It's been a rough week at my house thanks to a nasty stomach bug my daughter brought home from kindergarten. Everyone had a turn being sick. Today I'm doing better and was able to go to my appointment, but I'm still completely exhausted.
The baby, now 15 weeks, was more active during our peek this week compared with last week, and that was reassuring. It waved to us again - I always hope it's waving hello and not goodbye! Next week is the big detailed ultrasound which I'm hoping will show nothing out of the ordinary. Of course, even if everything looks fine I will STILL be a nervous wreck. But if everything doesn't look perfectly fine? Well . . . I just try not to think about how ugly that would be.
I often wonder how Jeremiah's and Miles' cords would have looked on ultrasound had we been able to look before they died. My guess is that we may have seen Jeremiah's hypercoiling, but probably not Miles' stricture. I had an ultrasound scheduled to look at Miles' cord, but he died a week before that appointment. My first son David's cord was looked at on ultrasound, but no particular issues were found. It was obvious at birth, though, that he had a very lean cord. Lean cords are associated with IUGR (intrauterine growth restriction) and SGA (small for gestational age), meconium stained amniotic fluid at delivery, and APGAR scores less than 7. Luckily, my David lived despite having all of these problems and ending up in the NICU, but you can see why I will still be worried even if next week's ultrasound looks OK.
I have spoken to Dr. Collins in Louisiana about how this pregnancy should be managed. He suggests detailed ultrasounds of the cord every week from 16-20 weeks and my clinic seems willing to do so. The trouble is that even if problems are found, there is nothing that can be done about it before viability other than for me to take it easy and hope for the best. I can do home monitoring daily through Dr. Collin's clinic starting at 26 weeks - not earlier because the home monitor can't reliably pick up the heartbeat before then. Right now, it's hard to imagine making it to 26 weeks, or even to 23 which is when my clinic considers a baby viable. Maybe after next week's appointment I'll be able to have a more hopeful outlook!
The baby, now 15 weeks, was more active during our peek this week compared with last week, and that was reassuring. It waved to us again - I always hope it's waving hello and not goodbye! Next week is the big detailed ultrasound which I'm hoping will show nothing out of the ordinary. Of course, even if everything looks fine I will STILL be a nervous wreck. But if everything doesn't look perfectly fine? Well . . . I just try not to think about how ugly that would be.
I often wonder how Jeremiah's and Miles' cords would have looked on ultrasound had we been able to look before they died. My guess is that we may have seen Jeremiah's hypercoiling, but probably not Miles' stricture. I had an ultrasound scheduled to look at Miles' cord, but he died a week before that appointment. My first son David's cord was looked at on ultrasound, but no particular issues were found. It was obvious at birth, though, that he had a very lean cord. Lean cords are associated with IUGR (intrauterine growth restriction) and SGA (small for gestational age), meconium stained amniotic fluid at delivery, and APGAR scores less than 7. Luckily, my David lived despite having all of these problems and ending up in the NICU, but you can see why I will still be worried even if next week's ultrasound looks OK.
Newborn David's lean cord
I have spoken to Dr. Collins in Louisiana about how this pregnancy should be managed. He suggests detailed ultrasounds of the cord every week from 16-20 weeks and my clinic seems willing to do so. The trouble is that even if problems are found, there is nothing that can be done about it before viability other than for me to take it easy and hope for the best. I can do home monitoring daily through Dr. Collin's clinic starting at 26 weeks - not earlier because the home monitor can't reliably pick up the heartbeat before then. Right now, it's hard to imagine making it to 26 weeks, or even to 23 which is when my clinic considers a baby viable. Maybe after next week's appointment I'll be able to have a more hopeful outlook!
4 comments:
sorry everyone is sick :(
I hope 26 weeks comes really fast for you, and you can start getting the home monitoring to ease your mind.
I feel like I've gotten some education today, too. Thanks!
Hey Annie,
I can feel your anxiety about your pregnancy. I completely understand why you wouldn't want to tell everyone about your pregnancy yet. I am so hopeful that things will work out this time. I hope the weeks go by quickly and your detailed US goes well.
Thinking of you.
Praying for things to continue to go well for you (and that the wave was a "Hi mum, I'm A-OK see you in 5 months!"
xxxxx
I'm glad you talked to Dr. Collins and really I hope your doctor will do your detailed sonograms.
I will be thinking about you tomorrow.
Cindy
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