My first post, a back ground on this pregnancy

*WARNING, some graphic details are included*

I am starting this blog for a few reasons: 1) to help keep the loved ones who have held us up in prayer these past few months up to date with all of the changes.  2) to help anyone else who maybe going through a similar pregnancy.  3) To remind my family and myself where we have been and where God has brought us to.  4) To be a living example of God's love for us.  With every day that passes to God Be the Glory.

I am going to go back to the beginning of this pregnancy so this first post is going to be quite long.  I knew I was pregnant a week before I was able to take a pregnancy test, let's just say my body was telling me so.  I was so excited and couldn't wait to be far enough along to take a test.  At four weeks the test came up positive and I was so happy.  However, a few days before I took the test my husband was at a Men's Retreat with our church and had torn his collarbone from his shoulder.  He was in the hospital for one night because they had planned to do surgery on him in the morning.  When the surgeons met the next morning they decided that is was too severe for them to operate and that he needed an athletic orthopedic surgeon to perform the surgery so they sent us home with a referral.  Well the morning I took the test we were meeting with the surgeon so I figured I would wait until after the appointment to share the news with Mark.  I walked out of the bathroom and into our room and he says, "were you taking a pregnancy test?", ok the man knows me way too well.  I hadn't even let on that I was thinking I was pregnant and I was so quiet in there so he wouldn't think something was up.  Needless to day we were both very excited about our new addition.  We went to Mark's appointment and the specialist says no surgery is needed that these types of injuries happen all the time in the NFL and they don't get them operated on just physical therapy and allowing it to heal. This is what so many of us were praying for, no surgery and quick recovery! Thank you God for answered prayers!  So he was on disability for a month and then back to work.  This man amazes me.

At five weeks along while I was at work I started bleeding very badly and passing large clots, I was devastated; I thought that I was miscarrying.  I phoned my OB and was informed to come in right away, they needed to confirm that I was not having a tubal pregnancy.  Mark was at physical therapy at the time and I couldn’t reach him so I called a friend and we drove to the OB office.  They got me in for an ultrasound and confirmed that I was not having a tubal pregnancy and that they could see a gestational sac and a yoke, but they could also see a hemorrhage all along the side of where the baby is, they diagnosed me with a threatened miscarriage and sent me to get my blood drawn and was to come back in 48 hours for a second blood draw to verify that my hormone levels were going up.  This was on a Wednesday and I had to go back on Friday morning for the second blood draw, those 48 hours where very sad and long.  I think I cried the whole time.  Friday after 4pm we got a call and they said my hormone levels were going up and I needed to come back on Monday to meet with the doctor again.  Monday we went back in to meet with the doctor and he (he is a wonderful doctor) did another ultrasound and this time we could see the heartbeat, it was amazing.  We could also see the hemorrhage, when we met in his office he said that I had a Subchorionic Hemorrhage (SCH) and that at this time I had a 50/50 chance of continuing on with the pregnancy, that we needed to take it one day at a time. My SCH was caused by part of my placenta pulling way from the uterine wall  The risk is the placenta detaching completely or the hemorrhage could just wash the pregnancy away with it.  We were told that I had a higher chance of preterm labor, placenta abruption or preterm premature rupture of membranes (pPROM- water breaking) if my pregnancy continued. I was sent home on complete bed rest and told to drink a lot of water.  I found an amazing support group of women on-line that were experiencing this same thing and found that quite a few continued on with there pregnancies.  I continued with weekly appointments and each week the baby was still hanging on.  That was a hard time because I would look forward to my weekly ultrasounds to confirm everything was alright but at the same time I didn’t want to go and get the news that I was no longer pregnant.  God walked me through those times and met me in that place.  I remember telling Him, I know You, and You are not a mean God, but this feels mean, please bring me to a place of understanding.

