I Can't Make This Stuff Up....

Driving home from my doctor's appointment, I realized just how oh-so-familiar this drive home felt.

More than not, the drive home felt heavy. With new and different--not-so-good-news.

To be fair, I have to keep perspective. Count my blessings if you will. I am pregnant. The baby looks healthy. I am healthy. I continue to remind myself these things when the doom and dread sits in.

The whole song and dance is almost comical. I go to a doctors appoint, and return with bad news for my friends. I start to wonder if they are thinking I am making this stuff up or am a little crazy. But I swear, I am not. Well I am not making anything up, I may or may not be some degree of crazy. That is always up for debate.

Pretty soon my friends are just going to start answering the phone with, "What is it this time, Breanna??"

Seriously.

First, it was the miscarriage. Afterwards, I thought--hey I've had my bad luck for the year, next time will be a smooth ride.
Then is was the first ultrasound. Baby looked small, which could indicate another MC. We went back a few days later, however, and got a beautiful ultrasound that was much more promising.
Then a few weeks later I started to spot. Went to the doctor to find I had a non-pregnancy related issue that would require the doc to remove the issue and biopsy it. Not a huge deal, but no one likes to think about having random finger like growths on their cervix.

Which leads us to today:

13 week appointment

We first went into a room without an ultrasound machine-which didn't surprise me because I wasn't expecting an ultrasound. The nurse made a split decision to move me to another room which happened to have the mobile ultrasound machine handy. When the doc came in, he really had no plan on using it, but also made a split moment decision and decided to use it because it was "right there" and he wanted to sneak a peak at how the baby was doing:

At first glance, everything looked wonderful. The baby was moving around. A great side profile view. So far so good.

And then he said, "I do see one thing that is potentially going to be an issue, but I can't confirm diagnosis without having the ultrasound specialist."

Luckily she was on hand, so they moved me to the main ultrasound room for a second opinion where is was quickly confirmed that I had a complete placenta previa.

Now here is the medical low down.

Okay, as you can see from the above diagram, the far right picture represents what we are faced with. Basically, my baby's exit strategy is blocked by the placenta.

So what does it mean?

For the present: I am on pelvic rest meaning no exercise, no lifting (including my daughter), no sexy time, and trying not to bend much. Basically, I am not on bed rest but I have to take it really really easy.

For the near future: I have to watch for bleeding. The placenta is an organ that you grow during pregnancy. It works as a filter and supplies the baby with nutrients and blood. That area of the uterus is certainly not ideal placement for the placenta, not only because it blocks the exit, but because that part of the uterus is not as strong. If bleeding occurs, I will then be placed on bed rest, possibly hospitalized Worst case scenario--I hemorrhage and the baby and I both die. Also, with complete placenta previa, I am now higher at risk for the following:

The placenta pulling away from the uterus (not good)
Severe bleeding before or during delivery in some cases resulting in death or a hysterectomy
Preterm birth
High risk for stillborn/ miscarriage
Birth defects

For delivery: If we bi-pass all the above nonsense and make it to a full-term baby without incident, then I will likely have a c-section at around 36-37 weeks-ish.

Best-best case: Lots of times, women are diagnosed with some type of placenta previa (marginal, partial or complete). As the pregnancy progresses the uterus grows "migrating" the placenta away from the "exit" so then the baby would have a clear shot for a perfectly healthy and normal vaginal delivery. In fact, almost 90% of those with placenta previa will migrate away from the cervix. The realistic kicker, however, is that I have a COMPLETE placenta previa, meaning the placenta has a lot more moving to do-so that outcome is not as likely for me as it would be for someone diagnosed with placenta previa whose placenta is only partially or marginally covering the cervix.

The next best case: I make it through the pregnancy without any bleeding despite the placenta previa, resulting in a "routine" and slightly more risky c-section...delivering a healthy baby close to full term or full term.

The not-so best case, but I would survive: I make it through the second trimester without incident, but face some bleeding in the third trimester as the uterus thins and the placenta's blood vessels break some resulting in a hospital stay or bed rest while we hope the to make it to 36 or 37 weeks before doing a c-section.

The more stressful case: I, at some point, go into preterm labor. Hopefully get the labor to stop so I don't die and/ or loose the baby. This would result in close monitoring and fingers crossed to keep the baby in as long as possible before during a c-section...

As you can see, the options could get progressively worse. So I will just stop there, before I start killing off any star characters.

A quick reminder. I am not a medical professional. This is what I have gathered and how I have come to understand my situation. I could be way off-so any nurses or doctors out there, feel free to correct me because I don't want to give any bad information to the public. But if you come across this blog via google--first STOP GOOGLING, your going to make yourself crazy (like me) and second, this is NOT to be used as any type of medical information or education because I could totally be making this stuff up.

Please pray that the placenta moves and gives the baby plenty of room for a vaginal delivery. If God can move mountains, certainly he can move my placenta. Most importantly, pray for a healthy baby. In the end, that is all I care about. Well, I hope to live too. Because I have two babies to raise. So that would be good too.