I had my regular OB appointment yesterday and my regular doc, Dr. K, is still on maternity leave so I continued my floating and instead saw the brand new doc to the practice, Dr. M. Anyway, they informed me that Dr. K has decided to become a stay at home mom to her three boys! I can't say I blame her at all since I'm doing it too, but I'm a little sad to be losing her. I also couldn't imagine going through all that education - 9 years of medical school and residency! - and then retiring, but I also couldn't imagine having her schedule with three little ones. Her husband is also a Dr so they both have a lot on their plates career-wise. Good for her! I get to see her one more time because she is coming back just for the month of October. So, I now have to choose another of the three docs for my regular one. The one that I really want, Dr. B, is actually pregnant (with her second IVF baby!) and is due right before me so I guess it wouldn't make much sense to pick her, hmmm.
So, the rest of the appointment was fairly uneventful, with a perfectly sized uterus, very strong heartbeat in the 150's and slightly more weight gain that I expected, until Dr. M asked me about my Peri appt. I told her I have it scheduled for Friday and she then asked me if I understood why I needed to see him. I said yes, because of the previa and she said yes, and because we couldn't see the arteries exiting the heart - uh WHAT??? That was the first that I had heard this! She told me that it was nothing to freak out about (easy for her to say), but that it was simply that the sonographers try to see where the two major arteries (pulmonary and aorta) exit the heart because they should exit from the correct chambers and apparently she couldn't get a good enough picture to see. Apparently my Peri has much better equipment for that sort of thing so he can check it for us. I have to believe that this is not a big deal or a sign that something could be wrong or the other two doctors who I've talked to since the ultrasound would have said something. She assured me that everything about the heart that they could see looked perfect. I'm a little worried, but not terribly.
So, in other baby news, we saw my belly jumping for the first time last night! I'm sure that I could have seen it before if I'd stared at my bare belly for long enough, but last night she was really doing karate chops so we could see it through my shirt! Then I lifted it up and we could see it even better. It was so cool! I just love it!
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Still can't believe this is really happening
I am still in shock that I have an actual baby growing and kicking :) inside of me! It seems so surreal at times, but I am LOVING every moment! I have been making more frequent trips to Babies R Us and other baby stores lately, trying to make some final decisions on registry, bedding, furniture, etc., and I still hear that nagging little voice in the back of my head asking if I really belong here. Yes, as a matter of fact, I do and it's becoming quite obvious now! For so many years, I avoided those places like the plague and if I was forced to go in, it was in and out as fast as I could possibly move. What a difference a few months can make!
Ever since we found out that Stretch is a girl, we've received so many gifts and adorable baby girl clothes! I've also become quite the shopaholic myself. This little girl is going to be quite the fashionista! I'm secretly nervous that they got it wrong and she is really a he and we're going to have all this pink stuff, but I know that the chances of that are pretty slim. I'm going to have Dr. A double check for me next week to make me feel more confident that we can proceed with the buying of pink.
Last week I finally broke the news to my boss that I am not coming back. I was so nervous about it and had worked myself into quite a tizzy over it, but it actually went very smoothly. He was very understanding and I really don't think he was all that surprised. He told me that he just wants me to be happy which was nice. I was afraid that things would be awkward between us, but things are pretty much business as usual. We are going to start looking for a replacement soon and I'll hopefully be able to train that person before I leave. I plan to work right up to before Christmas by the way (if I can). I figure I can't travel anyway so I might as well earn as much cash as possible.
I'm very anxiously awaiting our appointment with Dr. A next Friday only a week to go! I'll keep you posted on the status of my placenta. I keep talking to it, encouraging it to move, so we'll see if it has listened to me.
Ever since we found out that Stretch is a girl, we've received so many gifts and adorable baby girl clothes! I've also become quite the shopaholic myself. This little girl is going to be quite the fashionista! I'm secretly nervous that they got it wrong and she is really a he and we're going to have all this pink stuff, but I know that the chances of that are pretty slim. I'm going to have Dr. A double check for me next week to make me feel more confident that we can proceed with the buying of pink.
Last week I finally broke the news to my boss that I am not coming back. I was so nervous about it and had worked myself into quite a tizzy over it, but it actually went very smoothly. He was very understanding and I really don't think he was all that surprised. He told me that he just wants me to be happy which was nice. I was afraid that things would be awkward between us, but things are pretty much business as usual. We are going to start looking for a replacement soon and I'll hopefully be able to train that person before I leave. I plan to work right up to before Christmas by the way (if I can). I figure I can't travel anyway so I might as well earn as much cash as possible.