At eight weeks along my OB sent me to a Perinatologist (Peri-a specialist for high risk pregnancies) at that appointment we found out that the pregnancy had started out as twins and that I had lost one, they call it Vanishing Twin.  He told us that 1 in 5 pregnancies starts off as twins but most don’t continue, that until they started these early ultrasounds they really didn’t know about how common it is.  I felt blessed that I still had one baby but it was hard to hear that we had two.  I believe the thing that made it a little easier was that the baby never had a heart beat not that losing a baby is ever easy.  On top of that we really didn’t get any new news but he would continue to monitor me through my pregnancy with my OB.  At my 11 week appointment with my OB he found an abdominal abnormality in the baby and said I would have to go back to the Peri and receive a level II ultrasound.  So at 12 weeks we were back at the Peri’s office.  He did the ultrasound and confirmed that the baby had an abdominal wall birth defect called an Omphalocele (“O”An omphalocele is a birth defect in which the infant's intestine or other abdominal organs stick out of the belly button. In babies with an omphalocele, the intestines are covered only by a thin layer of tissue and can be easily seen.  An omphalocele is a type of hernia).  We met him in his office after the appointment and he explained what an “O” was and that 30-60% of the time they are associated with a chromosomal abnormality or another birth defect.  Mark and I left the appointment feeling overwhelmed.  The next day we received a call from the genetic counselor that went over our family history on all sides and said there is no hereditary increase for a chromosome abnormality and that most the time it is just a random thing.  She said that with an “O” there is and increased risk for Trisomy 13, 18 or 21.  Trisomy 13 & 18 are fatal, the babies are unable to survive outside the womb, Trisomy 21 is Downs Syndrome and the baby could still do well.  The additional birth defects are usually heart defects.  Mark and I again had to wait.  We decided to wait until the anatomy ultrasound that is done between 18 & 20 weeks to decide if we would do an amniocentesis (amnio).  We wanted to see how the baby would do and we were concerned about doing an amnio because of my increased risk of pPROM.  On the other side of that they told us that the doctors would not operate on the baby without a chromosome test, so if we didn’t do the amnio they would do a check after birth and we would have to wait for results before they would operate.  So we prayed and waited.  During this time I had moments of hopefulness and hopelessness I think it was hard because I didn't know the quality of live my baby would have and I didn't want to pray selfishly.  So I researched “O” babies’ quality of life and the results came back excellent as long as there were no other defects.  I didn’t know and still don’t know God’s will for this baby and at times I didn’t know how to pray.  God brought me to a place of thankfulness, for this baby in our lives today.  I didn’t know if I would have tomorrow with my baby and I didn’t want to miss out on enjoying my pregnancy and quite possibly the only time I would have with my baby here on earth.  So God brought joy in the midst of trial.  

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.  But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.  If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.  But let him ask in faith, with no doubting… James 1:2-6

At nineteen weeks my anatomy ultrasound was scheduled.  Again I was looking forward to this appointment to get some answers and move in a forward direction, but at the same time I didn’t want to know.  During the ultrasound the Peri found a few more concerns, the baby had a single vessel umbilical cord which can be nothing but it is also associated with chromosomal problems and she had a concern about the babies’ heart.She wasn’t completely sure about the heart because it was not in the normal spot it was toward the middle of the chest and slightly turned.  The location is normal in “O” babies because a lot of the abdominal contents are outside the wall the organs kind of hold all the other organs in their normal places.  She referred us to a Pediatric Cardiologist for an Echocardiogram.  She also found that I had an Accreta Pervia (my placenta had started to attach to deeply and it was before the baby covering my cervix.  This can happen after a placenta starts to pull and then realizes there is still a baby to feed, also because I have had three C-sections and have a lot of scar tissue).  Her concern with my placenta is that it was already in deep and I wasn’t even half way through my pregnancy and that she was concerned that it would go through my uteral wall and attach to my bladder or my bowel.  With the findings she strongly encouraged us to do the amnio.  We told her that regardless of the results we would not terminate the pregnancy, she said she would still recommend it to rule out a chromosome abnormality and if the baby did have a fatal chromosome abnormality that it would be a good idea to deliver early as the longer I am pregnant with this placenta the more my life is in jeopardy.  She explained that the C-section will be a big deal, that I will have a team of surgeons in the room, that I will receive multiple blood transfusions and that I will have to be in a drug induced coma during the operation due to the severity  .However, because they know I have an accreta my mortality rate is lower.That was on Monday and Mark and I left without making a decision on the amnio, we needed time to discuss and pray about our decision.  We returned on Wednesday for the amnio, the amnio went smoothly, the doctor said it was very easy.We left the appointment and drove home one hour and fifteen minutes away. As soon as we got into town I felt a gush of fluid, I knew it was amniotic fluid.  We stopped so I could use a restroom and as soon as I sat on the toilet my amniotic fluid was just pouring out of me.  We called the Peri back and she said to get back as soon as possible, so back we go.  By the time we got back to the Peri’s office my pants were soaked to my knees and I had a few contractions on the way there.  They put us in a room right away and they did a quick test to see if it was amniotic fluid and the test came back negative, we both knew it was wrong.  They got us into the ultrasound room shortly after and they did another ultrasound on me sure enough there was a lot less fluid in there than there was 3 hours earlier.  So she called the hospital and I was admitted that night.  The Peri’s office is attached to the hospital so we just walked across the parking lot and they had a room for me.  That night they watched me very closely and told me to let them know if I bled at all, they set up and IV and started antibiotics, they also put me on the monitor to see if I was contracting.  Fortunately I had only a few contractions on the drive back out but they were not time able and had gone away.  Forty-eight hours later they stopped my IV antibiotics and started me on oral antibiotics for a total of 5 days.  They don’t continue the antibiotics past that even though I am at a risk for infection because it causes the bacteria to change and become resistant to the antibiotic.

