Tuesday, May 10, 2011

36 Weeks: An Update

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First off I want to thank you all for the kind words left in the comments of my last two posts....many of them brought tears to my eyes. I want you all to know that i do read each and every single comment left on here. I may not always be able to reply to them all but I read them all! I am so grateful for you dear readers, YOU ARE AWESOME! Many of you asked me for an update on the bug and I after today's ultrasound results, but first....some news.

Last night was pretty scary for me. I woke up at 1:30 am with menstrual type cramping and spotting. There was no pattern to the cramping so I knew enough to not panic, but seeing blood will freak a prego out! It was a muddy color though, not bright red so I knew it was not a sign of possible hemorrhage and decided to relax on the couch in front of a movie. Eventually I was able to fall back asleep and called the midwife in the morning. Turns out this is fairly normal at this point in pregnancy and is a sign that my cervix is beginning to ripen and my body is practicing for the real thing. Yet this is still a little scary because at this point I don't know how low my placenta is and if it is safe to go into labor.

It is also scary because Ryan flies out for a 10 day business trip to New Orleans and Vegas....tomorrow morning. Really shitty timing to be experiencing all of this.

Fast forward a few hours to my scan. Most important the bug is happy and healthy with a good strong heart, but my placenta is still classified as "low-lying" the technician didn't give us an actual measurement but Ryan could see the screen better then me and he said the number looked to be 1.6 cm. Only 6mm of movement. I was devastated, exhausted from no sleep, and my cramping had returned. I just wanted to go home.

I fell into a deep sleep once I was back home and woke up still feeling disappointed but trying to remain positive and feeling less crampy. My midwife called me again to check in with me post-scan (midwives are AMAZING by the way!) and she told me a few things that have made me feel a bit better:

  • first off yes that is still low but we have to wait to see the actual results once they get faxed to her office. In the meantime she is going to refer me to an OBGYN (with placenta previa you have to) but she has found one that is young, recently graduated and very progressive in her thinking
  • this OBGYN is more likely to allow me to try a vaginal delivery if I can safely do so before just assuming the worst and slicing me open
  • they will do another scan on me to see if the placenta has moved more next week
  • the placenta only needs to be 2 cm away from my cervix before I am deemed safe to labor....so if I truly am at 1.6cm as Ryan thinks he saw then that is only 4 MORE MM! 
So all of the above made me feel better. Sadly should it be a case of my placenta still be low, but being allowed to attempt vaginal delivery I would have to go to a different hospital (a more progressive one) and would no longer be under the care of my midwives. But I guess we will just have to cross that bridge when we get to it. For now, we wait. UGH. I hate waiting. My next appointment with the midwives is Wednesday and they will have the ultrasound results by then and hopefully I will have a referral booked with the OBGYN. I am also going to ask for another scan to be performed I refuse to give up hope! The scan today was done abdominaly rather then vaginally and that is far less accurate. In fact the scan previous to this one was an internal scan, so to me it seems ludicrous to be comparing to very different types of scans especially when one is proven to be far more accurate. That is not a controlled study!!!! The science nerd in me is coming out in full force.

Again thank you so much for all of the support! Big hugs and baby kicks to all of you

Peace, love, and pickles!




2 comments:

  1. I'm sending happy "move placenta" thoughts your way! I am glad to hear it's moving just move a bit more! <3

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  2. You're in my thoughts! Sounds like you're keeping your spirits up and you have a good plan of action--all great things!

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