02-4-2008 - My first Pregnancy

My mood while writing this blog: relaxed

I am a 21 year old college student who is happily married to the man God has prepared for me, Mark. We are expecting our first child due July 8, 2008. This pregnancy has been very interesting and full of surprises. I can't wait til July to see my beautiful baby and have him/her in my arms.

My pregnancy was going smoothly and we were so happy up until my 14th week when I had to go to the emergency room at 10pm because I started bleeding like a period out of no where. My husband and I were so scared and were just praying it wasn't a sign of the worse. They ran blood tests, did a small pelvic exam and did an ultrasound; everything checked out fine they couldn't tell by the tests what was wrong, and the baby was moving around and had a good heartbeat. They called my ob and sent me home. I was ordered to call my doctor later that morning so i could go in and see her and she could check me more extensively, so i did. When we got to the office they checked my blood pressure, checked my urine and then did another ultrasound. Again the baby was moving around just fine, the baby was a healthy size (3oz) and had a good heart. This time she noticed that my placenta was really low and close to my cervix. So my ob told me that the low lying placenta was causing the bleeding and for me to take it easy and be on pelvic rest. I was supposed to rest as much as possible, not do a lot of walking or standing for a long period of time, and not lift anything over 5 lbs.

Things were going well and a weak and some days later I started bleeding heavy again. At first I was just going to lay down and try to relax but then i started feeling some cramping on and off and it was constant so I told my husband we should go to the ER again. It was the same scenerio as before. They ran the same tests, this time there were blood clots, and I had to stay in the hospital from 1 am til almost 7 am because they wouldn't let me leave since it was my second time, they had my ob come to the ER and check my out pelvically. She sent me home and told me to see her the next day in the office (this was a monday and she wanted to see me wednesday). She also put me on anti biotics because my white blood cell count was high but other than that I just had to continue to be on bedrest and pelvic rest.

Unfortunately, I never made it to her office on that Wednesday because I woke up at like 7 that morning and was bleeding again only this time I had two large masses of what looked like tissue pass. I tried to get a good look at the first mass but it was so soft it was falling apart as i tried to lift i out of the toilet (sorry for those that disgusted, but I wanted to make sure it wasn't my baby). So we called the ob because our appointment was only 1hr and a half away and she told us to go to the ER and she would meet us there. I have to say that this was the worst visit in my life--the previous two times we went to the ER that was conveniently located down the street, but we were told to go to the one downtown because the one near us didn't have a maternity area. They had to get my vitals, my weight, urine sample, pelvic exam, all that. It seemed like we were there forever because we didnt get out until like 1 or 2 pm. The worst part was the nurse was rough. The IV she put in my arm hurt, then she tried to put a cathiter in me for the ultrasound to make sure my bladder was empty and to fill it to move any organs that are in the way out the way. This chick kept missing the spot she wanted it so she had to insert and uninsert it like three or four times before she got it right. That was the most uncomfortable feeling ever, it made me feel like I had to pee for hours. I hated it and what made it worse was I ended up not needing it afterall. When the lady did the ultrasound she was able to get everything but the measurement of the head because the baby wouldn't stay still long enough lol. They couldn't see anything wrong (of course) and sent me home after that. They told me to call my ob when I got home to make an appt with her. I still had to stay on bedrest :(

She told me she wanted me to go see a specialist at the hospital I am to deliver to see if they can pick up something they weren't. So that following Monday I went to see a high risk doctor and they checked my vitals, took a urine sample, and then did an extensive ultrasound and took pictures of everything they could. They did both the invasive ultrasound to look at my cervix and see if they could get the head of the baby (which the had trouble with again using the non-invasive doppler but this time it was because it was so low). The high rish doctor found two things wrong. One I had a posterior placenta previa---a low lying placenta in my posterior region--this was not really a concern this early in the pregnancy because as the uterus gets bigger it should rise up higher away from my cervix. The second thing was oligohydramnios---low amniotic fluid. This is what he was concerned about because the fluid was decreased and he said the baby needed more to be able to breathe and other things. He said if it does not increase by 20 weeks that can be very dangerous and fatal to the baby. So after we saw him we had to go see my ob, and she went over everything the high risk doctor had called and told her. She said that usually can tell how things will go either way but with my pregnancy it was kinda hard to tell. She put me on strict bedrest and pelvic rest. I can only get up to go to the bathroom and take a shower, other than that I need to stay off my feet.

I will be on bedrest until both doctors give me permission to get off. I have to go to the doctor every two weeks switching between my ob and the next two weeks the high risk doctor. They said it all depends on the baby and how it responds, if it will produce more fluid, and to just wait it out. So yeah it has been an interesting ride but I am keeping the faith that everything will be just fine.