Had some more pink today.....ugh. Woke up to cramps around 1 a.m. and again at 3 a.m. The round at 3 just kept me up. Then I found the pink after going to the potty for the seventh time. I also had some pink last monday and ended up going to see Dr. J. All checked out fine with the cerclage though. We are frustrated with these occurences, they scare the bologna out of us. I am supposedly "over" my third.....yes third, urinary tract infection, but who knows? I will have another urinalysis next week and we'll really see. That or the contractions will come back.....ughhhhhh! Grow, baby grow! We also talked about inducing possibly; Dr. J said I am a good candidate with two successful vaginal births. It all depends on baby's position, dilation and effacement around 38 weeks. I really hope to move it up a little more.....not too much. But that will mean an amniocentisis, so we'll just wait and see.
Last Thursday we had our 26 week prenatal appointment, had a lovely chat with Dr. J and all seems to be going well. She checked my stitch again and it still seemed good. When she checks she is checking to be sure there is no tension on the stitch, for effacement and dilation. All look good. Since I have about half of my cervix left, I am 50% effaced or thinned out already, but that 50% seems to be in it for the long haul. Baby is now around 2 pounds or so. Hooray!
With passing day 26W 5D gestation we have passed Max's birthday. On Monday, today August 27. we will pass 27 weeks too.....the day Max died. It is not something anyone else would think of really, but it really gives this baby his/her own pregnancy from this point on. We have passed all of Max's dates and can only hope that this new little miracle has many, many more of his/her own dates.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Thursday, August 9, 2007
24W Ultrasound - Howdy baby!!
August 9, 2007
We got to see our little one again today. The fabulous thing about UH is the time and attention they have given us at every twist and turn of this pregnancy, and today was just as thoughtful an experience. We were seen by both a songrapher and our ultrasound MFM, Dr. L. Dr. L has seen us through every ultrasound in this prenancy, so it is nice to have such consistency for the baby. He said that all development is very good. He has no worries about the heart, gastro system......this is as good as it gets. :) So we were very happy to hear this. We were also able to see our baby in 4D, and it is the most amazing thing ever. The details are so clear, it is a true sneak peak at your child. We also saw the skeletal images, but the 4D is overwhelming. Dr. L said he was starting a new family album for us - and it is so true. We were given at least ten new pictures of our little one, and most of them are 4D. When we figure out how to get them added to the blog, hopefully everyone can enjoy them.
The only "grounding" news was that my cervix has shortened to around a 2. 4. In pregnancy they usually like to see at least a 3cm and above. But this is why we got the cerclage. When pressure was applied the cervix did not shorten any more so, this is good. The tech also said she thought she saw something inside the interior of the cervix (blood clotting maybe, but definitely not the amniotic sac - if the amniotic sac dips into the cervix it is called funneling and can break the bag of waters). The MFM, Dr. L, said he did not see anything that we need to worry about. So, at this point we are going t continue to do things as we are - with me on some physical restrictions but not on bedrest at this point. Our next appointment is Aug 23 with Dr. J. So all in all, a good day. Mike and I are hoping for many, many more of these and praying for many more weeks of baby baking for this little one.
We got to see our little one again today. The fabulous thing about UH is the time and attention they have given us at every twist and turn of this pregnancy, and today was just as thoughtful an experience. We were seen by both a songrapher and our ultrasound MFM, Dr. L. Dr. L has seen us through every ultrasound in this prenancy, so it is nice to have such consistency for the baby. He said that all development is very good. He has no worries about the heart, gastro system......this is as good as it gets. :) So we were very happy to hear this. We were also able to see our baby in 4D, and it is the most amazing thing ever. The details are so clear, it is a true sneak peak at your child. We also saw the skeletal images, but the 4D is overwhelming. Dr. L said he was starting a new family album for us - and it is so true. We were given at least ten new pictures of our little one, and most of them are 4D. When we figure out how to get them added to the blog, hopefully everyone can enjoy them.
