that if, or when I should start bleeding again, I will have to remain in the hospital until we deliver. This is something I will try to avoid at all cost. I don't think my son could handle me being gone for any length of time right now. He has been super clingy since we told him that we are pregnant. He is scared that if he leaves my side, something bad will happen to the baby. I hate that he thinks that way, but it's understandable after what happened last time.
I also have lost the option of having a VBAC. Because the placenta is covering my cervix, if I should go into labor, my placenta could deliver before the baby, leaving the baby without oxygen. To avoid this, my c-section date will be moved up to avoid me even going into labor. Because I live over an hour from the hospital, they want to make sure that I don't even experience contractions. To monitor this, and our baby, I am going to start going in for monthly Bio Physical Profiles up until about 28 weeks, then I will go in every week until about 36 weeks then they will be moved up to twice a week until delivery. When my doctor was going over everything with me, she asked if I simply wanted to move into the office, seeing as how I am going to be there almost as much as her.
In case you don't know what a Bio Physical Profile is, I know I didn't, here is a quick rundown.
A biophysical profile (BPP) test measures the health of your baby during pregnancy. A BPP test may include a
non stress test with electronic fetal heart monitoring
and a fetal ultrasound. The BPP measures your baby's heart
rate, muscle tone, movement, breathing, and the amount of amniotic fluid around your baby. I go in for my first BPP on November 20th. I will be praying that everything looks good and that my placenta has migrated, even a little!
Since learning all this, we had another ultrasound. This was to get a better picture of little girl's heart. Thankfully after completely somersaulting she finally got into the right position and they were able to see that her heart is perfectly normal. So I hope you will understand why it has taken me so long to get everything updated. Between looking my Mother In Law and finding out everything isn't perfectly normal, I have been really stressed and not in the blogging mood. I do promise to try to be better at updating everyone on what is happening and to make up for my lack of response, here are a few pictures from our 20th week ultrasound.
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| I can't believe how much she changed in just 2 weeks! Look at those cheeks! |
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| This one was taken for my son so he knew his sister didn't turn into his brother. |
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| I can't believe the size of her foot! I stopped buying baby socks for her because I am almost certain she will fit into mine when she is born! |
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