rocky road pt. 2

First of all, I'd like to thank all of you who have called, emailed, texted, etc... your concerns and offers of support. It is really wonderful to be so surrounded by people who care so much about Sprout & me. :)

Now... on to the update.

The first thing that they did at my doctor's office was another ultra sound. This ultra sound machine is 2009 to the 1976 ultra sound machine they had in the ER. And, the ultra sound tech spoke fluent ultra sound, whereas the ER doctor was struggling with his little "ultra sound to English dictionary". (note: I am not dissing the ER doctor! I am extremely grateful to him, and I think it is an extraordinarily difficult job he has to do. I can't imagine having to know a little bit about so many things. The ultra sound tech does this one thing day in and day out - so of course she is much more accomplished at it)

Sprout wasn't squirming much today, but enough to make the ultra sound tech happy. She said it was satisfactory fetal movement. (and honestly, she was probably pleased to not have to chase Sprout around with the little gooey wand thingy) She went ahead and took measurements... Sprout is growing perfectly, weighs 5 1/2 ounces (she said "that's a stick and a half of butter") heartbeat is good & strong (146), and otherwise all is just great for little Sprout.

Now on to Mommy, and why there is bleeding... The ER doctor thought that my placenta was down low in my uterus, partially covering the opening to my cervix. That could be the beginnings of placenta previa, a scary diagnosis indeed, but not life threatening... just disturbing. I thought bed rest was immanent. Anyway, the ultra sound tech found that my placenta is no where near being low. It is up on the side of my uterus completely out of the way of my cervix. (see - the ER doctor's ultra sound machine was SUPER sub par) HOWEVER - I had formed a clot in the (or on the) placenta wall. That was causing the bleeding. It's not uncommon, but not common either. The doctor said that through delivering more than 6,700 babies in his career, he's seen "some crazy shit" and that this is "normal crazy" not "crazy shit crazy". (i told you, this guy is funny!) This should heal on its own and cause no disturbance to Sprout whatsoever. As for Mommy? The bleeding should subside soon. Until then, rest as much as is possible, no stress, etc... I'm just going to take it SUPER DUPER easy the next few days until the bleeding stops - and probably for a week or so after. I'm not going to get out unless it's TRULY necessary, and I'm going to increase fluids - because as we've learned throughout this journey... Increasing fluids is the cure all. :)

Oh? And that urinary tract infection?? My doctor asked if I were having any symptoms at all of that. I am not, and have not. He said that pregnant women have all kinds of bacteria, etc in their urine that might throw another doctor - so as long as I am symptom free... Go ahead and take the antibiotic for a 3 day run instead of the 10 day run prescribed and "that'll probably be overkill". :)

So, to sum up... All is fine. When we got home from the doctor, Alex put his 2 babies down for a nap, and I slept for 4 hours. From emotional breakdown to 36 hours of worry, I was completely exhausted.

Sprout probably has no idea what has transpired over the last couple of days. Blissfully unaware of the worry going on surrounding him or her. At least - I would like to think that's how it is. Sprout just floating around, kicking and practicing sucking (which is what What to Expect says is going on in there this week), and not worrying about anything at all. :) A happy little baby.

And now, that happy little baby's much relieved Mommy is going to relax, have dinner with her WONDERFUL husband (who did stay home from work today) and breathe.

I will post a couple of the ultra sound pics from today soon.

- mama g