The only "grounding" news was that my cervix has shortened to around a 2. 4. In pregnancy they usually like to see at least a 3cm and above. But this is why we got the cerclage. When pressure was applied the cervix did not shorten any more so, this is good. The tech also said she thought she saw something inside the interior of the cervix (blood clotting maybe, but definitely not the amniotic sac - if the amniotic sac dips into the cervix it is called funneling and can break the bag of waters). The MFM, Dr. L, said he did not see anything that we need to worry about. So, at this point we are going t continue to do things as we are - with me on some physical restrictions but not on bedrest at this point. Our next appointment is Aug 23 with Dr. J. So all in all, a good day. Mike and I are hoping for many, many more of these and praying for many more weeks of baby baking for this little one.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Pregnancy Snapshot
So, this is a quick look at how we got to 24 weeks....
- April 2007: Surprise, we're pregnant! Found out in April while Mike was in Utah.....holey moley, the ride begins!
- May 3rd (10 weeks) First ultrasound to determine viability of the pregnancy. A very bittersweet day since the last beautiful heartbeat we had heard was our darling Max.
- May 11th (11 weeks): Nuchal Translucency Scan and First Check appointment; FYI - The NT test uses ultrasound to measure the clear (translucent) space in the tissue at the back of the developing baby's neck. Babies with abnormalities tend to accumulate more fluid at the back of their neck during the first trimester, causing this clear space to be larger than average. The first of our hurdles: our baby's NT measurement was increased at 3.3mm. 2.5mm is normal. Our baby may have chromosomal defects or heart abnormalities. We are told we need to do a Chorionic Villus Sampling that day.....terrified we begin to inflate my bladder and prepare until a Genetics Couseolor arrives and helps us decide to wait until the blood testing is in.
- May 18th (12 weeks): Blood testing is in and we have decided to go ahead with the Chorionic Villus Sampling. It is an invasive diagnostic test that will allow the baby's chromosomes to be mapped to determine if abnormalities are present. The test was not fun, the babies NT was still enlarged so we feel it was a good decision for us. Our alternative was to wait until 16 weeks and complete an amniocentesis. Now we wait another two weeks for results.....all in all a very stressful month!!!
- June 1st: Results from the CVS are in: the chromosomes are NORMAL!!!! They could also tell us the baby's gender, but we are waiting until this little one is born, just like we did for Nate and Max. Now we wait until 22 weeks for an echocardiogram to rule out any heart issues resulting from the enlarged NT measurement.
- June 5th: (15 weeks) Cerclage Day. We need a stitch in my cervix to perhaps prevent future issues with this pregnancy. I am given a spinal (fun - I recommend you do NOT allow a resident to practice on you, just get the anethesiologist!) and the stitch is sewed into me. Sick for three days, lost weight but finally back on track.
- June 14th (16 weeks): Cerclage check day. Time to see was still well with the new stitch and it was. Also, we will begin P17 injections weekly starting in week 17. P17 is a synthetic progesterone that research has shown to help reduce occurrence of preterm labor. Mike practiced injecting me in the office and will be giving the shots each week. I don't know who is more excited, him or me???
- June 28th (18 weeks): Anatomy Ultrasound Day. For most parents this is so exciting because you get to see your baby and maybe find out the gender. But for us it was just scary - another opportunity for something awful to be found. However, we had a bright spot - all the baby's systems were forming beautifully and the enlaraged NT from 12 weeks, now called a Nuchal Fold, is just fine for this gestational age!!!! Hooray, we may not have to worry about Cystic Hygromas at all! We still have the echocardiogram at 22 weeks. But all in all this was a GREAT visit. Baby is in the 71% for growth and we also got 4-D ultrasound shots of the baby - they are amazing!!! Will post those soon.
- July 12 (20 weeks): Quick prenatal appointment: All looks well, Dr.J is happy with the stitch and the 18week ultrasound results, including heart formation. We feel pretty good after this appoitment.
- July 21 (21 weeks): Labor and Delivery Visit: After waking up to cramping around 3:30 a.m. (which is not unusual for this pregnancy) I had them all day. Finally around 4:00 pm we called the doctor service (it is saturday) and they told us to come in. Long story short, minor contractions, cultures taken, cervix looks good, stitch is good and we go home. Around 11 first call on an infection found from cultures after urine dipstick was called "clean." Minor yeast infection, yuck. Then on Sunday we get the call that I had a urinary tract infection. Antibiotics prescribed and by Wednesday I feel almos like a normal pg woman again - contractions have subsided as have the cramps. Earlier in the week I thought I would be on bedrest because of the frequency of contractions when I did next to nothing!!!
