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Monday, March 31, 2008

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.

  • 10 comments:

    Anonymous said...

    Hi Liz,

    With my pregnancy with Aiden (my first pregnancy) I had Placenta Previa diagnosed at around 18 weeks. I had a 28 week ultrasound, and it had cleared itself up. Just thought I would share my positive store.

    Anne
    (prom list)

    Catherine Chandler said...

    Liz,

    Congrats on making it to 18 weeks! What a relief! I will be sending my thoughts and prayers to you about the PP. Your mind is a powerful tool, so be sure to manifest what you want to have happen, every time you think about it. And congrats on a baby boy!! It's so fun to have a little brother and sister. It sounds like Kaitlyn is doing well...isn't it such a relief when they actually want to eat? whew! Sometimes I look at E and still can't believe she's almost 3! I try to put out a lot of positive energy for her, for her development. She's such a toddler right now! That little "knock knock" that Kaitlyn does sounds so cute!

    skeybunny said...

    Hi Liz,

    Happy 18 weeks! A friend of mine was diagnosed with PP on her 3rd pregnancy (she had none of the other risk factors); hers also cleared up and she had an uneventful delivery (other than being over-due and needing to be induced).

    It's great to hear you talk about all that amniotic fluid, and mention that it would take a PROM mom to appreciate it. I actually had the exact opposite problem with Evan--polyhydramnios--and that's why my water broke and he was born at 32 weeks. Evan wasn't swallowing the amniotic fluid--funny how the amount a tiny fetus doesn't ingest can cause such a huge problem. On the U/S, it was always pointed out the tiny baby basically "bouncing" off the uterine walls...

    Congrats on having a boy--they are fun too.

    Hugs,
    Sarah

    Mountainmom said...

    Beautiful family pictures, including the sonos. Will pray that the condition resolves itself and for you to have peace. Hang in there--you're doing great!
    Lori, reader in VA

    L I S A said...

    Congrats on your son! I'm so happy for you guys. You are so tiny to begin with, your belly looks like mine now (I'm not pregnant). Here's to an uneventful remaining 20+ weeks!

    lisa
    (formerly from Sacto, PROM group)

    Anonymous said...

    Hi.I just want to share my experience. I am a mom who had placenta previa diagnosed early and also low water. My doctor told me to drink a lot of water. I did. a LOT. My water increased towards normal levels, also my placenta moved 'up' and was declassified from 'previa' to just 'low-lying'. I don't know if the water and placenta position were related, but it seemed to work for me. best wishes,
    Anna (mom of two)

    Anonymous said...

    Hi Liz,

    I never commented but faithfully reading your blog. :)

    CONGRATULATIONS with little boy!

    Also my son has severe reflux and I had him on Periaction and I just wanted to share couple tips with you even though it might be specific to us. In that case just ignore it. After a while he used to Periaction and effect went down. So a few times we would stop giving Periaction for a week or two and then restart it again.
    The other side effect of Periaction we were told is increasing gastric motility. That also helped us. I wasn't sure why becuase his motility was ok on its own. We had xray of his tommy and found out even though he had BM every day, he still was constipated and all his guts were filled up. We started him on constipation medication so his guts got empty and stopp pushing his stomack up and it helped with reflux. I was wondering if maybe Kaitlyn gets constipated and that contributes into her throwing up so often.

    Best wishies for 40 weeks!!!
    Gala

    Amy said...

    My prayers are with you, and might I say you look great!!! I'll be praying for you all the way 'til the end. Good luck.

    Sheri said...

    AWESOME post! So excited for you guys...We'll pray for for the PP to clear up!!!:) YEAH for a BOY! They are great!!!!

    Many blessings!!!!

    Kristen said...

    We recently started our little guy on periactin in hopes that he would want to eat and finally gain weight. He seems so much hungrier so it's been working for us.