We saw the ob this morning and the reason for the bleeding is that my placenta has grown partly over my cervix (placenta previa). 9 of 10 times this resolves itself by delivery - if it doesn't then it would mean a c-section.
Between now and then it's not a big deal - my doc has me on bedrest for a few days and had me stop baby aspirin and fish oil until I've had 10 days with no bleeding.
Our little guy was very active - the ultrasound at this point is neat because his bones are calcifying and you can see individual bones and vertebra and stuff.
Thanks for all the love and support. This was the first bump in this otherwise extremely straightforward pregnancy, and it brought back all the fear from our first two losses. No fun.
Really reassuring to have a not-too-serious explanation for the bleeding and to know our baby is fine.
My husband and I started trying to have a baby in 2007. We ended up doing 5 rounds of IVF with our own eggs, miscarrying twice due to chromosomal abnormalities, and then moved to donor eggs. Our son was born in 2012. After two unexplained miscarriages trying for a sibling, we found a gestational surrogate, who carried our second son (2015) and our daughter (2018).
Friday, June 22, 2012
Thursday, June 21, 2012
So much for normal
Just this afternoon I was thinking I should write a blog post about how I feel like a normal pregnant woman.
And then around 7pm, while peeling a cucumber, I felt that wet feeling between my legs, and thought "that was weird" so I checked and my underwear was covered in bright red blood.
Called my ob's emergency number which unfortunately is being covered by his younger partner tonight, and he said bed rest until tomorrow am when I'll go in to be checked.
There's no obvious reason for me to be suddenly bleeding. Our ultrasounds have been perfect, the embryo is genetically normal, my placenta is in the ideal spot, my immune system is normal, and we heard the heartbeat this afternoon with the Doppler.
So my best guess is either a small sub-chorionic hematoma that ruptured or a small placental separation (tho none of the risk factors for that apply to me).
Very scared but trying to stay calm. It was probably less than a tablespoon of blood, and while I still have some bleeding when I pee, it's not deep red. It's more thin and red/pink. Sorry for the overshare...
I'm too scared to use the Doppler again to see how he's doing... Send good thoughts our way please!
And then around 7pm, while peeling a cucumber, I felt that wet feeling between my legs, and thought "that was weird" so I checked and my underwear was covered in bright red blood.
Called my ob's emergency number which unfortunately is being covered by his younger partner tonight, and he said bed rest until tomorrow am when I'll go in to be checked.
There's no obvious reason for me to be suddenly bleeding. Our ultrasounds have been perfect, the embryo is genetically normal, my placenta is in the ideal spot, my immune system is normal, and we heard the heartbeat this afternoon with the Doppler.
So my best guess is either a small sub-chorionic hematoma that ruptured or a small placental separation (tho none of the risk factors for that apply to me).
Very scared but trying to stay calm. It was probably less than a tablespoon of blood, and while I still have some bleeding when I pee, it's not deep red. It's more thin and red/pink. Sorry for the overshare...
I'm too scared to use the Doppler again to see how he's doing... Send good thoughts our way please!
Friday, June 8, 2012
12 weeks tomorrow!
We had our NT scan today, and it was great, except that my husband didn't make it there on time so he missed it. Luckily I got a bunch of great stills, but he's really bummed.
Here's our little guy, showing off his knee/ankle/foot while kicking. He's 6cm long, and measuring a little ahead (12w4d and I'm 11w6d).
The NT measurement was 1.1, which is great (since we did CGH we weren't worried about any of the stuff people usually worry about with this scan), and everything else they measured looked perfect. He wiggled a bunch - it's amazing that when they press harder with the wand he moves in response, and they also had me cough hard a couple of times to get him to change position. All that IVF transfer practice meant my bladder was full enough for them without being painful for me.
California provides risk estimates using both my age and the donor's age (since there's some tiny, hypothetical, possibility that even using donor eggs someone could ovulate and get pregnant with their own egg). The risk factor using the donor's age came back at 1 in 3800 for Down syndrome and less than 1 in 100,000 (which is the lowest possible) for trisomy 18. The risk factor using my age came back at 1 in 540 for Down syndrome and 1 in 21,000 for trisomy 18. I'm 10 years older than our donor, and I thought it was interesting what affect that had on the risk factors. (Without the bloodwork/scan I think my risk would be generically estimated at 1 in 200 based solely on my age, and about 1 in 1200 based solely on my donor's age.)