I'm very anxiously awaiting our appointment with Dr. A next Friday only a week to go! I'll keep you posted on the status of my placenta. I keep talking to it, encouraging it to move, so we'll see if it has listened to me.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
More placenta previa talk
I've been a researching fool ever since I got the diagnosis, and just wanted to share a little bit of that with you. I have been told so many differing statistics about the resolution of these things that I was going crazy! I heard from one OB that 95% resolve, then another said 85% resolve, then I read articles online that 90% resolve. Anyway, I was interested in finding information that was specific to complete previas (what I have) and finally found an article that had statistics for each. Here's the link http://www.aafp.org/afp/20070415/1199.html. Anyway, it says that previas are less likely to move in women who have had a previous C-section (one point in my favor!), because it seems that placentas like to adhere to scar tissue. Of course I worry about having scar tissue from my D&C but I know that would definitely not be as significant as C-section scarring.
So, this article says that for complete previas with no previous c/s that are diagnosed at 15-19 weeks (mine was diagnosed at 20), that 20% will persist to delivery and if it's still there at 24-27 weeks 56% will persist. It all depends on the position of the placenta though, i.e., how far the overlap is, and I don't have that information yet. I know my Peri will look at it in greater detail and take measurements and all that good stuff. I've also found a message board on Babycenter (they have message boards for everything!) for placental problems and have found many stories of women whose placentas eventually moved and also of women who had no bleeding at all though it seems that majority whose persisted did have at least one bleeding episode.
One of my online friends had a complete previa that persisted to delivery and she had a bleeding episode at 33 weeks and spent 3 days in the hospital and then went home on bedrest for the rest of her pregnancy until they delivered her baby girl by uneventful c/s at 36 weeks. I think that her experience is pretty typical. I also find it pretty crazy that we would both have this happen because it's relatively uncommon! I must say that at the time that she was going through it, I really didn't understand just how serious it can be but I have definitely been educated! They say that you are the highest risk for bleeding at 28 weeks and beyond due to cervical changes, dilation and contractions. The goal is to schedule your c/s before labor begins, so it's almost always going to be scheduled before 40 weeks, most often around 37 weeks.
There are lots of other crazy complications that could happen with previas that I won't go into here, but here's a good general article about it - http://www.babycenter.com/0_placenta-previa_830.bc?Ad=com.bc.common.AdInfo%4053b252a
On a much lighter note, we went to Vegas for Labor Day weekend and had a GREAT time! We spent a lot of time relaxing out by the pool, saw a show, ate some great meals and Brad did some gambling and ended up coming out WAY ahead which is very exciting! More money to cover some of those big baby gear expenses, woohoo!
So, this article says that for complete previas with no previous c/s that are diagnosed at 15-19 weeks (mine was diagnosed at 20), that 20% will persist to delivery and if it's still there at 24-27 weeks 56% will persist. It all depends on the position of the placenta though, i.e., how far the overlap is, and I don't have that information yet. I know my Peri will look at it in greater detail and take measurements and all that good stuff. I've also found a message board on Babycenter (they have message boards for everything!) for placental problems and have found many stories of women whose placentas eventually moved and also of women who had no bleeding at all though it seems that majority whose persisted did have at least one bleeding episode.
One of my online friends had a complete previa that persisted to delivery and she had a bleeding episode at 33 weeks and spent 3 days in the hospital and then went home on bedrest for the rest of her pregnancy until they delivered her baby girl by uneventful c/s at 36 weeks. I think that her experience is pretty typical. I also find it pretty crazy that we would both have this happen because it's relatively uncommon! I must say that at the time that she was going through it, I really didn't understand just how serious it can be but I have definitely been educated! They say that you are the highest risk for bleeding at 28 weeks and beyond due to cervical changes, dilation and contractions. The goal is to schedule your c/s before labor begins, so it's almost always going to be scheduled before 40 weeks, most often around 37 weeks.
There are lots of other crazy complications that could happen with previas that I won't go into here, but here's a good general article about it - http://www.babycenter.com/0_placenta-previa_830.bc?Ad=com.bc.common.AdInfo%4053b252a
On a much lighter note, we went to Vegas for Labor Day weekend and had a GREAT time! We spent a lot of time relaxing out by the pool, saw a show, ate some great meals and Brad did some gambling and ended up coming out WAY ahead which is very exciting! More money to cover some of those big baby gear expenses, woohoo!
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