So, last week, just as I finished grading my students' final portfolios and was daydreaming about all of the delicious food I was going to cram in my face in San Diego, I got a call from my doctor.
Not good.
She was calling to let me know that there was an issue with my last ultrasound
(done the day before).
Mila is healthy and is growing like a champ... but there should be a distinct line between my placenta and my uterus, and there wasn't.
This is called a placenta accreta.
We had talked about it before because, as another perk of placenta previa, I am at a higher risk of having it.
Placenta Accreta:
Basically, the placenta should be super easy to remove after birth.
In vaginal births, it is the natural afterbirth.
In c-sections, it should just kinda pop out.
This condition means, at its least severe form, that the placenta has grown INTO the uterine wall and requires surgery for removal.
At its most severe form, it can grow through the uterus and into other organs, which is incredibly freaky.
ANYWAY...
my doctor explained to me that an accreta generally means hemorrhaging,
which can often only be fixed with a
... drum roll please...
HYSTERECTOMY!
I would have to go to Spokane to see a specialist in high-risk pregnancies who could take a much more in-depth ultrasound and let me know for sure.
Needless to say, I was terrified and cried quite a bit.
For one, this damn previa is the shittiest thing ever.
(I promised I would never cuss on this blog but oh well)
I constantly feel like a bomb about to explode. Every day, I am afraid of bleeding, going into early labor, exploding... I don't know... everything.
And the fact that it puts me at higher risk for all of these other crap conditions just sucks majorly.
And secondly, a hysterectomy????
I want to have more babies.
Austin and I want more babies.
The idea of having that taken from me is just so unfair.
And I know that I am beyond lucky to be able to have one, but I would be absolutely devastated to not even have a chance at a second.
I cried and cried and worried that I would not be able to enjoy my time in SD because of this.
But my mom, who is usually the harbinger of worst-case-scenarios was actually extremely helpful.
She pointed out a couple things that my doctor did not:
1.
Until that specific ultrasound, the line was distinct. My doctor had noted this several times and my last ultrasound was only three weeks before. Accreta's can be detected at 15 weeks so it seemed pretty random for my placenta and uterus to decide to randomly merge so late in the game
2.
There are a LOT of surgical options for an accreta, including scraping out sections of the uterus, leaving tiny parts of the placenta to be reabsorbed into the uterus, etc.
Anyway, all I could do was wait for the specialist to call me, schedule an appointment, and then find out for sure.
Of course, the ONLY appointment available was for the morning after I got back into town. The next available appointment is a couple days before my c-section and, as the receptionist kept lovingly informing me, the chance of an accreta was extremely serious and I needed to get in ASAP!
I got home around midnight, got to bed around 1, could hardly sleep because of my coughing, and then Austin and I had to get up at 6am to drive to Spokane at 6:45 am in order to make our 8:30 appointment.
We had an insanely thorough ultrasound, which included 3D pictures of Mila's little face, and another hour's worth of pictures/angles/body parts, etc.
We expected to not hear anything for a couple days, but a specialist came in within 10 minutes of finishing the ultrasound and gave us the news:
"YOU HAVE A 0.001% CHANCE OF HAVING PLACENTA ACCRETA"
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am keeping my uterus!!!!!
One less thing that could kill me during labor!!!!
Horray!!!!!!
I was/am so relieved!!!
We are really hoping for smooth sailing from here on out until the birth
(which is in just over 4 weeks... oh my god)
Happy Happy News!!
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