The other fabulous news I got today is that we re-ran my immunology bloodwork this week to see how my immune system is doing with the pregnancy. Both my NK levels and my TH1:TH2 numbers were completely normal, which means I'm done with intralipids! If my immune system were reacting, we'd see it in the bloodwork. Turns out my body is considerably better at being pregnant than getting pregnant, and I'm enormously grateful.
Tonight is my last Lovenox injection and my last progesterone suppository (eek!) and I leave on vacation tomorrow for a week. It's scariest going off the progesterone, but my level stayed steady at 19 this week (was 20 last week) so my RE said it's fine to stop.
We told my parents last Saturday at my birthday dinner (they were surprised and happy, but had a little inkling because I'd mentioned I'd been eating lots of watermelon, and my mom craved watermelon when pregnant with me); we told my husband's dad and his wife on Monday, and then told my husband's mom last night. A friend loaned me her doppler this week, so after we told my husband's mom, we let her hear the heartbeat, which was super cool.
So all our close family knows now and is just thrilled. Is it bad I'm already stressed out about how much time people are going to want to spend here when the baby is born?
When we get back from vacation, we'll email some friends and family who aren't close enough to all get personal calls, and then I plan on posting to Facebook, acknowledging our long path to where we are.
It's been a big week! Sending love out to all you wonderful people, wherever you are on your journey. I'm grateful every day that we're pregnant and things are going well.
Here's our little guy, showing off his knee/ankle/foot while kicking. He's 6cm long, and measuring a little ahead (12w4d and I'm 11w6d).
The NT measurement was 1.1, which is great (since we did CGH we weren't worried about any of the stuff people usually worry about with this scan), and everything else they measured looked perfect. He wiggled a bunch - it's amazing that when they press harder with the wand he moves in response, and they also had me cough hard a couple of times to get him to change position. All that IVF transfer practice meant my bladder was full enough for them without being painful for me.
California provides risk estimates using both my age and the donor's age (since there's some tiny, hypothetical, possibility that even using donor eggs someone could ovulate and get pregnant with their own egg). The risk factor using the donor's age came back at 1 in 3800 for Down syndrome and less than 1 in 100,000 (which is the lowest possible) for trisomy 18. The risk factor using my age came back at 1 in 540 for Down syndrome and 1 in 21,000 for trisomy 18. I'm 10 years older than our donor, and I thought it was interesting what affect that had on the risk factors. (Without the bloodwork/scan I think my risk would be generically estimated at 1 in 200 based solely on my age, and about 1 in 1200 based solely on my donor's age.)
The other fabulous news I got today is that we re-ran my immunology bloodwork this week to see how my immune system is doing with the pregnancy. Both my NK levels and my TH1:TH2 numbers were completely normal, which means I'm done with intralipids! If my immune system were reacting, we'd see it in the bloodwork. Turns out my body is considerably better at being pregnant than getting pregnant, and I'm enormously grateful.
Tonight is my last Lovenox injection and my last progesterone suppository (eek!) and I leave on vacation tomorrow for a week. It's scariest going off the progesterone, but my level stayed steady at 19 this week (was 20 last week) so my RE said it's fine to stop.
We told my parents last Saturday at my birthday dinner (they were surprised and happy, but had a little inkling because I'd mentioned I'd been eating lots of watermelon, and my mom craved watermelon when pregnant with me); we told my husband's dad and his wife on Monday, and then told my husband's mom last night. A friend loaned me her doppler this week, so after we told my husband's mom, we let her hear the heartbeat, which was super cool.
So all our close family knows now and is just thrilled. Is it bad I'm already stressed out about how much time people are going to want to spend here when the baby is born?
When we get back from vacation, we'll email some friends and family who aren't close enough to all get personal calls, and then I plan on posting to Facebook, acknowledging our long path to where we are.
It's been a big week! Sending love out to all you wonderful people, wherever you are on your journey. I'm grateful every day that we're pregnant and things are going well.
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