38 weeks

Some baby updates and photos...

Today we are at 38 weeks, and a lot has happened since my last pregnancy update in late January. Sorry it's been so long since my last post!

On 02/08 we had a pretty big scare. At 33 weeks and 2 days, I started to bleed profusely and Lara rushed me to the Altoona hospital (closer to us, but not where I am delivering or where my OB is located). I can't really recall how much blood there actually was, but it was running down my legs, and did not stop until I was lying down in the hospital bed. The amount of bleeding was enough to keep me there for 2 days of monitoring with plenty of tests - check if my water broke via dry speculum, fetal and uterine ultrasound, fetal heart rate and uterine contraction monitoring over two days, and getting a steroid shot to help the baby's lung development should he need to be delivered before the 34 week mark. They were not sure what exactly caused my bleeding and put me on a modified version of bed rest to try and prevent another profuse bleeding incident. The entire time, our baby was doing perfectly fine according the the fetal heart rate monitor and the ultrasound we had. In fact, he really enjoyed (or maybe he disliked) messing around with the two monitors placed on my belly. I think Lara and I were thoroughly traumatized by that event. I remember crying and panicking as we were driving to the hospital, and I remember Lara trying to keep it together and get me up to labor and delivery as fast as possible. I remember seeing the worry and distress on her face as I was going through tests and the baby was being monitored. It was heartbreaking. We got through it though, and we are all doing very well.

The following week, we received news from Altoona's hospital that they did blood work on me since they did not have any of my information when I checked into labor and delivery. On an antibody screen, I came up positive for anti-wra (Wright), which can cause issues with the baby, particularly fetal anemia. I was scheduled that week to see a maternal fetal specialist in Danville, PA to get a consult. Apparently, it is rare to have this antibody. We were about 34 weeks at this point, and his recommendation was to induce at 38 weeks, regardless of whether or not our baby showed signs of distress or carried the antigen. Until then, I was told to continue modified bed rest, have my blood drawn every other week to check for antibody levels, get weekly ultrasounds to check for fetal hydrops (which was convenient since apparently babies conceived via IVF+ICSI are monitored for the amount of amniotic fluid on a weekly basis), have weekly fetal non stress tests, and see my regular OB weekly as opposed to every other week.

Shortly after meeting with the specialist, our OB group in State College had a meeting mainly about my antibody issue and to a much lesser degree, my bleeding issue. This is what they concluded after reviewing my chart and taking the specialist's recommendation into consideration for the antibody issue:

• Bleeding Issue: it's being caused by a lot of veins on the lower portion of my cervix. The pressure of the baby on my cervix causes those veins to rupture and cause bleeding. They are hopeful that I will be able to deliver vaginally in spite of this, and that the baby's head will clamp down on those veins as he passes through the vaginal canal. They also believe that once he is out, the pressure on those veins will cease so the profuse bleeding will no longer be an issue.

• Antibody Issue: They suggested we follow the specialists recommendations and induce at 38 weeks - March 13. We asked what would happen if we chose not to induce assuming all the monitoring showed the baby was doing fine? We were told that the specialist suggested increasing fetal non stress testing to 2 times a week and to maintain the same ultrasound and OB schedule as suggested. If everything was OK, we could even wait until labor occurred naturally. However, our OB group strongly suggests following the specialist's initial recommendation since there is likely a reason to draw the line at 38 weeks, where the risks begin to outweigh the benefits after that point. They said we should consult the specialist to give us peace of mind, and because they are not familiar with the risks of this specific antibody on the baby. We called the specialist and told him the antibody titers were actually stable and lower than when we saw him earlier in February, that the baby's ultrasounds had no signs of fetal hydrops, and the fetal non stress tests were very normal. He said based on that and the additional monitoring, it would be fine to wait until labor began naturally, which we intended to do...

However, we had another bleeding scare on 02/28, about 36 weeks along. It was no where near as traumatic nor did I bleed remotely as much as I did earlier in the month. I called my regular OB and he said because the bleeding was very light, that is would be fine to come up to labor and delivery at Mt. Nittany Medical Center in State College, where I will be delivering. Had I not had the bleed issue I had earlier that month, he probably wouldn't have even told me to come. However, because it was so bad, they just wanted to be sure everything was fine. I was only monitored for 4 hours before being discharged. Again, the baby was perfectly fine; he's a really active and seemingly happy fetus.
Because my bleeding has been unpredictable and our regular OB's STRONGLY suggest following the specialist's recommendation of inducing at 38 weeks, we made the decision to compromise and induce at 39 weeks - March 20. We decided on this for a few reasons, and looking back on the last couple weeks, partially on stress and worrying about the health of our baby and me. Our reasons: our baby is considered full term; we won't have to keep worrying that at some point, the antibody issue will harm him over the next 2-4 weeks; I can hopefully avoid another bleeding scare; and I'll have an additional week to HOPEFULLY show signs of dilation and effacement - basically, increase my chances of vaginal birth instead of having a C-section.


As of Monday, our baby is doing very well. He is approximately 6 lbs and 10 oz, very active in utero, and apparently has a good amount of hair, which pleases Lara to no end!  Today, I am 1 cm dilated and 25% effaced, which is not very much. It's not indicative that I will continue to progress at some known pace or just stay this way until I go into labor. Still, it's progress forward...Over this last week, I've started have notable Braxton Hicks contractions; every time I have one in the lower part of my uterus, I feel like I seriously have to poop, except I don't.

 Most recent ultrasound 03/10/14: such cute lips and nose!

 He has hair! 

Let's see, I've gained 22 lbs this pregnancy and it wasn't until this last week that I actually feel the weight and effects of pregnancy. I have all the usual symptoms - aching back, varicose veins in my calves, cramping in my left calf at night, difficulty sleeping through the night, quickly fatigued, emotional... I think the only thing I don't have is swelling. I seriously believe that if I were still allowed to workout, I wouldn't have as many issues as I recently developed, but who knows? That could all be in my head. Regardless of these new symptoms, it has been a pretty easy pregnancy for me symptom wise. I love being pregnant!

Around: August 22, 2013

 

 Around: January 4, 2014 - in Las Vegas for baby shower

This morning: March 14, 2014 - I'm going to POP!

So, that is where we are in pregnancy! We will be inducing on March 20 at 7:00am at Mount Nittany Medical Center. I will post one more time before we induce to write about how we're feeling, our prepping we've done for him to come home, and to show more photos of the nursery, my belly, and our baby's ultrasound pictures!