- July 26 (22 weeks): Echocardiogram day for baby. The heart looks BEAUTIFUL!!!!! No need to see us again unless something comes up at a later ultrasound. AMEN and hooray to that! Visit with Dr. J goes well, stitch is good. She reassures us our decision to go to L&D was a good one: a urinary tract infection can trigger Preterm Labor and it sounds like that is just what it was doing for me. She tells us we have Card Blanche and to trust our instincts. My body is pretty good at telling me something is wrong and we feel like we have made it a few steps up the mountain of this pregnancy.
- August 4 (23 weeks): Back to L & D: Wouldn't you know it is Saturday morning and I awoke to red blood in the toliet. Red blood is the cardinal warning sign of danger in pregnancy, especially in the later trimesters. So instead of making pancakes, Grammy and Papa come to watch Nate and we go to L&D again. :( While there, my body is making so much urine I think my water may have broken again on top of the blood. *when it broke with Max it was not a gush like you would think, but a slower emptying out that caused me to keep going to the bathroom at a ridiculous frequency. Long story short: all looks well. Cervix is closed, a little blood near stitch, ultrasound shows no internal blood and that the placenta is firmly attached to the uterine wall. All tests show no amniotic fluid, hooray. We see the baby swimming and flipping around in his/her dark world oblivious, thank goodness.
- August 6: 24 WEEKS GESTATION today!!!! Why excited? Today is the day that medical science recognizes our baby as a viable human, and they call it viability of the pregnancy. Our little one could possibly survive outside of the womb if he/she had to. Survival is about 60% and goes up with each day inside the womb. Each week increases survival chances tremendously. At 26 weeks Max had a nealy 80% chance at survival, but his immune system was not strong enough to fight the horrible e-coli sepsis invasion. We are hopeful that this little one will stay inside and bake for many more weeks with his big brother Max guarding close by.
- August 7: Crap. Another call from the hospital, another stinkin' urinary tract infection. Back on antibiotics and feeling pretty lousy today. Lots of cramping in the past 3 days with my wake up call being around 3:30-4 a.m. The only thing that helps is tylenol with codeine #3 that we were given after the cerclage. Hopefully we will just clear this one up and feel pretty good again. Only two days from our 24 week ultrasound.
24 Weeks
We are now 24 weeks pregnant. This means we have done a couple things:
1. We have reached what doctors refer to as viability of this pregnancy. If the little one is born from this point on they will do the best they can to sustain his or her life. Lungs will begin forming and our new little one will begin to practice breathing this month.
2. We have passed the gestational time when my water broke, or pProm'd, with our Mighty Max.
Unfortunately, we visited Labor and Delivery again this past Saturday. I woke up to blood in the toliet. It was red, which is a bad sign. So once Grammy and Grandpa Stevenson were here to care for Nate we were off to U.H. My urine was accumulating very quickly and was very pale - essentially translucent. When I was getting my sample ready at L&D I sniffed it because it was so pale and couldn't smell amonia or that, "yup this is urine" scent. This scared me quite a bit - when I pProm'd with Max fluid did not gush from me, I lost the amniotic fluid somewhat gradually. I would go to the bathroom over and over, but I could hold the amniotic fluid in like urine, so it just kept reaccumulating to be released. I was pretty scared that my water had broken again, along with the bleeding.
