Some good and some not good news

Let's see, where to start. As you know I mentioned that it was just a week ago that my water broke on my last pregnancy and every day seems surreal to me that I go past being pregnant and am not lying in bed! Brian was able to find my box of practically new (with tags on them) maternity clothes from before that I never was able to wear.

Here are pictures of me on March 10th, taken when I was 16weeks 2 days (my water broke before at 16weeks 6 days). I was on my way out (yeah) to my monthly meeting with my fellow gtube moms (my sanity savior friends).

Here is telling Kaitlyn to look at the baby in mommys belly - very cute!

I'm now 18 weeks and 5 days and bigger than this, (have to take a new picture). Hard to believe that last time around we were so good and took pictures every week of my pregnancy (guess that shows how different it is with having a toddler around!) I feel great!! no more headaches, no more ill feeling, just generally really great. I remember this from last time, thinking how sad that I finally felt great when I had to go on bed-rest. It's all very surreal to me.

Last week, at 18 weeks we had our fetal survey ultrasound where we found out the sex!!! (I'll get to that in a minute). (yes, I'm going to make you keep reading!)

First of all (and most importantly) the baby looks great!

Here are some pictures of the little one:

Almost looks like "he/she" is smiling doesn't it? Will you look at all the beautiful amniotic fluid around the little one (only a PROM mom looks at the ultra sound and says wow, I love seeing all that fluid!!) It makes me giddy!

This 4D picture was hard to get, as the baby's top of head was up against my placenta, hence the elongated funny looking forehead. But wow, amazing none-the-less!

OK, now for the not-so-good news:

I have Placenta Previa (PP).
What is that? Well it means that my placenta is covering the opening to my cervix. What are the complications of PP? pre-term labor! Holy shit. This can't be happening.

Basically, according to the Mayo Clinic website: "If you have placenta previa, the placenta will detach (called Placenta Abruption) from the lower part of the uterus as the cervix begins to open in preparation for labor.

"The Mayo Clinic says these are the risk factors for PP:

Have already delivered at least one baby (yes that's me)

Had a previous C-section (yes that's me)

Had placenta previa with a previous pregnancy (no)

Are age 35 or older (yes that's me)

Smoke (no)

Are carrying twins, triplets or other multiples (I did before)

Have had a previous uterine surgery, such as myomectomy to remove uterine fibroids or dilation and curettage (D and C) to scrape the uterine lining (Yes that's me, I had a Myo to remove MANY (10 large) fibroid tumors about 4 years ago,which is basically a c-section but much more intense, I was in surgery for 3 hours for my Myo).

Now, before you get too worried, there are different types of PP, thankfully mine is the type that could take care of itself. It means that it's the edge of the placenta that is over the opening to the cervix. We (and the docs) are hoping that as my uterus grows with the baby that it placenta will clear the cervix opening. Please, everyone out there in blog land, please send us your prayers for this to happen.


I will be going back for another ultrasound in a month. We are seeing the same doctor (no, not the one who did the fateful amnio- I REFUSED to see him), but the one who finally gave us a clear picture of what were looking at when my water broke before. We like him, he's very matter-of-fact, and we appreciate that. I think he was really bummed to have to tell us the news.

I did a bit of research on PP (you know me, the research queen). First of all, many women I have spoken to had PP like mine that cleared up (so I'm going with those thoughts).


PP usually means bleeding, thankfully I've had none so far. and it means bed-rest!!!! OK, I really, really am trying to keep this positive!


Well, to end on a few good notes, as I said earlier, we found out the sex! We are having a

BOY!!!!

Brian was just thrilled. He KNEW it was a boy. (now it's not 100%, as the angle of the little guy was a bit difficult to tell for sure), but we have another ultrasound in a month anyways now.

Kaitlyn:

Miss Kaitlyn got some new glasses! They are big girl glasses and are so cute on her! They are a little bit big, so she has to push them on her temple (they can't be adjusted) but she can grow into them.

She's talking up a storm! Full sentences now too.

Here's a little conversation I'll have to catch on video:

As she's looking at my belly, she'll knock on it lightly and say: "knock-knock, who's there? It's baby! Open peeze!" Too cute!


We started giving her a new drug called Periactin. It is an antihistamine, that has the side-effect of being an appetite stimulant. After the first dose, things started going GREAT. we had only 1 vomit in 4 days, and she even asked for breakfast one morning. Now this morning we had a vomit (and we hadn't had a morning vomit since we started the medicine), but yesterday again was vomit free!

Oh, and she finally hit 25 pounds a few days ago. She's been 24+ since Mid December!


I'm still paranoid about her sensory issues. Yesterday for example, we had her up on our bed and she spent the entire time flopping herself all over the bed, rolling, flopping, rubbing. She does that all the time on the couch too. She's HYPER and is always moving and on the go. She hates being held.
On Easter we went to the Oakland Zoo and I took her on the train. She "melted" into my arms (a rare experience) as the movement of the train calmed her. This is clear Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) behavior. The only other time that she is willing to be held/cuddled is when: she' really tired in the morning and hasn't really woken up yet, when she's in the shower with me, getting hit by warm water, or on the swing in my arms. All clear SPD stuff here.