Well, some interesting stuff has gone down in
the past few days and I thought it would make sense to have it out in the open
so you all can know all about our journey.
At our 20 week ultrasound, along with finding
out that we are having a girl, we also learned that my placenta is not where it
should be. Basically, the placenta normally attaches to the top or sides of the
uterus, but mine is at the bottom, over my cervix. This is called Placenta
Previa and is not really a good thing to have.
With Placenta Previa, if you were to go into
natural labor and the cervix were to dilate, the placenta would be ripped
badly- resulting in massive hemorrhaging for me, a dangerous birth for baby,
and just a really bad time for everybody. Typically, women with CPP (Complete
Placenta Previa) have to have c sections anywhere from week 35-37 as doctors
can't risk the chance of going into natural labor. Along with this too comes
the chance for bleeding if the placenta tears away from the uterus for any
reason- if this bleeding becomes heavy enough, an emergency c section has to
happen--- often with the baby needing to be injected with steroids beforehand
to encourage lung development.
The doctor told me that there was a good chance
it would migrate up and away from my cervix as my uterus grew and we would wait
to see. In the meantime, I was put on pelvic rest: no real exercise, no
lifting, just taking it easy while still living my normal life.
I didn't think about it too much because we
figured it would migrate. We had another ultrasound scheduled for week 28 to
check on it.
I was doing as I was told but, honestly, it is
hard to remember to take it easy when you feel fine and when you are a graduate
student/independent woman used to taking care of myself.
Anyway, Thursday night I was bustling around the
house packing and cleaning for our trip to Vancouver/Portland. Admittedly, I
was cognizant of the fact that I was not taking it easy at all, was lifting
things I shouldn't have been lifting.
About 15 minutes later, I was in the shower and
noticed a bit of blood. I turned off the water and blood started flowing. I
screamed out for Austin and was absolutely terrified. I have never been so
scared in my entire life and genuinely thought I was miscarrying. I knew Austin
was just as scared but he held it together and calmly got me dressed and out
the door.
We rushed to the hospital, both shaking
uncontrollably, and into the ER at the Pullman hospital. The entire time, I
held my stomach and hoped to feel her move, which she never did.
*side note: the Pullman hospital emergency room
is one of the stupidest places ever in term of emergencies. They move at a
small town pace, are difficult to find in the actual hospital, and don't really
seem to have any sense of urgency. They told us to go to the birthing center,
which we had to find on our own.
Back to our emergency: we walked into the
birthing center and all I could get out was "I'm pregnant and I'm
bleeding," before I started sobbing.
They took us into a birthing room and
immediately connected me to monitors. It took a few seconds to find it, but the
sound of our baby girl's strong heartbeat was the best thing I have ever heard
in my whole life.
Of course, as soon as we heard her heartbeat,
she started kicking again. They told us that her heartbeat was very strong and
that she was a feisty kicker (as she continually kicked the monitors on my
belly so hard that they had to be put back in place).
They also monitored to make sure that I wasn't
contracting (thankfully, I was not). I told them about the Placenta Previa and
an ultrasound confirmed that my placenta had moved up a tiny bit but was still
there. It had ripped a bit, thus the bleeding.
I had to stay the night and Austin stayed too.
He went home to finish an essay/ get his school stuff ready for the next day/
let Fernando out/ and get me a much-needed change of clothes and some
toiletries.
They were really nice and Austin was weirdly
excited that he was given access to a stocked fridge. More than anything, he
just wanted chocolate milk. They checked on me and the baby every four hours,
which meant no real sleep, but reassurance that she was okay.
My doctor confirmed that I will have to have a c
section, ideally at 36-37 weeks, but it will depend on if I have a lot of
bleeding episodes and how bad they are. My pregnancy is now a "high
risk" pregnancy...how exciting for us!
I was put on a more intensified pelvic rest and
was told that I was not allowed to travel to Portland/Vancouver. I get it,
traveling the day after spending the night in the hospital because you are
bleeding is probably not a good idea, but I was super bummed.
I told Austin that he should still go and
celebrate his dad's birthday, and I spent the weekend laying on the couch,
snuggling with Fernando, and doing pretty much nothing but watching Netflix.
Speaking of which, their original series Hemlock
Grove, sucks. This did not stop me from watching 6 episodes. My mom,
Austin, and Austin's mom checked on me all weekend, which was very sweet.
Baby girl is kicking and the pregnancy feels
back to normal. I even played some albums for her with headphones pressed up to
my belly. Here are some bands she seemed to like:
-Passion Pit
-Sigur Ros
-Jonsi
-Clay Your Hands Say Yeah
-Yeah Yeah Yeahs
She was not a fan of more mellow folk, like Fleet Foxes, but I
figured we could work on that.
ANYWAY, so pregnancy has now become a bit more
of a challenge than we had anticipated and we are trying to figure out ways for
Austin to help me carry student portfolios and anything relatively heavy I was
planning to deal with by myself. Luckily, he is a gentleman and physically fit
(and incredibly good looking, but that is another issue)
Our goal at this point is to take it easy and do whatever the doctor says in order to make it to 35 weeks. After that, everything is peaches and cream (anything before 35 weeks is more risky and would require us having to have the c section in Spokane, which is an hour and a half away).
Hopefully, we get a car seat at one of our showers so we aren't stranded somewhere and unable to take her home if she arrives at an unexpected time!
Fingers crossed that we have no more bleeding and that she continues to bake for at least another 11 weeks!