Fortunately, all checked out with the speculum exam: cervix is closed, the stitch (or cerclage) is as it should be, and there were no real signs of blood except after Dr. E did the thin prep for cultures. They did not find pooling (this is when amniotic fluid accumulates near the cervix), the nitrazine test was negative (a pH kind of test to see if the fluid near the cervix is basic or acidic or alkaline; vaginal secretions and urine are acidic while amniotic fluid is alkaline.)Finally, the ferning test was negative as well. Ferning is where a bit of fluid taken and spread on microscope slides. If it dries with a fern like pattern to it, it is a positive test for amniotic fluid. However, even with all the negative tests, I asked for an utltrasound at the end to see the fluid around the baby. The staff was happy to do this. I also really wanted them to make sure the bleeding did not come from inside the uterus, even though they felt confident it did not. The baby was happily spinning around in fluid, very active and the placenta was adhered to the uterine wall with no clotting behind or around it.
On Monday, I got a call from Dr. E saying my urine had tested positive for bacteria, so I am back on Macrobid. (Our first trip to L&D was two weeks ago for all day cramping that wouldn't go away and that also resulted in my urine culturing bacteria.) However, the normal dipstick test showed my urine to be "clean" both times. So apparently this is not an effective way to keep track on my urinary tract ect and we are going to send cultures every two weeks instead.
The bleeding still makes me uneasy, but it seems the answer to that is the urinary tract infection that was brewing. A urinary tract infection can send the body into preterm labor - contractions begin but they are a usually painfree tightening of the uterus as opposed to the contractions of full term labor. However, they are contractions nonetheless and are serious. For me, the contractions had started on and off fortunately not occurring four per hour. In addition I had menstrual cramping that would wake me around 3-4 in the morning. Both are signs of preterm labor. I am so glad we went to L&D - they caught the infection and we are now treating it, so things should calm down.
On Thursday we have a 24 week ultrasound. Dr. L will look at the baby's heart, again, a transvaginal ultrasound will meaure how long my cervix is and give a good look at the cerclage itself to see if there are any issues there. Hopefully we will see the baby happily swimming around, oblivious to all the craziness going on around him/her. I am going to have my urine cultured again on Thursday and then again next week to be sure the Macrobid has taken care of the infection.
So all in all, this past month has been a little more crazy than we had hoped for.
1. We have reached what doctors refer to as viability of this pregnancy. If the little one is born from this point on they will do the best they can to sustain his or her life. Lungs will begin forming and our new little one will begin to practice breathing this month.
2. We have passed the gestational time when my water broke, or pProm'd, with our Mighty Max.
Unfortunately, we visited Labor and Delivery again this past Saturday. I woke up to blood in the toliet. It was red, which is a bad sign. So once Grammy and Grandpa Stevenson were here to care for Nate we were off to U.H. My urine was accumulating very quickly and was very pale - essentially translucent. When I was getting my sample ready at L&D I sniffed it because it was so pale and couldn't smell amonia or that, "yup this is urine" scent. This scared me quite a bit - when I pProm'd with Max fluid did not gush from me, I lost the amniotic fluid somewhat gradually. I would go to the bathroom over and over, but I could hold the amniotic fluid in like urine, so it just kept reaccumulating to be released. I was pretty scared that my water had broken again, along with the bleeding.
Fortunately, all checked out with the speculum exam: cervix is closed, the stitch (or cerclage) is as it should be, and there were no real signs of blood except after Dr. E did the thin prep for cultures. They did not find pooling (this is when amniotic fluid accumulates near the cervix), the nitrazine test was negative (a pH kind of test to see if the fluid near the cervix is basic or acidic or alkaline; vaginal secretions and urine are acidic while amniotic fluid is alkaline.)Finally, the ferning test was negative as well. Ferning is where a bit of fluid taken and spread on microscope slides. If it dries with a fern like pattern to it, it is a positive test for amniotic fluid. However, even with all the negative tests, I asked for an utltrasound at the end to see the fluid around the baby. The staff was happy to do this. I also really wanted them to make sure the bleeding did not come from inside the uterus, even though they felt confident it did not. The baby was happily spinning around in fluid, very active and the placenta was adhered to the uterine wall with no clotting behind or around it.
On Monday, I got a call from Dr. E saying my urine had tested positive for bacteria, so I am back on Macrobid. (Our first trip to L&D was two weeks ago for all day cramping that wouldn't go away and that also resulted in my urine culturing bacteria.) However, the normal dipstick test showed my urine to be "clean" both times. So apparently this is not an effective way to keep track on my urinary tract ect and we are going to send cultures every two weeks instead.
