Week 17 Update

Had another dr appt last night and it was full of conflicting news. The great news is that BB2 is doing great. Another strong heartbeat at yesterday's appointment. This baby has been at 160 pretty much consistently, while Connor started at 161 and then gradually slowed down from there.

I talked to the doctor again about not wanting to attempt a VBAC and that I was happy having another c-section. He had me sign my life away agreeing to the section and then again for the tubal that I want to have done while I'm there. Jeffrey and I know that having two children is perfect for us and why mess around with the details, ya know? I kinda feel like I had to talk the doctor into that part, but it's understandable. I'm sure they see it often when women come back needing to have the procedure reversed. Not me doc. I'm good.

We went over my hospital visit from the previous week and that I was really starting to have some minor relief from the nausea/puking/hating my life. He then talked to me about my placenta previa and his concerns. Apparently, if you've had a prior c-section and you have previa in a subsequent pregnancy there are some risks involved. The technical term is placenta accreta. In my case, it means that what they are concerned with happening is that the placenta attaches itself too deeply to the uterine wall and can penetrate the uterus. So, when you have previa as I do, not only is the placenta in the wrong place, but it can try to work its way out of my uterus through the weakened spot, my c-section scar. This is dangerous I guess for a number of reasons, both for BB2 and myself.

I've read that accreta occurs in 1 in 2500 pregnancies, so perhaps I have the odds on my side. Of all cases of previa, about 5-10% experience accreta so I'm hopeful that I will be the 90%. Unfortunately, the fact that I've had a c-section doesn't help my chances. On the other hand, the liklihood of accreta is increased by the number of sections you've had and i've only had the one at this point.

For BB2 the main concern is premature delivery and complications related to that. For me, the concerns are a bit more well, concerning. The issue is with removing the placenta from wherever it ends up attaching itself. If it manages to get out of the uterus, it can attach to the bladder or other organs. When the baby is born and the placenta manually removed, the risk of hemmorrhaging can be severe and life threatening. The chances of having a hysterectomy are pretty high as well, depending on what the placenta attaches itself to.

So...anyway. At this time this is all just 'what if' and we don't even know if I have accreta, so all this research will hopefully be for nothing. I am now waiting on a call from someone with my drs office to schedule a level two ultrasound. A level 2 US is just a more detailed scan of the baby and my uterus and surrounding areas. What I'm looking forward to is that these pictures may be much better than the typical ultrasounds I get. This ultrasound has to be done at a perinatal office, so it won't be at my normal office. I'm really hoping they can get me in next week.

Best case scenario is that my placenta will have moved itself to where it should be and the whole concern will be gone. If the placenta is still previa then I'll have ultrasounds scheduled monthly so my dr can keep track of it and determine any sort of treatment or steps. Bedrest is possible, but for now I've just been told to avoid any sort of heavy lifting and other "activities" that I won't detail here because my parents read this blog sometimes. Use your imagination...there you go. I can't do that.

That was obviously the bulk of the appointment last night. Jeffrey comes to all of our appointments and I love that. Yesterday, he brought Connor. I'm really torn between wanting him to be a part of the whole experience and not wanting him freaking out if something goes wrong and I'm freaking out. Oh, and by "part of the whole experience" I mean the drs appts, NOT the delivery. We're not those people.

We realized when we got home that the dr didn't mention if I'd gained or lost so I'm hoping that it's because I'm ok in that area and not because he figured he gave me enough to worry about with the accreta.

I'm also waiting on a call at this point to schedule the delivery. My technical due date is June 1st, but I'll never get there. They tend to want to deliver at 39 weeks so that would be May 25th. We were hoping for May 28th so that it would be a Friday and would result in the least time off work and would correlate with Connor's summer break. We'll see what the hospital has available when they call and I'll for sure update. It's crazy to think that we're selecting our baby's birthdate. Creepy kinda.

whew, ok i think that's pretty much it for now. it's been a long week, even though it's a short work week. So, for the next several days we're going to enjoy Christmas with the family, open gifts in a super glutonous manner and think positive thoughts that this worry will be for nothing and that the rest of the pregnancy will continue perfectly. :)