Two days after being admitted I had a MRI to see how bad my placenta was.  Okay, I am a little Closter phobic usually only if I am restrained or in a huge crowd or if I don’t have fresh air hitting my face, so I was nervous that I would feel restrained and panic.  They offered me some meds to relax me, but if you know me I don’t like to take meds unless I really have to, I tend to be very sensitive and some meds have a strange effect on me.  So they lay me on the table and then go to scoot me into the MRI machine and I was like okay wait, I need just a minute.  The hole was small, like really small, like Winnie the Pooh would get stuck.  Luckily the lady was nice and didn"t get irratated at me, she said she has put people in there that were three times the size of me…really?  Poor people, my arms had to rest against the edges of the machine.  Then it makes these awful sounds like it is breaking and going to fall on top of you.  So I just closed my eyes and went to my happy place.  I didn’t ask how long, I don’t think I wanted to know.  I had been in there for awhile and my sciatic nerve was pinching and my legs were numb and my right arm started to go numb, it was so not pleasant, but I didn’t want to say anything because I was afraid they would try to fix it and I would be in that awful place even longer.  One and a half hours later it was over.  My sciatic nerve however took two days to recover.  They gave me an air bed that helped a lot.  The doctor came in later and said that my placenta was not as bad as they thought that it is for sure an accreta but it had not penetrated the uteral wall yet.  Wahoo, I love good news!

The following Monday the Pediatric Cardiologist did his ultrasound and his results were great, he said that the baby has four chambers and four valves.  He did say that because my amniotic fluid level was so low it was hard to get a clear picture (it was very grey, they need that fluid to have sharp views) that there may be a small hole between the walls of the heart, but that that can be totally normal at this point because the baby is still growing and that sometimes they are born with it still and within a few months it closes.  If it doesn’t then they could do surgery to repair.  He said they would monitor it but that he was not concerned as a lot of kids go years and don’t even know they have it, the doctors usually finds them in an annual exam.  So again, Wahoo, I love good news!

Fourteen days after being admitted we received the parliamentary results on the amniocenteses.  They came back perfect!  The Peri said that the results were highly unlikely to change when the finals came in but we would have to wait to receive them.  The results took longer to receive because when they drew the fluid out it had a green yellow tint to it instead of being completely clear; the Peri said that this was due to the “O”.  So before the lab could grow the cells to test they had to clean the fluid and then it took a little longer to feed the cells before they would grow.  A week later the final came back and the chromosomes were still perfect!  Have I said, “Wahoo, I love good news!”?

Last week they did another ultrasound to check on the baby and my fluid level.  The baby was measuring perfectly, except for the abdomen was two weeks behind, this is normal with “O” babies, and was weighing in a one pound.  My fluid level was at a 0 but I had been leaking like crazy for the two days before that so I wasn’t surprised.  The babies bladder was full (that is how the amniotic fluid is replenished) so they were not concerned about that.  I seem to go through a cycle with my fluid levels, they seem to stock pile for about four days and then I leak it out for about two days.  The only concern for the baby with my fluid levels being so low is lung maturity.  The fluid helps the lungs, the Peri did say that women who keep about an average of one (I don’t know if it is ounces or milliliters or what) the lungs tend to continue to develop just fine.  They will continue to do ultrasounds about every week and a half until the baby comes.

The Peri’s have given me some goals: at 28 weeks the baby has a pretty good chance of survival but would likely have a long NICU stay due to coming so early.  Then at 30 weeks they do even better.  They would love it if I was able to hold off until 32 weeks at that time the babies tend to do very well and have a very low chance of having any long term problems due to prematurity.

This brings you up todate on everything.  I just wanted to share a few scriptures that the Lord has given me to hold onto during this time.

With God nothing will be impossible.  Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord. My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. Luke 1:37,45-47

My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:26

Peace I leave you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:27