The bleeding still makes me uneasy, but it seems the answer to that is the urinary tract infection that was brewing. A urinary tract infection can send the body into preterm labor - contractions begin but they are a usually painfree tightening of the uterus as opposed to the contractions of full term labor. However, they are contractions nonetheless and are serious. For me, the contractions had started on and off fortunately not occurring four per hour. In addition I had menstrual cramping that would wake me around 3-4 in the morning. Both are signs of preterm labor. I am so glad we went to L&D - they caught the infection and we are now treating it, so things should calm down.
On Thursday we have a 24 week ultrasound. Dr. L will look at the baby's heart, again, a transvaginal ultrasound will meaure how long my cervix is and give a good look at the cerclage itself to see if there are any issues there. Hopefully we will see the baby happily swimming around, oblivious to all the craziness going on around him/her. I am going to have my urine cultured again on Thursday and then again next week to be sure the Macrobid has taken care of the infection.
So all in all, this past month has been a little more crazy than we had hoped for.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Who me, blog???
Well, I decided to start this little adventure to help aid communication within the family - definitely not because I thought I had anything interesting to say that anyone outside the family would like to read!
We are curretnly 23 weeks and 4 days pregnant with our third child. Our story is kind of long to arrive at this point in the pregnancy. It has not been simple or carefree by any means and at this point in gestation does not promise to be easy at any point. We do not know the gender of this child, and we did not know the genders of our two previous children either. That being said, we have one child here on earth and one child in heaven.
Our earthly child's name is Nate and he is an extremely active soon to be four year old. His favorite place to be is outside, preferably at the park! Our second son, Max, graced our lives for a mere four days before he earned his wings. Though he was here for such a brief time he changed our lives completely. He has a web page all his own that contains his story as well as pictures. Briefly, Nate's pregnancy was normal to full term with no complications. Max's pregnancy took a turn for the worse when my water broke when he was just 23 weeks 4 days gestation. Fortunately, we were able to hold off labor until 26 weeks 5 days on July 28, 2006 when a placental abruption caused true labor. Max was born and when the delivering doctor announced that he was a boy, I was elated as was my husband. Two boys was my idea of a perfect family. Max was two pounds one ounce, pink and just beautiful. A miniature baby with a grave battle before him. Unfortunately the evils of this earth proved too much for his small immature immune system and he succombed to e-coli sepsis on July 31, 2006.
We have just passed his one year birthday and angelversary. Oddly it is like, "New Year," for my family - as though maybe 2007 can actually begin and we can look forward maybe to perhaps the full term birth of our newest hope. But for today, we can only sit and wonder and hope.
We are curretnly 23 weeks and 4 days pregnant with our third child. Our story is kind of long to arrive at this point in the pregnancy. It has not been simple or carefree by any means and at this point in gestation does not promise to be easy at any point. We do not know the gender of this child, and we did not know the genders of our two previous children either. That being said, we have one child here on earth and one child in heaven.
Our earthly child's name is Nate and he is an extremely active soon to be four year old. His favorite place to be is outside, preferably at the park! Our second son, Max, graced our lives for a mere four days before he earned his wings. Though he was here for such a brief time he changed our lives completely. He has a web page all his own that contains his story as well as pictures. Briefly, Nate's pregnancy was normal to full term with no complications. Max's pregnancy took a turn for the worse when my water broke when he was just 23 weeks 4 days gestation. Fortunately, we were able to hold off labor until 26 weeks 5 days on July 28, 2006 when a placental abruption caused true labor. Max was born and when the delivering doctor announced that he was a boy, I was elated as was my husband. Two boys was my idea of a perfect family. Max was two pounds one ounce, pink and just beautiful. A miniature baby with a grave battle before him. Unfortunately the evils of this earth proved too much for his small immature immune system and he succombed to e-coli sepsis on July 31, 2006.
We have just passed his one year birthday and angelversary. Oddly it is like, "New Year," for my family - as though maybe 2007 can actually begin and we can look forward maybe to perhaps the full term birth of our newest hope. But for today, we can only sit and wonder and hope.
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